Dr. Jon Roebuck, Executive Director

Once again we have the important and rare privilege that our democracy affords us of going to the polls this week and casting our vote.  Thank God that we can.  And thank God that its nearly over.  For almost two years America has been caught up in the rhetoric of partisan politics.  We have heard the speeches, watched the debates, listened to the platforms, and formed our opinions.  It has been a long, angry, divisive battle.  The question becomes where to go from here…

What will happen when the dust clears later this week?  What happens when the votes are counted and a winner is proclaimed?  Will we stand and celebrate the electoral process and marvel that as Americans we have once again celebrated the peaceful transference of power?  Will we shake hands with our political enemies and seek to craft a more perfect union?  Maybe… maybe not.

Allow me to suggest some steps to take on the morning of November 9^th as the dust starts to clear.

1. Put your Christian convictions into practice. In other words, act Christ-like.  Think before you speak.  Extend compassion in your attitudes.  Offer grace.  Jesus offered the radical idea of loving our enemies and praying for those who persecute us… that includes those on the other side of the political aisle.  Refuse to the temptation to write off a friendship because of politics.  Christ is not honored by broken relationships.  Christians are to be known by their love, not by lingering, divisive attitudes towards those who disagree with them.
2. Pray for the new president. Paul writes to Timothy, “I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity. This is good and pleases God our Savior…” (I Timothy 2:1-3) How you pray is critical.  Your prayers should be for the health and well-being of the President, for wisdom, and for safety. As a believer, you should offer that prayer consistently.
3. If you have been caustically active on social media, you need to ask God to forgive you and apologize to your fellow citizens. Without question social media has given voice to millions with little governance or consequence.  Rumors, falsehoods, and opinions quickly became accepted truth.  Deceit remains sinful, even if carried out on the internet where people will often say something electronically to someone else that they would never say in person.
4. Begin to create a better nation by becoming a better citizen. Volunteer at a non-profit.  Give to charities that do important work.  Get to know your neighbors.  Develop relationships with people who are very different from you… racially, ethnically, religiously, philosophically.
5. Be a gracious winner or a good loser. The nation is divided enough.  The hostility needs to quieten.  No one needs to read one more ugly post from you on Facebook or hear you taunt your conquered foes on Twitter.  Take down your yard signs and move ahead.  There is work that needs to be done by all of us as Americans.  It’s time for us to get back to the concept of the “United” States.

May God help us forge a better nation, a more thoughtful dialogue, and a more civil discourse.  It all begins with each of us.

 

 

Dr. Jon R. Roebuck, Executive Director

I was walking across campus today, minding my own business, making the trek from the parking garage to my office, both arms filled with stuff when it happened.  I felt it before I even saw it.  For some inexplicable reason, my right shoe decided that it had been tied long enough and it gave up the ghost.  It just came untied.  There was no place to stop, set down my load, and re-tie the shoe and so I shuffled my way to my office, fearful that my shoe was about to slide off my foot at any moment.  I hate when stuff like that happens.  Everything seems to be going along nice and smooth and then suddenly something changes.

 

For most of us the problem is greater than a shoe that won’t stay tied.  Such a problem is easily fixed.  It’s the other disruptions that tend to bring us more than our fair share of angst and worry.  Take for example when the IRS sends a little note in the mail telling you that there were some errors with your return.  Or what about the phone call from the auto repair place telling you that you need new rotors along with the brake pads?  Or what about when the school nurse calls to let you know your sweet little daughter is throwing up like she could star in the new filming of The Exorcist?  I always feel for the poor guy who has the wreck on the interstate during the morning commute.  Obviously his day is not going to flow smoothly.

