A very famous Willie Nelson song goes like this...
And, the title of this blog is Bishops on the Road.
And indeed we are going on the road again, and by the time you read this we were there and back. We have the opportunity to work with two CRU summer project teams. Our groups are in Rome and in Bologna. Rest assured there are groups of 10 or so students plus leaders scattered across the globe.
Our main ministry is really not to the citizens of the various locations but to the students from the good old USA! As I shared with the members of our congregation, after spending a year in Africa, it is clear our calling is the our own USA students.
It can be much more challenging for the leaders than for the students. The leaders didn't join CRU to work with folk over 60 years of age. We likely represent a threat is several ways. The big thing is that most of CRU is totally unaccustomed to even thinking about working with faculty.
Just WHAT do you do with these old guys? They are likely to scare away the Italian students. In many countries faculty and students keep a good distance apart.
The answer is easy. We just want to love on, and shepherd students who are a looooong way from home, and many of them for the first time. We want to be the "safe place" where they can share their frustrations and fears. We aren't a place to lodge complaints, but we are a listening ear.
When our kids were young we read to them about a group of school children visiting a farm. The kids scared all the animals... except the farm dog. The other animals recognized the dog was pretty ordinary, but that he was a friend to all the other farm animals, as well as the kids.
Dispite the dog's mundane nature, the animals concluded that<
"A friend is a fine thing to be!"
Amen.
And I can't wait to get on the road again.
On the road again
Goin' places that I've never been.
Seein' things that I may never see again
And I can't wait to get on the road again.
On the road again -
Like a band of gypsies we go down the highway
We're the best of friends.
Insisting that the world keep turning our way
And our way
is on the road again.
On the road again
Goin' places that I've never been.
Seein' things that I may never see again
And I can't wait to get on the road again.
On the road again -
Like a band of gypsies we go down the highway
We're the best of friends.
Insisting that the world keep turning our way
And our way
is on the road again.
And, the title of this blog is Bishops on the Road.
And indeed we are going on the road again, and by the time you read this we were there and back. We have the opportunity to work with two CRU summer project teams. Our groups are in Rome and in Bologna. Rest assured there are groups of 10 or so students plus leaders scattered across the globe.
Our main ministry is really not to the citizens of the various locations but to the students from the good old USA! As I shared with the members of our congregation, after spending a year in Africa, it is clear our calling is the our own USA students.
It can be much more challenging for the leaders than for the students. The leaders didn't join CRU to work with folk over 60 years of age. We likely represent a threat is several ways. The big thing is that most of CRU is totally unaccustomed to even thinking about working with faculty.
Just WHAT do you do with these old guys? They are likely to scare away the Italian students. In many countries faculty and students keep a good distance apart.
The answer is easy. We just want to love on, and shepherd students who are a looooong way from home, and many of them for the first time. We want to be the "safe place" where they can share their frustrations and fears. We aren't a place to lodge complaints, but we are a listening ear.
When our kids were young we read to them about a group of school children visiting a farm. The kids scared all the animals... except the farm dog. The other animals recognized the dog was pretty ordinary, but that he was a friend to all the other farm animals, as well as the kids.
Dispite the dog's mundane nature, the animals concluded that<
"A friend is a fine thing to be!"
Amen.
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