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Giving to the Poor May Be Easier Than You Think
It is a Sunday and the sermon is on Matthew 25: 31-46. “The Sheep and the Goats.” The verses that give a chilling example of what it means to be a Christian. Like every other well informed person today, you think, “If only it was as simple as feeding the hungry, providing water to the…
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Cautious Optimism
Harvard Business Review recently posted a summary of a new book which outlines the Seven Reasons Why Africa’s Time is Now. The book looks to be good and is a must read for anyone who is interested in the topic of global business, worldwide development, or, like a former professor of mine, just generally interested…
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Preparations
In just over a month I will embark on a life changing experience. Ok, I must pause for just a moment, I don’t like framing the next year in my life in this sort of fantastic way. As if every moment of every day, even the most monotonous, are not life changing. To call the…
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Commencement
This is it, I graduate from Calvin College this week. It is a bittersweet feeling. It feels clique to say this, but it truly is the epitome of bittersweet. The people who told me before beginning college that the next four years were going to be the best years of my life, were correct. My time at Calvin has been…
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We’ll Thank Each Other Later
It has been a while since my last post. I’ve been busy with school, trying to find a job, and spending time with friends. But I had to break the hiatus to share some thoughts on this topic. Last week Calvin College Philosophy professor James K.A. Smith wrote a fascinating article entitled, “You’ll Thank Me Later”: Paternalism and…
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Reflections on Returning
It has been just over a month since I’ve returned back to my life here in the States. After spending four months in Ghana through a semester with Calvin College, I am back to life, as I knew it. After living, listening, laughing, and learning in a new country, a new culture, a seemingly new…
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Echad
I was recently asked to speak at faculty devotions held weekly at my former elementary, middle, and high school. I was asked by my mother who teaches first grade at Whitinsville Christian School, and who’s turn to prepare devotions was approaching. The assignment was rigged. Reflect on two passages from scripture: the year long theme verse,…
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Reeling in Reality
David Foster Wallace, American writer and essayist, began his commencement address to the graduates of Kenyon College in 2005 with this well known story about fish: One fish says to the other, “So, how’s the water?” The other replied, “What’s water?” The insight and brilliance of this story lies parallel to my experience in Ghana…
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Stories from the North
Last week our group returned from spending ten days traveling around the Northern regions of Ghana. Ghana is about the size of Indiana and it took us two days to travel from Accra on the southern coast of Ghana to Tamale the capital of the Northern Region of Ghana. This shows how difficult it can…
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Tro-Troing
Tro-troing is a word I made up. It is a verb that means to ride on tro-tros with no real destination in mind. I did this Saturday afternoon. It was a nice day. I had most of my class assignments under control. I had just spent the entire previous week, including the internship days, in…
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Jeffrey R. Bloem 