As promised in the August 28 Parish Notes of Grace Mennonite, here is a new blog. It has been a long time since I have written a blog; February 25 to be exact. In my last blog I was writing about the snow we thought would never end. A lot has happened since then. Once again, I will try and be faithful with having at least one blog a week. Maybe there will be more once I get started writing.
A lot has happened since February. Let me first catch you up with our family. Ryan (our oldest son) is this week finishing a 2 year stint with Mennonite Voluntary Service in Madison, Wisconsin. He is presently looking for employment as he hopes to stay in Madison as he likes the city and especially the Mennonite church there. Unfortunately it is not an easy time to look for a job.
Philip and Mary are beginning their last year at the Mennonite Brethren seminary in Fresno, California. They will both be graduating in early May 2012: Mary with a degree in counseling and Philip with a Masters of Divinity degree.
Julia has completed two years at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. She was in San Antonio, Texas for the summer participating in the Ministry Inquiry Program with San Antonio Mennonite Church. She had a great time doing that. Presently she is beginning a semester abroad in Brussels, Belgium where she is attending Vesalius College in Brussels. So far she is enjoying Belgium a great deal and has already had spent a week-end in Paris. Julia has a blog you might what to follow.
http://julia-exploringtheinfiniteabyss.blogspot.com/
That’s enough for the kids. Our life as empty nesters here in Pandora seems a little boring in comparison. We are excited about the newly renovated sanctuary in the church that should be finished in the next several weeks. We had a good trip to Pittsburgh for the Mennonite Church USA convention this summer. Other than that, we have not done much travelling as we are saving our vacation time to take a 13 day trip to Europe at the end of October and the beginning of November. It will be great to get back to Europe as it has been 30 years since we lived there for a year learning French for missionary service in Congo. I should have a lot to write about after that.
What I am Reading
The past week or so (I am a slow reader) I have been reading Strength in What Remains by Tracy Kidder. It is the story of Deogratias, a young medical student from the central African nation of Burundi. Through no fault of his own, he was forced onto a terrifying journey, a journey that split his life in two. First there was a six-months-long escape on foot from ethnic violence in Burundi and from genocide in Rwanda. Almost by accident he ended up in New York City, where he lived for a time in Central Park.
I am so far inspired and challenged by the book. I find the senseless genocide in Burundi and Rwanda appalling and wonder how this could have taken place in our modern world. Yesterday, I was privileged to hear Deogratias speak as he was the speaker at Bluffton University for the school opening convocation. It was amazing that he seemed to have no bitterness about his tremendously difficult life but a genuine hope for the future. In fact he has gone back to build much needed health clinics in Burundi. More about this later.
Where in the Bible is Dennis Reading?
I have made it a practice for the last several years to read through the entire Bible every year. The plan I use has me reading the Psalms and New Testament twice and the rest once every year. I have found this a good discipline to help me get the bigger picture of God’s story of salvation and gets me into sections of Scripture I would not normally turn to. Some sections are like old friends that come around once a year and every year I seem to get a little more understanding.
Right now I am beginning my journey through the prophet Ezekiel, just finishing up 1 Samuel and am in the middle of 1 Corinthians and the Psalms. I will have more specific reflections in later blogs.
