+ Vision + Mission + Passion +

Stuff From the Mind of Dr. Barry Kolb

+ Vision + Mission + Passion + - Stuff From the Mind of Dr. Barry Kolb

The View From the Top

Like many college football fans, I have a favorite team .. the Nebraska Cornhuskers.  I try to follow them as much as possible … though do not get to see them on TV down here in Texas as much as I would like.  And … even with a stadium expansion … tickets are already sold out … with a waiting list.

But … moving to the Metroplex (Dallas-Fort Worth), I will be able to get them on TV … and will only be about 5-8 minutes from my son Eric’s 65″ screen!  The view from his friendly confines should be a lot better than the seat on the last row of the new seats (see photo)!

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Even I Know This is Nuts!

13 02 21-Kyle_FieldI just read about Texas A&M’s desire to expand its football facilities … not build a new field … but to expand … meaning more seats.  While I am a sports fan … it all seems kind of nuts to me.  Just to put this expansion into perspective here in Texas …

If you are doing the math:

SMU built Ford Field for a cost of $42 million.

TCU renovated Amon G. Carter Stadium to the price of roughly $164 million.

Baylor is building a new football stadium just across the Brazos River from campus with a price of $250 million.

Texas Tech spent roughly $85 million over about a ten year period to upgrade its football stadium.

Houston plans to spend $100 million for a new football venue.

North Texas spent $78 million on its new digs.

Texas spent a total of $450 million over a 15 year period to remake all of its athletic facilities

Texas A&M wants to do a football stadium “update” that will cost $450 million.

Also of note, many of these athletic departments are also associated with schools of higher learning. 

Read more here: http://sportsblogs.star-telegram.com/mac-engel/2013/05/texas-am-just-another-school-spending-whatever-it-can-on-a-football-stadium.html#storylink=cpy

A Prayer To Start Your Day

“This day I call to me:
God’s strength to direct me,
God’s power to sustain me,
God’s wisdom to guide me,
God’s vision to light me,
God’s ear to my hearing,
God’s word to my speaking,
God’s hand to uphold me,
God’s pathway before me,
God’s shield to protect me,
God’s legions to save me:
from snares of the demons,
from evil enticements,
from failings of nature,
from one man or many
that seek to destroy me
anear or afar.”

Teach … Not Preach!

4Borrowed from my friend, Dr. Harry Wendt of Crossways!

When I began graduate studies in the US in 1967, it did not take me long to understand that, in my previous studies, I had been taught a lot about dogma but not much about the Bible’s “big story.”

Furthermore, although I had been taught something about how to preach, I had not been taught much about how to teach.  Little wonder that since 1979, I have experienced much joy in heading up the ministry of Crossways International (CI) where the focus is on knowing the Bible’s big story, teaching that big story, and using teaching graphics to help people understand, believe, live, show, and share the biblical message.

Soon after launching CI, I read something that has remained with me: “Tell me and I will forget; show me and I will remember; involve me and I will understand.”

How often do the Gospels refer to Jesus preaching?  Never!  Instead, the Gospels refer to Jesus as a teacher, as a rabbi, and teaching about 115 times.

It takes about six to eight hours to prepare a sermon and about 15 to 20 minutes to preach it. However, how can a preacher expect people to understand and remember by listening to a 15- to 20-minute sermon that took many hours to put together?

Although we read of Jesus blessing and hugging children, we never read of Him teaching them.  Parents were to do that.  If Jesus taught adults and played with children, why do the majority of churches today teach children and play with adults?  And what do they teach them?

Materials prepared for teaching children often contain edited, adapted, “dumbed down” versions of the biblical story.  The classic examples of that “editing” show up in materials that deal with the lives of David and Solomon. If we do our homework on 2 Samuel 1 through 1 Kings 11, we find that David was “a political animal” (to quote Jewish scholar, Robert Alter) and that Solomon treated many of his subjects cruelly; among other things, he enslaved them.

If anything, David serves as the foil for Jesus. David and Jesus were dead opposites in relation to lifestyle and kingdom–style.  What does it mean that David was “a man after God’s own heart”?

It means that he was the one who captured Jerusalem, named it “the city of David,” made it his capital, brought the Ark of the Covenant there, and began the practice of worshiping and offering sacrifice in one place—Jerusalem; read 2 Samuel 5:6–11; 6:1–19; ch. 24.  However, Jesus attacked the “salvation marketing system” being conducted within Jerusalem’s walls.

Yes, we need to teach children and adults that we are sinners, that Jesus died for our sins, and that we shall go to heaven.  However, the Jesus revealed in the Gospels is much greater than the majority of Christians understand.  Jesus’ definition and demonstration of God’s kingdom so angered the Jewish religious and political leaders, that they had Him crucified.