 

The disruptions will come.  And when they do, our once, well-ordered lives struggle to find footing again.  Let’s talk about the really big, life-altering kind of disruptions that sometimes land at our front door.  What if the phone call is from your doctor and she tells you that there are some irregularities with the blood work?  What if the market drops and suddenly your plans for retirement get put on hold for a few more long years?  What if you get a call from a friend telling you that a former class-mate just ended his life?  What happens when you are cruising along with your arms are filled with the constant baggage of daily routine and suddenly a huge storm blows into your life?  What then?  Where can you set down your load long enough to grieve and think and find shelter?

 

I think the key is in relationships.  We simply cannot afford to walk through life all alone.  Listen to the admonition of Scripture.  “Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble.” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10)  We were made to live in community with each other.  We were never meant to take on the disruptions by ourselves.  It’s part of the reason that Jesus said when speaking about His departure from earth, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth.” (John 14:16-17)  Through the work of His Spirit, God has made it possible for us to never be alone.  His Spirit indwells our lives continually.  We can never find ourselves in a place, no matter how dark, nor how scary, where the Spirit can’t minister to us.

 

But let’s be honest, as good as that promise is, sometimes we need flesh and blood to hold our hands, wipe our tears, and hug our necks.  We need the Word to become flesh.  In order to have such a person in our lives, we have to risk, invest, and offer compassion.  We tend to gain friends as we offer ourselves to others in an act of friendship.  And so we have to risk a relationship.  We have to risk being vulnerable, being betrayed, and even being rejected.  Not everyone is going to be the Godly person you need, but until you risk giving yourself away you will not find that one special relationship.  We also have to invest.  Relationships take time and effort.  They take being inconvenienced at times or offering emotional energy at other moments.  We tend to get out of a relationship what we put into a relationship.  And yes, we have to offer compassion.  Friendships are forged on the anvil of thoughtful deed and loving attention.  And though many of us might boast in the number of Facebook friends we have on our social media accounts, we should really count ourselves blessed if we have those one or two people in the world who will always help, always pray, and always come to our aid.

 

You can count on life getting a little messy.  Your world is going to get untied from time to time.  I pray that when it does, your friends will be there to pick you up.  And I also pray that when called upon to do so, you will be there to help your friend tie his shoe when his arms are too full and his life is too painful.

 

 

Dr. Jon R. Roebuck, Executive Director

 Check out these verses from the story of ancient Israel as they gathered around Mount Sinai…

 

“Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel; and under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself.” Exodus 24:9-10

You may want to read those two verses again.  Seventy-four men go up to Mount Sinai and there they “saw the God of Israel.”  It’s not the kind of thing that happens every day.  These men, in some magnificent, mysterious, glorious way were able to catch a glimpse of God.  They even described the pavement of sapphire
on which He walked.  (I know what you’re thinking… I thought no one could look on God and live.  That’s usually the case.  But God can certainly reveal Himself to whomever He chooses in whatever way He chooses.  And at least on this day, God was seen by the elders of Israel.)  Don’t you know that this image never left their hearts or minds for as long as they lived.  How many times did they tell the story of this day?
Let’s be honest, catching a glimpse of Almighty God is a rare thing.  I have not seen His face, nor has anyone else that I know.  I do hope to look on His face one day when His Son introduces me to Him in glory… but that’s a different devotional thought for another day.  Today I’m more concerned about seeing the face of God in the everyday lives we live.  The truth of the matter is that we CAN see Him each day if we know where to look.  God inhabits His creation.  And so God is revealed to us in tiny glimpses through the faces of people that we encounter.  How’s that for a thought… a little of God is present in every face we see.  If that is true, then God can be seen in the faces of rich and powerful as well as the faces of the poor and powerless.  He’s present in the face of that homeless guy selling papers on the corner.  He’s present in the face of that unwed pregnant girl at the shelter.  He’s present in the face of that troubled teenager you are raising and in the face of the senior adult at the nursing home.  And yes, He is even seen in the face that stares back at you from the mirror.  And if that is true… then suddenly your face and the face of the billions who share the planet take on a whole new worth.  What a glorious day it would be today, if you and I really began to see others the way that God does.  What if we looked closely enough to even see His resemblance?

