Friday, January 05, 2007
End-of-Week Musings
Brain-Drained
Ok, so my brain is mush. This happens every Friday about 6 p.m. I've spent the week stuffing my head full of lecture info (remember, classes start next week)--do you remember Porky Pig at the end of Looney Tunes? How his stutter kind of sounds like a CD cleaned by sandpaper? I have nightmares that, one day, I start a class lecture and that's what I sound like! Some students may think that it's already happened once or twice.
So, when I'm brain-drained, my panacea is a trip to a bookstore, usually one of the three "B's": Barnes & Noble, Borders, or Books-A-Million. And, as usual, I ran across something way cool (I probably should have warned you first thing-I am a book fiend); a novel about the apostle Paul by-get this!-Johnny Cash! Isn't that a great image-Paul in the Roman jail singing "Folsom Prison Blues"? Ironically, it's titled Man in White. Do you get it? Huh? Do you? The famed "Man in Black" writes a book called Man in White. Oh, how clever.
I didn't have the fundage to buy it just yet (translation: my wife told me no, we have to save money, not spend it, because we've got a you-know-what coming you-know-when), so I sat down and read the intro. He really did some heavy duty research about the life of Paul. It all started when he inherited his father or grandfather-in-law's religious library; he said he started to read and really love Josephus of all things. (You want a brain-drain? Try reading Josephus; best cure I know for insomnia). That led to other works about 1st century Judaism and Palestine, then Jesus, then Paul, then . . . well, it's a lengthy introduction.
Anyway, I know this blog is the gathering place for all Apostolic Johnny Cash fanatics (yeah right), but it does look like a fascinating read (There, I've covered myself from all the hate-mail: "I read that Johnny Cash book and it was terrible! Your book-sense stinks!" or whatever). But, Johnny was a very spiritual man ; he is very sensitive to the spiritual aspects of his addictions and his need for salvation.
A Final Fried Thought on First-Time Fatherhood
So, my wife and I are walking out of the mall after my "Cash" discovery, and I pass this (I assume) mother and daughter walking in. I only catch this phrase: "You can't have it because it's above your economic level . . ."
I turned to my wife and quip, "My mom just used to say, 'No, we can't afford it!'" The girl was probably 9 or 10 (guesstimating); that's a pretty sophisticated explanation for a 10-year old, I thought. Kids seem to "grow up" more quickly today than when I was young; my wife might even say that I'm still not grown up. The real question is why I am worrying about explaining to my daughter that we can't afford to buy something when I've never actually changed a diaper? Oh yeah, I've already been informed that this dad will have diaper duty, or . . . this is a G-rated blog; no violence allowed.
That's been the odd thing; when I think about being a new dad, my mind gets jumpy. One minute I'm wondering, "How will I keep track of feeding and changing times if my wife goes out for an afternoon?" to thinking, "I have to quit teaching at Gateway when my daughter is sixteen because I don't want those grubby freshman guys (sorry, future freshman guys) trying to look like 'big man on campus' because they're dating the prof's daughter!" I'm mad at the Fall 2023 freshmen already!
Besides, how do I tell her that we can't afford that "on-the-beach, Michael-Buble-singing-Sinatra-big-band-favorites, steak-and-lobster-reception-dinner, bazillion-dollar-gown" dream wedding? Say, "It's above our 'economic level'?"
Questions, comments, concerns? Please feel free to E-mail me!
Ok, so my brain is mush. This happens every Friday about 6 p.m. I've spent the week stuffing my head full of lecture info (remember, classes start next week)--do you remember Porky Pig at the end of Looney Tunes? How his stutter kind of sounds like a CD cleaned by sandpaper? I have nightmares that, one day, I start a class lecture and that's what I sound like! Some students may think that it's already happened once or twice.
So, when I'm brain-drained, my panacea is a trip to a bookstore, usually one of the three "B's": Barnes & Noble, Borders, or Books-A-Million. And, as usual, I ran across something way cool (I probably should have warned you first thing-I am a book fiend); a novel about the apostle Paul by-get this!-Johnny Cash! Isn't that a great image-Paul in the Roman jail singing "Folsom Prison Blues"? Ironically, it's titled Man in White. Do you get it? Huh? Do you? The famed "Man in Black" writes a book called Man in White. Oh, how clever.
I didn't have the fundage to buy it just yet (translation: my wife told me no, we have to save money, not spend it, because we've got a you-know-what coming you-know-when), so I sat down and read the intro. He really did some heavy duty research about the life of Paul. It all started when he inherited his father or grandfather-in-law's religious library; he said he started to read and really love Josephus of all things. (You want a brain-drain? Try reading Josephus; best cure I know for insomnia). That led to other works about 1st century Judaism and Palestine, then Jesus, then Paul, then . . . well, it's a lengthy introduction.
Anyway, I know this blog is the gathering place for all Apostolic Johnny Cash fanatics (yeah right), but it does look like a fascinating read (There, I've covered myself from all the hate-mail: "I read that Johnny Cash book and it was terrible! Your book-sense stinks!" or whatever). But, Johnny was a very spiritual man ; he is very sensitive to the spiritual aspects of his addictions and his need for salvation.
A Final Fried Thought on First-Time Fatherhood
So, my wife and I are walking out of the mall after my "Cash" discovery, and I pass this (I assume) mother and daughter walking in. I only catch this phrase: "You can't have it because it's above your economic level . . ."
I turned to my wife and quip, "My mom just used to say, 'No, we can't afford it!'" The girl was probably 9 or 10 (guesstimating); that's a pretty sophisticated explanation for a 10-year old, I thought. Kids seem to "grow up" more quickly today than when I was young; my wife might even say that I'm still not grown up. The real question is why I am worrying about explaining to my daughter that we can't afford to buy something when I've never actually changed a diaper? Oh yeah, I've already been informed that this dad will have diaper duty, or . . . this is a G-rated blog; no violence allowed.
