Breakfast on Campus

My friend Bryan recently revived a rich tradition in our church known as the "Breakfast Club". It started today in the Student Union on campus. Four of us met at 9:30am, went our separate ways for about 45 minutes to pray, journal, study the Bible, and just spend time alone with God, and then we regrouped at 10:15 to eat breakfast together and talk.

I have fond memories of the breakfast club dating back to 1996 as a Sophomore here at BGSU. The first breakfast club required much more of a commitment than today. If my memory is correct, in the old days our mornings began around 6:30am in Offenhauer Residence Hall. Andy, Eric, Greg, Jonas, and sometimes Dustin and myself (maybe a few others that I can't recall) would meet downstairs no matter how late we may have stayed up the night before. In some cases, the strict commitment meant that there could be a loud knock on my ninth floor room door at 6:35 if I was not awake yet. Though sometimes rather sluggish, I remember great times of prayer and reflection during this early breakfast club. I may not recall exact scripture or Biblical themes of my individual times, but I still attribute some of my discipline to those days. In addition, we began and cultivated friendships that would last ten years and continue to grow and mature even today. Most of the men have moved away and are serving God in influential ways in new locations. It was during this first breakfast club that inside jokes such as the "Big Asp Bowl" of cereal and "I will kill you and your children and your children's children" began (these probably sound strange to someone who wasn't there, but the jokes are fairly innocent). I miss those days and the men who were involved.

The breakfast club ended for a couple of years, but was revived the year after I graduated from college. As a new school teacher, I was unable to attend this group, but several of the members were the same. The same discipline that was required for the first breakfast club continued to this one, and I felt bonded to many of the new members because of their similar commitment. I picked up several more close friends from this revival even without being personally involved.

Again the breakfast club ended for a couple of years, but was brought back for the third time just three years ago. This time, the discipline also included first working out in the student recreation center, then meeting for breakfast in the Kreischer Sundial cafeteria, and finally ending in individual practice rooms of the music building for alone time with God. It was during this version of the breakfast club that I remember spending countless hours praying about my decision to date Lindsay. I read stories about Jim Elliot and wondered how God may ask me to "lay down my life" for Him. I was new to full-time ministry and felt excited about how God could use me. I love the passion and zeal characterized in my memories of this breakfast club.

And now, a new era begins. Two years later, a new breakfast club has started. I'm looking forward to sharing this discipline with Bryan, Jarrod, Chris and whoever else may show up. I'm looking forward to God's lessons and the memories that will develop. And, of course, I'm looking forward to breakfast.

Where I've been. . .

My friend Jay just posted an entry on his blog re-telling part of a cool story of what God did in my life as a college student.

Check it out at http://hopelesslyuncool.blogspot.com/2006/01/what-are-you-prepared-to-do.html

The Wellspring of Life. . .

Proverbs 4:23 says, "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life."

John Eldridge, in his book, "Waking the Dead" says that you cannot truly give to others if your own heart is neglected. I have seen the effects of this in my own life. In ministry especially, the lines between work and rest are fuzzy. If we love our jobs, we can work up to 80 hours in a week without even realizing it. Our hearts, however, feel the burden of such work. We may physically feel fine, but inwardly our hearts are being defeated. Fatigue and burnout catch up with us quickly and seemingly out of nowhere. Eldridge claims that we are all in a battle for our hearts, and we must fight by actively guarding our "wellspring of life."

For me, the battle feels confusing. A year and a half ago, I realized that I need a structured battle plan. Even with my own good intentions, if I don't have an outlined strategy, then I will most likely lose the fight. Here's what I came up with in August of 2004:

- Take at least one complete day off each week
- Have an extended time of at least 3 hours in prayer, reading the Bible, and reflection each week
- Take one 8 hour retreat day per month (similar to extended time above)
- Take one 24 hour retreat per semester
- Take one 48 hour retreat per year
- Take 5 prayer walks per week
- read for pleasure in the evenings before bed
- Find a consistent hobby or project

Certainly, I haven't been perfect at keeping each of these "Proverbs 4" activities, but overall I am very pleased with their effects so far. As the new semester begins here at BGSU, I am committed to continuing these activities in an attempt to stay in ministry for the long haul. In many ways, I feel it is my responsibility to take care of myself in this way in order to more fully devote myself to God's work here on campus.

I should also note that I am still searching for a good hobby. I guess my criteria for this hobby are sort of strict - I'm hoping to find something that is productive, but not directly ministry related. Any ideas out there?

postings

A wise friend shared with me last week (after scolding me for not posting more entries on my blog) that I need to get to the point in which writing on the web log serves me. That is to say it should not be work for me to write, but instead it should be an outlet - a form of expression, or even just fun. This will encourage me to do it more often.

I strongly agree with my friend, but confess that blogging has not yet become an outlet for me. There are times when I enjoy writing. I may observe something during the day and look forward to posting an entry on it that night. But, for now these times are sporadic. And because they don't happen very often, I may even choose to ignore my thoughts and observations rather than giving the extra effort to type them online.

I have noticed about myself that I require more outlets - not that I need more ways to express myself, but that I will tend to leave my thoughts and feelings unexpressed. I don't inherently feel a strong need to be heard. But, God is bringing to my attention lately that in order to be truly alive I must express my observations, my thoughts, my feelings, my ideas, and my opinions. Otherwise I remain only a spectator in life.

I highly doubt that blogging will be the main outlet of these things for me (at least I hope not!) but, for my friend's sake, I will do my best to make blogging one form of healthy expression.