To see His face today will require several things.  We have look beyond our first-impression judgment of others.  We cannot see color, nationality, nor gender if doing so clouds our vision.  We have to hear beyond language. If we think God only speaks English we are mistaken.  We also have to look beyond our long-formed impression of others.  History and experience with an individual cannot be allowed to blind us to the image of God within them.  So look closely today at the faces you see.  You may just catch a glimpse of your Father.

 

 

-Dr. Jon R. Roebuck, Executive Director

The picture above this article shows my favorite Bible.  It’s a leather-bound New American Standard New Testament.  As you can tell, it’s been with me for a while.  It has traveled the world with me.  It has joined me for countless graveside services.  It has stood with me in the pulpit for the better part of two decades.  But, as you can tell, it’s getting a little worn and weary.  Not only has most of the leather cover “given up the ghost,” but any day now, the thin threads that hold the Book of James together are going to fail.  (James’ connection between faith and works might get a little disconnected!)

 

I have tried for a long time to replace it with a similar Bible.  This particular edition went out of print a long time ago.  I like the size, the feel of leather in my hands, and the easy-to-read font.  I just haven’t been able to find anything close, and believe me, I have searched.  I am also a fan of the New Living Translation.  Trying to find a leather-bound New Testament in that translation has proved to be quite a challenge as well.  Sure, there are a lot of choices out there with plenty of colors, covers, and font choices, but so far, I can’t find the Bible I like.

 

A lot of people I know are struggling with the same issue, although in a different kind of way.  It seems these days that a lot of people have grown uncomfortable with the Bible they once held in their hands.  The pull of modern culture and the demands of being relevant have forced many to look for truth and moral direction in other places.  Feeling the pressure of societal acquiescence, pluralistic thought, and even political agenda has forced many to shelve their Bibles with the thought, “It was certainly good for a while, but not anymore.  It’s too outdated and too restrictive for this day and age.”  I beg to differ.

 

What becomes outdated and out-of-touch is not the truth of Scripture, but rather our limited interpretations of it.  Rather than read the Bible with fresh eyes, open minds, and compassionate hearts, we dive into the text looking for a proof text to justify some judgmental ideology, a club to beat up some wayward sinner, or a verse to help us claim moral superiority over those whose opinions and thoughts don’t align with those of our own.  What we have forgotten is that we go to the Scriptures to discover the love, grace, and redemption of our Savior, not to justify our stances.  It is almost as though we would rather change what the Bible says, than be changed by the Bible.

 

Whether I like it or not the Bible says these things:  Love all of your neighbors, care for widows and orphans in their time of distress, welcome the sojourner to your land, pray for your government leaders, turn your cheek to your enemy who strikes you, pursue justice, end hatred, embrace mercy, feed the poor, clothe the naked, sell what you have and give to those in need, proclaim release to the captives, and set free those who are downtrodden.  It does not say that it’s okay to sell your convictions for the sake political party alignment.  It does not condone the abuse of women.  It does not look the other way at crude and course conversation.  It does not marginalize immigrants or promote racial superiority.  It does not applaud greed.  It does not celebrate infidelity.  It does not give approval to deception.

 

So if you are looking for a Bible with which to destroy your opponents, justify hatred, sanction prejudice, or promote avarice, you won’t find it.  The Bible you are looking for simply does not exist.  The only one you will find will demand that you, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, Love your neighbor as yourself.”  (Luke 10:27)  Maybe it is not a new Bible you need, but more time to read the old one.

 

Most of you have seen the movie entitled, “The Help.”  It’s a look at life in Jackson, Mississippi back in the early 60’s when racial division and inequality were most evident in the lives of the citizens of that community.  I’ve watched it several times and I am sadly reminded of a time when so many people were marginalized and treated as if they were less-than-human.  I guess part of what saddens me is that much of the division and inequality between races remains still.