That's been the odd thing; when I think about being a new dad, my mind gets jumpy. One minute I'm wondering, "How will I keep track of feeding and changing times if my wife goes out for an afternoon?" to thinking, "I have to quit teaching at Gateway when my daughter is sixteen because I don't want those grubby freshman guys (sorry, future freshman guys) trying to look like 'big man on campus' because they're dating the prof's daughter!" I'm mad at the Fall 2023 freshmen already!
Besides, how do I tell her that we can't afford that "on-the-beach, Michael-Buble-singing-Sinatra-big-band-favorites, steak-and-lobster-reception-dinner, bazillion-dollar-gown" dream wedding? Say, "It's above our 'economic level'?"
Questions, comments, concerns? Please feel free to E-mail me!
Thursday, January 04, 2007
The Basics
As any writer knows, the first sentence is always the hardest--crack that and the rest is a cake-walk! With that out of the way, it seems proper to begin with a somewhat formal introduction.
Who Am I?
My name is Jared Runck; I've been an instructor in Old Testament and Theology at Gateway College of Evangelism for the past five years. I grew up in Nebraska where the only exciting thing was Huskers football (and, yes, I'm still mourning our loss to Auburn in the Cotton Bowl); I came to Gateway in the fall 0f '98, graduated in the spring of '02, married my college sweetheart, and started teaching the next fall.
Wow! I just summed up my life in 3 sentences! Not a good feeling for a first-time blogger.
What's Happening
However, the "Month in My Life" blog came to me on the cusp of perhaps the most exciting semester of my life so far. I will be completing my Master's thesis comparing the Temple theology of Jeremiah and Deuteronomy this springand will graduate (finally!) in May. In fact, my graduation date is also our five-year anniversary. However, before we reach that momentous milestone, we have a daughter on the way in April!
So, writing a thesis, teaching at a Bible college, having your first child are all "fair game" subjects for this month's blog. I hope this piques your interest . . . maybe it's just a warning!
My Passion
Some of you may have read my article on holiness on 90&9; if not, here's the link, in case you are interested: http://www.ninetyandnine.net/cover/20061211.html. I still chuckle at the header-"This was originally presented in a slightly different format". Translated, that reads, "This was the first time anybody played a U2 song for a devotion!"
Anyway, if you have read that, you will understand that my heart's desire is to see the Church truly engage the culture in which we live. We so often pretend 1) that the culture hasn't changed in the last 50 years or 2) that we easily turn the cultural clock back to some era like the 1950s. Sorry, folks, it ain't gonna happen! Our culture has gone postmodern (I'll blog a bit about what I think that means); the question is not how the church can revert culture to an earlier era but how the Church relates to this era. That's why I'm such a strong believer in the mission of 90&9 and the IQ Forum; they are both about making the Christian faith make sense in a nonsense world.
A few years ago in seminary, I took a class on biblical interpretation. The final assignment was to look for cultural artifacts (novels, advertisements, novels, movies, etc) that made allusion to the Bible. Sounds easy, right? Very funny. In case you didn't know it (I didn't before I did this assignment), biblical allusions are all over pop culture. Hopefully, over the course of this month, I can help raise awareness of the ways in which the Bible is present in our world.
Happy reading.
Questions, comments, concerns? Please feel free to E-mail me!
Who Am I?
My name is Jared Runck; I've been an instructor in Old Testament and Theology at Gateway College of Evangelism for the past five years. I grew up in Nebraska where the only exciting thing was Huskers football (and, yes, I'm still mourning our loss to Auburn in the Cotton Bowl); I came to Gateway in the fall 0f '98, graduated in the spring of '02, married my college sweetheart, and started teaching the next fall.
Wow! I just summed up my life in 3 sentences! Not a good feeling for a first-time blogger.
What's Happening
However, the "Month in My Life" blog came to me on the cusp of perhaps the most exciting semester of my life so far. I will be completing my Master's thesis comparing the Temple theology of Jeremiah and Deuteronomy this springand will graduate (finally!) in May. In fact, my graduation date is also our five-year anniversary. However, before we reach that momentous milestone, we have a daughter on the way in April!
So, writing a thesis, teaching at a Bible college, having your first child are all "fair game" subjects for this month's blog. I hope this piques your interest . . . maybe it's just a warning!
My Passion
Some of you may have read my article on holiness on 90&9; if not, here's the link, in case you are interested: http://www.ninetyandnine.net/cover/20061211.html. I still chuckle at the header-"This was originally presented in a slightly different format". Translated, that reads, "This was the first time anybody played a U2 song for a devotion!"
Anyway, if you have read that, you will understand that my heart's desire is to see the Church truly engage the culture in which we live. We so often pretend 1) that the culture hasn't changed in the last 50 years or 2) that we easily turn the cultural clock back to some era like the 1950s. Sorry, folks, it ain't gonna happen! Our culture has gone postmodern (I'll blog a bit about what I think that means); the question is not how the church can revert culture to an earlier era but how the Church relates to this era. That's why I'm such a strong believer in the mission of 90&9 and the IQ Forum; they are both about making the Christian faith make sense in a nonsense world.
A few years ago in seminary, I took a class on biblical interpretation. The final assignment was to look for cultural artifacts (novels, advertisements, novels, movies, etc) that made allusion to the Bible. Sounds easy, right? Very funny. In case you didn't know it (I didn't before I did this assignment), biblical allusions are all over pop culture. Hopefully, over the course of this month, I can help raise awareness of the ways in which the Bible is present in our world.
Happy reading.
Questions, comments, concerns? Please feel free to E-mail me!
