A generous family from our church graciously offered to give us all their baby furniture since they had finished having children and we were expecting our first daughter. When my wife and I went to pick up the furniture, their little 3-year old daughter saw her parent’s generosity and decided that she also wanted to give the new baby some of her things. While we were busy loading the crib and mattress into the truck, their daughter went up to her room and started carrying down her favorite books along with her only baby cradle. In all sincerity she brought me her beloved toys and placed them beside the truck.

I stooped down on the driveway and tried to explain to her that her baby dolls would have nowhere to sleep if she gave me her cradle. Moreover, she would certainly miss not hearing her favorite bedtime stories. My arguments failed to persuade her and she assiduously repeated her desire to give them to our future daughter. In the end, I relinquished all efforts to change her desires; I had to flat out refuse, leaving her crestfallen.

However, as I pondered her actions, I realized...

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On the day that I walked into my first class at the Ph.D. level, I was warned that the job market was exceedingly tight for professors of theology. Our primary hope to getting a job, or so I was told, was to begin publishing journal articles and presenting papers at conferences, even though we had an immense amount of school work to accomplish every week. Now that I am coming to the end of my coursework (2 yrs.), I still have not managed to have an article accepted for publication.

As a result, I have discovered my internal anxiety level increasing as my resume has not grown as much as it should (according to my own standards and...

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I think for most of my life I have taken clear vision for granted. In the last year however, age has whittled away at my ability to clearly see the small print. Through reflection, I now appreciate in a deeper way the gift of finely defined focus whether that is the print on a page or the path of my spiritual life.

At ECSW we have been in the process of focusing our vision for ministry through this next year and beyond. The process has felt at times like a visit to the Optometrist when they figure out your vision prescription. Through prayer, dialog and discernment we have adjusted our plans and fine tuned our perspectives as we...

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