 

In the movie, an African-American maid and nanny named Aibileen Clark, played by Viola Davis, helps to raise a young white girl named Mae Mobley, played by Eleanor Henry.  In her role as a nurturing care-giver, Aibileen attempts to speak encouragement, value and worth into the life of the young girl by having her repeat several phrases along with her.  “You is smart, you is kind, you is important.”  Twice in the movie the exchange between the two is shown. As you watch each scene you get a sense of how important it is to both of them to instill and receive those words of affirmation. (https://youtu.be/3H50llsHm3k)

 

Earlier this week I participated in a seminar devoted to the topic of “The Role of Faith & Mental Health.” Dr. Steven Scoggin of Wake Forest Baptist Health was the presenter.  Dr. Scoggin spoke about the bio-psycho-social factors that affect the health and well-being of every human.  He spoke about the value and importance of community indicating that a child raised in social isolation will suffer life-long health concerns equally damaging as problems brought about in the life of someone who is a life-long smoker.  In other words, emotional health and words of affirmation go a long way in bringing wellness to someone’s life.  Of the 40 million American adults who will suffer from mental health issues this year, many of them could be greatly helped by encountering people who are kind to them and who listen to them.  In fact, people who are compassionate, kind, and non-judgmental bring a healthcare dimension to a patient suffering with mental health issues, equal to that of a physician’s visit.  Remarkable, right?  Research has shown that whenever someone encounters a person who is kind and listening, there is a reaction that physically changes the brain of the sufferer.  Have you ever noticed that certain people seem to always make you feel better?  It’s because their compassion and grace actually cause your brain to think and feel differently.

 

So let’s zero in on children’s health for a moment.  One of the most important things you can do as an adult is to speak words of affirmation and encouragement to the children under your care.  How they view themselves, how they see the world around them, and even their mental health can be greatly affected by your words of affirmation.  I was fortunate as a child.  I grew up in a household where I was encouraged, loved, and affirmed.  I’m not naïve enough to think that the same scenario happens in every family.  Maybe your experience was quite different.  Maybe you were not affirmed or encouraged.  Maybe no one spoke worth into your life.  And God forbid, maybe you were emotionally and physically abused.  I pray that you can learn from your experience and refuse to continue the devastating cycle into the next generation.  That takes courage.

 

The world is a dangerous place.  There are plenty of negative influences waiting to damage the health and well-being of your children.  You have to make the difference.  Invest the time and energy it takes to be present in the life of your children.  Read to them.  Play with them.  Encourage them.  Love them.  Speak worth and value into their lives.  Remind them over and over again that they are smart, kind, and important.

 

There is an old, trite saying that reads, “When life hands you lemons, make lemonade!”  I hate that expression.  But there is indeed something to be said for making the best of a bad situation, because the truth is that we are all going to have some bad situations come our way.  Life is not always kind and pleasant.  Sometimes we find ourselves trying to survive a very difficult season of life.  Some refer to such moments as “wilderness experiences,” when we feel far from home and out of touch with normal life.  Everything seems out-of-sync.  Relationships are out of whack, contentment is fleeting, and peace of mind is hard to find.  Been there?

 

The ancient Israelites had experienced the wilderness moment.  After the glory days of the Kingdom, back when David and then Solomon made Israel a world power, soon things got a little off track.  The Kingdom soon divided and things went downhill fast.  The Assyrians invaded the Northern Kingdom and about 200 years later the Babylonians overran the Southern Kingdom.  The nation was destroyed.  The Temple was obliterated.  All hope ebbed away.  The people were taken into captivity where they lived in exile in the city of Babylon.  It was a desperate, confusing, bewildering time.  Life had handed them lemons.

