I was out running through the DC snowpocalypse aftermath this morning with another TAL podcast streaming through my headphones.  This past week’s episode, “#1 Party School.” It’s an eye-opening look @ student drinking @ Penn State–ranked the #1 party school by the Princeton Review. In the last act Ira Glass quotes the statistic, “every year 1700 college students across the country die of alcohol related injuries.”  It’s a sobering reality and one that brings the importance of university ministry in clearer focus.  If you have a chance, give it a listen and post a comment.  I’d love to hear your thoughts.

All the details have yet to come together, but Dr Fazale Rana, biochemist and scholar with Reasons to Believe will be speaking @ AU in January.  More details to come…stay tuned!

So I’m out on my regular mid-morning run listening to one of my favorite podcast, This American Life. This episode was called “Bait and Switch.”  I laughed at the story of the hotel room service that disguised itself as a pizza chain, I became concerned about police tactics that caught 2 do-gooders, but the third story almost stopped me dead in my tracks.

It was a 13 minute piece on evangelism tactics.  At first I was annoyed.  They led with a disillusioned evangelical describing the kind of methods he used as a part of his Christian college group, but then the story took a remarkable turn.  They interviewed Jim Peterson.  You may know him as the author of books like, Living Proof, and Lifestyle Discipleship.  Ira Glass asked him probing questions on why Christians do what they do and his alternative to the bait and switch.  It was amazing.  Definitely worth the cost of a download or CD.  For a limited time you can check it the full episode but I also found the just this segment entitled: Act 2. Raw Sex. Don’t worry, there’s nothing inappropriate here.  I guess it’s This American Life’s own little bait and switch.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here. We even got an early snowfall over the weekend to add to the spirit. Here are a couple of pictures from last week to give you an idea.

The latest edition of the Collegiate Chronicles is about to hit the press, but with the beauty of modern technology, you can read it now!  Take a look at what’s happening in our ministry to university students in Washington, DC by clicking here, and feel free to leave a comment.  In case you don’t have Adobe Reader (which you’ll need to open the file) yet, you can download it free here.

It’s a phrase that I don’t use often enough–thank you.  Those are the two words that come to mind when I think of this incredible group of family and friends who make it possible for us to follow the dream God’s given us.  So at the end of this day of thanks, I want you to know you how grateful we are for each and every one of you.  Happy Thanksgiving!  I pray God’s grace, peace, and joy will overwhelm you today and throughout this holiday season.

Here’s a piece of news worth breaking the blog silence: our incoming Chi Alpha directors for Georgetown University, Jon and Jenny Rice and their daughter Sophia have moved into town!  I was so excited I almost didn’t notice that we were unpacking their Penske truck in the rain and up 3 flights of stairs  It’s great to have them in the city and so close–they’re only a mile away from our place.

The Rices need to find just a few more support team members and they’ll be on campus full time.  If you’d like to help push them over the top, please let me know.

I pass a lot of signs when I run through the neigborhood.  I’ve been listening to podcasts on my new phone (which also has a great camera) so I thought I’d snap a few pictures of a few of them.

Notice the use of the quotation marks in the first sign.  I’m not sure what they’re trying to say here.  Maybe it’s, “Some would call this thing that holds water a pool–it’s a matter of opinion,” or they are letting you know that someone once said the word pool–I’m not sure.

There were a string of the second sign on trees along MacArthur Blvd in the Palisades neighborhood of NW DC.  They caught my attention because a last summer, Pepco (the local electric company) came and cut down 3 trees on our street.  I miss them!  I hope the paper (and the neighborhood backing behind it) is strong enough to stop the chainsaws.

In the week we remembered the United States of America gaining independence, I listened to Mars Hill’s podcasts on forgiveness.  Thank you Rob Bell for speaking so eloquently on something that imprisons us far more than taxation without representation.  You can check out the audio here (audio file downloads):

Drop the Jawbone

Tortured by Books

It Stops Here

As money gets tight everywhere I’m finding that God has some interesting ways of providing for our needs.  Here are a couple of them:

1. Free parking – After coming home from an evening with friends, we left our car parked in rush hour zone.  The next day, Jen remembered @ 8:30 am–1 1/2 hour after it was supposed to be moved.  I ran outside as fast as I could expecting a big ticket and a tow, instead the car was right where we left it, ticket free!
2. Free phone – I’ve been excited about the release of Palm’s new smartphone for 6 months–so excited in fact that I was first in line for it on June 6th when it came out in stores.  The only issue was that smartphones aren’t cheap.  I’ll spare you all the details, but after all of Sprint’s upgrade discounts and rebates, not only was my new phone free, but I got $25 out of the deal.  Not bad!
3. An unexpected gift – At the end of last month our missionary account was looking low.  As I was praying for provision, I was starting to think of how we could get by on less.  At the last possible moment, an anonymous donor gave us a $2,000 gift!  AMAZING!

These are just a couple of ways God has shown his faithfulness to us as we serve Him.  We’re continuing to pray for his provision.  We’ve lost a number of our financial partners due to economic hardships, and with the rising costs of living in Washington, DC with growing boys, our resources are at their limit.  For those of you who are part of our team, I want to say thanks.  Your commitment to God and to us is humbling.  We couldn’t do what we’re doing without you.

If you’re not yet on the team, would you consider becoming a part?  You can click the “Support the Godzwas” link for all the info you need to get started.  Together we’re reaching students, training leaders and influencing nations.