I See the Moon …

moonshotLike many people, the moon is a source of fascination.  For some it is “the man in the moon.”  For others it is the story of the moon being made of Limburger cheese.  For some it goes back to astronauts walking on the moon … one small step …  It is also called a “lover’s moon.” or “fly me to the moon” or Jackie Gleason’s face superimposed for ‘The Honeymooners.”  For others … it’s a time when the werewolves, etc come out to play!  And for someone it is a reminder of some past event under a full moon.

But for me it is so much more … many memories tied into that old full moon … and each and every time for more years than I care to remember, when I see one, I stand and look at it and memories flood back into my mind.  Memories like … well … that’s between the moon and me!

Geniuses & Idiots

A COUNTRY FOUNDED BY GENIUSESjeff BUT RUN BY IDIOTS

Attributed to Jeff Foxworthy:

If you can get arrested for hunting or fishing without a license, but not for entering and remaining in the country illegally — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

If you have to get your parents’ permission to go on a field trip or to take an aspirin in school, but not to get an abortion — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

If you MUST show your identification to board an airplane, cash a check, buy liquor, or check out a library book and rent a video, but not to vote for who runs the government — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

If the government wants to prevent stable, law-abiding citizens from owning gun magazines that hold more than ten rounds, but gives twenty F-16 fighter jets to the crazy new leaders in Egypt — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

If, in the nation’s largest city, you can buy two 16-ounce sodas, but not one 24-ounce soda, because 24-ounces of a sugary drink might make you fat — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

If an 80-year-old woman or a three-year-old girl who is confined to a wheelchair can be strip-searched by the TSA at the airport, but a woman in a burka or a hijab is only subject to having her neck and head searched — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

If your government believes that the best way to eradicate trillions of dollars of debt is to spend trillions more — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

If a seven-year-old boy can be thrown out of school for saying his teacher is “cute,” but hosting a sexual exploration or diversity class in grade school is perfectly acceptable — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

If hard work and success are met with higher taxes and more government regulation and intrusion, while not working is rewarded with Food Stamps, WIC checks, Medicaid benefits, subsidized housing, and free cell phones — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

If the government’s plan for getting people back to work is to provide incentives for not working, by granting 99 weeks of unemployment checks, without any requirement to prove that gainful employment was diligently sought, but couldn’t be found — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

If you pay your mortgage faithfully, denying yourself the newest big-screen TV, while your neighbor buys iPhones, time shares, a wall-sized do-it-all plasma screen TV and new cars, and the government forgives his debt when he defaults on his mortgage — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

If being stripped of your Constitutional right to defend yourself makes you more “safe” according to the government — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

Freedom Behind Bars

FROM THE RECENT CROSSWAYS NEWSLETTER

Pairs of graduates from the Angola prison “seminary” are sent out to become chaplains to satellite prisons. Angola is the largest maximum security prison in the United States. Naturally, the inmates are in prison for the long term.  But the Spirit of Jesus frees many of them to live meaningfully on the inside.  The Rev. Dr. Barry Kolb (First Lutheran, Texarkana, TX) and Ms. Cheryl Gieseke (Immanuel Lutheran, Belvidere, IL) regularly present CI workshops to the maximum permitted attendance: Fifty prisoners will study the Bible using The Divine Drama and another 50 will study The Parables of Jesus.  “The men at Angola are so appreciative of the materials; they are dedicated to learning and sharing, and these materials are perfect,” says Ms. Gieseke.

 


College Baseball Update!

Baseball America determines the Top 25 rankings. Records indicated are through games of April 21 and do not include ties.

Rk. Team W-L Last Week Prev.
1. North Carolina 39-2 5-0 1
2. Louisiana State 37-4 3-1 3
3. Vanderbilt 35-6 2-2 2
4. Cal State Fullerton 34-6 3-1 4
5. Virginia 35-6 4-0 7
6. North Carolina State 32-10 4-0 15
7. Oregon State 30-8 2-2 5
8. Arizona State 24-12 2-2 9
9. UCLA 25-11 3-1 13
10. Florida State 31-9 1-3 6
11. Oklahoma 31-10 3-2 11
12. Louisville 30-9 2-2 8
13. Oregon 29-10 2-2 10
14. Arkansas 27-15 2-3 12
15. South Carolina 31-10 4-0 18
16. Mississippi State 32-10 2-1 16
17. Indiana 29-8 3-1 19
18. Mississippi 29-12 3-2 21
19. Rice 28-14 3-1 22
20. Georgia Tech 27-13 1-3 14
21. Stanford 22-12 3-1 NR
22. Gonzaga 26-11 3-1 24
23. UNC Wilmington 30-11 4-0 25
24. New Mexico 24-16 4-0 NR
25. Clemson 27-13 1-2 20