 

It is in the context of such a bleak moment that the prophet Jeremiah offered these words.  This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says to all the captives he has exiled to Babylon from Jerusalem: “Build homes, and plan to stay. Plant gardens, and eat the food they produce. Marry and have children. Then find spouses for them so that you may have many grandchildren. Multiply! Do not dwindle away! And work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare.” (Jeremiah 29:4-7)

 

Go back and read that passage slowly and look at what God is demanding the exiled people to do.  “Build homes.  Plan to stay.  Plant gardens and eat the produce.  Marry and have families.  Multiply… don’t let yourselves dwindle away.  Work for the peace and prosperity of the city.  Pray for its welfare.”  Can you just imagine that?  Babylon was the last place on earth they wanted to be.  It was the city of their enemies.  This was the place where they were marginalized and mistreated.  These were the people who had destroyed their nation and wrecked their religion.  And yet God says, “Make lemonade!”

 

Maybe there is a message for you in the words of Jeremiah.  Your life may not be going quite the way you had hoped.  You may not like your job.  You may not enjoy where you live.  You may have problems with co-workers.  There may be problems at home.  Maybe there are too many bills and too few paychecks.  I get it.  It’s hard to be stuck in neutral, especially if you are living in a strange and harsh land.  But Jeremiah proclaims a word from the Lord.  “Invest in the life you currently live.  Make friends.  Pray for others.  Look for the blessings rather than curse the hurdles.  See the potential in what each day can hold.  Find the joy in the midst of the chaos.”

 

For the Israelites, the exile lasted 50 years.  That’s a long time.  But not a second of those 50 years was lived apart from the presence of God.  I would hope and pray that the wilderness moments of your life will be much, much shorter.  I would pray that God would soon answer your prayers for deliverance and renew your hope.  But in the meantime, make the best of the bad situation.  Be the best you can be.  You may not be able to control your circumstances, but you can control your response to whatever life throws your way.  Like the ancient people of God, you are not alone and you are not forgotten.  Not now. Not here.  Not ever.

 

I had a very interesting lunch this week.  I had been asked to speak at a local Jewish Temple.  The Rabbi hosts a weekly lunch meeting designed to inform and explore key issues of faith and culture.  The Rabbi is a friend who is interested in our leadership institute here at Belmont and so he asked me to join the group for an hour or so of friendly dialogue.  Imagine the scene… Jon the Baptist taking questions from 35 Jewish congregants.  For over an hour we spoke about matters of faith. We talked about the common ground between our faith traditions and the places where the divide is rather large.  My friend the Rabbi did a nice job in creating a safe and rational conversation.  And yes he asked the $64,000 question… “Do you as a Christian think that Jews are going to heaven?”  At the end of the day the group thanked me for my candor and carefully nuanced responses.  (I also discovered that delicious food is not exclusive to Baptist life!)

 

Face to face conversations are important.  It’s always different when we talk to people instead of choosing to talk about people.  My discovery through the years is that being in the same room, sharing the same space, and insisting on civil and respectful dialogue is critically important to healing wounds, mending fences, and finding ways to co-exist.  Whenever we can personalize our thoughts and opinions with real flesh and blood it becomes so much harder to stereotype, condemn, and misunderstand.  Having the opportunity to speak, to listen, and to think with each other creates an atmosphere where the distances are spanned and the misunderstandings are clarified.  The problem is that such conversations are rare.  In fact, there must be an intentionality to such gatherings or they will not happen at all.

 

One of the questions that I was asked was this, “How old were you before you met and spoke with a member of the Jewish faith?”  I responded by saying that “I had met Jesus at an early age and I was pretty sure He was a Jew.”  But after the polite giggle subsided among the audience members, I had to answer the question with a real response.  Growing up in the very sheltered world of the Bible Belt, I was probably a teenager before I first met someone who was non-Christian.  In those days, I was worried about talking to Methodists and Presbyterians!  Jewish people were not even on the radar.  It’s just human nature for us to gather around the stack pole of common belief, faith, and experience.  It is also a very sheltered and limited perspective on life.  We need to recognize the diversity all around us and rather than fear those whose societal, spiritual, and cultural DNA is so different from that of our own, we need to discover ways to learn, to grow, and to befriend.

