“It’s natural to see successful, wealthy people who graduated from ‘the best’ schools, and to believe that the schools made them that way. In fact, those schools have centuries of experience in simply selecting the wealthiest, most successful people to begin with, and doing little to stand in their way for four years. They effectively make a silk purse out of silk. No small task, to be sure, but hardly the momentous challenge it’s often made out to be.”
And cuddling up with Aunt Wanda . . .
“You just need to be a flea against injustice. Enough committed fleas biting strategically can make even the biggest dog uncomfortable and transform even the biggest nation.”
“In the end we retain from our studies only that which we practically apply.”
- Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
Anyway, I have been feeling pretty dry and cold (spiritually, but maybe even in other ways, too) lately. The fact that God has not poured amazing miracles out on Taylor University Fort Wayne despite our hard work and conviction that He has given us a vision and calling that He will bless h
as sometimes made me fearful that I’m like Jonah in that storm-tossed boat . . . Once Jonah was tossed overboard, the seas calmed down and the sailors were safe. I don’t want to be the factor that is holding back TUFW from smooth sailing.
Even youths will faint and be weary
And the young will fall exhausted;
But those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.
Sometimes you will mount up and soar on wings of eagles. This is a beautiful picture. Ornithologists say birds have three methods of flight. The first is flapping—keeping their wings in constant motion to counteract gravity. Hummingbirds can flap up to seventy times per second. Flapping keeps you up in the air, but it is a lot of work. Flapping is an awkward, clumsy business. I spend a lot of time flapping around. It gets me from here to there, but there is not a lot of grace involved.
Then there is the third way—soaring. Only a few birds, like eagles are capable of this. Eagles' wings are so strong that they are capable of catching rising currents of warm air—thermal winds that go straight up from the earth—and without moving a feather can soar up to great heights. Eagles have been clocked at up to 80 m.p.h. without flapping at all. They just soar on invisible columns of rising air.
Sometimes in your life you will be in an era of spiritual soaring. Maybe you are there right now. You find yourself simply borne up by God's power. You are out of the boat. God is answering prayer with extravagant generosity, using you in ways that leave you astonished, giving you power to rise above temptation and sin, making you surprisingly productive in your life's work, and flooding you with strength and wisdom beyond your ability.
But there is another line in Isaiah's description. Sometimes we are not soaring, but we are able to run and not grow weary. If this is where you are, your life isn't feeling effortless. You do not see a lot of miracles. You have to do some flapping. But with persistence and determination, you know you are running the race. You feel frustration, but you also feel God's pleasure in your obedience. You need to keep running - faithfully obeying, serving, giving, and praying. Do not try to manufacture spiritual ecstasy. Do not compare yourself with someone who is soaring right now. Your time will come. Just keep running.
. . . . We have some very fast runners in our world. We have some eagles that soar much higher than we can see. It is a hard thing to be a walker when you are surrounded by racers and eagles. But sometimes walking is the best we can offer God. He understands all about that. Walking counts, too.
Now it is just a matter of time.
“Several of the students I interviewed mentioned the ‘walk of shame,’ which refers to a college student, usually female, walking home the next morning after a hookup encounter in the same outfit he/she was wearing the evening prior. 
Given that students dress differently for ‘going out’ at night than during the daytime, it is obvious to onlookers when a student is doing the walk of shame. One of many interesting things about this phrase is that students use the word ‘shame’ at all. If students accept hooking up and believe that ‘everybody’s doing it,’ then why do they use the term shame when referencing a hookup encounter? I think that phrase actually underscores an important issue: Many students are struggling with the hookup system.”
Interview in Inside Higher Ed, 1/29/08