 

It has taken over half a century for me to develop a strong enough relationship with a Jewish rabbi for him to call me a friend.  That’s not because of a lack of willingness on his part… it’s because of a lack of intentionality on mine.

Every once in a while I venture away from campus at lunch time to grab a quick bite.  Don’t get me wrong… we have great food here at Belmont University, but sometimes you just crave the finer things, you know… like a Big Mac.  Today was one of those days.  I joined the other 68 million people around the world who ate at the Golden Arches.  (Not kidding.  That’s the average daily total.)  We have one of those fancy drive-thrus here in Nashville that allows people to form two lines when ordering their food.  I’m not sure it speeds things up at all, but it gives the perception of doing so.  I took the lane less traveled in the hope that it would make all the difference.

 

After ordering, there is always that awkward moment of wondering which car should blend back into line first.   There was a gap in the line and so I eased ahead.  And then I saw him coming…  the guy behind me got out of his car, walked up beside me, and asked me to roll down the window.  First, let me describe his car.  Most of it was dark blue.  All of it was dented.  The muffler was held on by a wire and it smoked like those mosquito trucks that used to drive around my neighborhood when I was a kid.  He had to open the door to order his food because the driver’s window had long been sealed up with duct-tape.  To be honest, he didn’t look any better.  His clothes were filthy, his teeth (what was left of them) were yellow, and his hair was grey.  His ensemble was highlighted by an over-stretched tank top.

 

With a little fear and trepidation, I rolled down the window.  He began… “I’m not asking you for anything, I don’t need any money, I just wanted to tell you about how these lines work.”  He wasn’t mad.  He wasn’t belligerent.  He wasn’t stressed.  He just honestly wanted me to know how things work.  I wanted to tell him that this was not my first visit to McDonalds.  “Not my first rodeo” kind of thoughts were going through my head.  But I let him say his piece, thanked him for letting me know, and then I moved ahead to the window to pay.  The employee wanted to know if the stranger wanted money or if he had bothered me.  I told her not at all… “he was just trying to be helpful.”

 

We can learn a few things when we choose to be students of life.  No, I didn’t need instruction on how to navigate the drive-thru lane.  But I did allow myself to learn a few things.  First, sometimes people are made to feel valued when we extend the simple courtesy of listening to them.  Second, relationships based on an exchange of ideas are much better than those filled with fear, anger, and resentment.  Third, we can learn from most anyone else if we assume the posture of a learner and not a know-it-all.  Fourth, sometimes we need to move out of our comfortable, cloistered lives in order to be reminded of a greater world filled with people very different from ourselves, but equally valued in the eyes of God.

 

One other McDonald’s fun fact… there is only one place in the lower 48 states that is more than 100 miles away from a McDonald’s.  It’s a barren plain somewhere in South Dakota.  Wow, I’m glad I live in Nashville…

 

“Do you know where room 220 is located?”  I’ve been getting that question a lot these days.  The Fall semester has begun and a lot of students are struggling to be in the right place at the right time.  Room 220 is just a few steps from my office.  A surprising number of students have stopped in front of my open door to ask for directions.  I don’t mind the interruption… I like meeting the students.  But here’s where the confusion starts.  Room 220, for whatever reason, is not labeled.  There is no number on the door frame, no sign on the wall.  The entire classroom building recently went through an extensive renovation and someone simply overlooked the small, but important detail, making the room a little hard to find.

 

But let me tell you about Room 220.  It has to be the most impressive classroom space on the campus.  To say that it is “state of the art” is to undersell its splendor.  It is the centerpiece of the Massey School of Business.  First, the 2 side walls, along with the back wall, are all clear glass.  Students can see out and visitors can see in.  The room seats 30 and each student station has a large computer screen, keyboard, and input slots for nearly any device.  Unlike the stiff, wooden chairs you might expect, the students sit in nice, reclining cloth desk chairs.  The front wall is equally impressive.  There are two large presentation screens which can be controlled by the professor’s station or by any of the student stations he/she might choose.  There is also a constantly updated screen which highlights world business activities of the day including charts, photos, news stories and graphs.  Finally, at the top of the front wall is a 20-foot long digital, moving, readout of stock market prices.  It’s impressive.  Students might have trouble finding the classroom on the first day of class, but never the second day…

 

There is a place known as the Kingdom of God.  And although it unfolds all around us as Spirit-filled people enflesh the Gospel message, it is also a coming realm filled to overflowing with God’s presence and glory.  Human attempts to describe it will fall pitifully short.  It is a place where all wrongs are made right, all injuries are healed, all transgressions are forgiven.  It is a place of peace, acceptance, joy, inclusion, hope, and abundant grace.  If only people could find their way…

 

I finally gave in to the constant parade of students and stood in the hallway directing traffic.  There was joy in helping the overwhelmed find their way.  It’s also how the Kingdom is built.  We finally overcome our complacency, our apathy, and our anxieties and we say to those who are struggling with life… “Here it is!  This is the place!”  We stand at the crossroads where lives and destinies are decided and we point to the Great Kingdom.  At least that is our calling.  God forgive our silence, our casual attitude, and our appalling lack of involvement.  The Kingdom is worth finding.  The story is worth telling.  Why let someone languish when Room 220 is just down the hall?

 

 

Here at Belmont University where I direct a leadership program, it’s move-in day for all the freshman class.  By the end of the day about 1800 new students will inhabit the campus.  That’s 1800 new stories to be written, 1800 new minds to teach, 1800 cars to unload.  They have a system here on move-in day at Belmont where upperclassmen greet families as they pull into the driveway in front of the various dorms.  Literally within seconds, the car is unloaded and all the stuff is hauled up to the appropriate living space by countless volunteers.  It really is quite remarkable… maybe a little mind-boggling to the parents who are already worried about separation anxiety who watch the task of unloading unfold before their eyes.

 

It’s been almost 4 decades since I moved onto campus as a college freshman.  I still remember the moment and admittedly, I’m a little jealous of those who are just starting this experience.  I’m jealous of the opportunities they have, the future that is theirs to grasp, the experiences about to unfold.  I’m jealous of the new friendships they will forge for life and for the ways in which their world-view, faith, and intellect are about to explode.  For most, college is an exhilarating experience and my hopeful prayer is that these students will be safely sheltered, carefully taught, and wonderfully challenged.

 

I met a family on campus yesterday who were getting their bearings so that the chaordic (chaos & order) process of moving in wouldn’t catch them off guard.  They flew in from California to help their only child, a daughter, get settled.  She looked excited, anxious, fearful, and a bit overwhelmed.  That’s got to be hard.  It’s a long way from home and family.  I gave her my business card and told her, “If you begin to feel a little overwhelmed or you miss home a little too much, come find me.  I will make sure you get connected and find some folks to meet.”  It can be a big, lonely world and sometimes having people to join you in the journey will help.

 

The feeling of being overwhelmed by life doesn’t apply just to college students.  Let’s be honest… it’s a big, mean, lonely world.  Maybe the key for our survival is learning how to invent community around our lives.  It doesn’t just happen.  It is a very intentional process.  We forge friendships.  We create dialogue.  We initiate conversations.  There is a risk and reward.  But at the end of the day, it’s the sense of community that holds the key to our survival.  You may find it at your work, or in your neighborhood, or at your church, or at the gym.  We were not made to be lone-rangers.  We were created for community.

 

So if you see a lost student this week, point them in the right direction.  If you see a lost soul, offer them a moment.  And if you find yourself struggling with this big world, seek out community where you can connect.  It’s how we survive.