Hello, friends and readers!

Future posts to our blog will be found at http://jonathanandbecky.net. (We've moved the existing posts there, too.) So you'll want to update any browser bookmarks or favorites to point to the new site. Hopefully this will make it easier for those of you who want to post comments, as well as give us a little more freedom in how we write and post to the blog.

Feel free to let us know--on the new blog or via email--about any issues you have reading or commenting on the new blog. Thanks for reading and encouraging us over the last few years! We look forward to another term in Malawi, and to writing more on our blog.

Happy New Year!

[Wow. Somehow this message stayed in our old blog's "draft" posts instead of going live. It's still accurate...even though w meant for it to go live on January 1, 2016. Sorry!!!]

Teaching at EBCoM

I really enjoy teaching. This term I am teaching two classes: a "Bible Book Study" on Matthew for second-year certificate students, and a Discipleship class for first-year diploma students.

Because this is my first time teaching these (or any) courses, it takes longer to prepare for each class period than it would if I had more experience. I probably spend at least two to three hours preparing for every one hour in class. (I read an article a couple months ago that suggested that 1 ½ hours of preparation per hour of class is a reasonable amount of time, but I think that amount might assume that the professor is given a fairly detailed course plan. I don’t know. Perhaps some of my more experienced professor friends can chime in down in the comments or via email.)

Of course, I also grade the assignments that I give. English is a second language for all of my students, though most of them are quite good. My classes are small, which helps, but I’m learning a new grading system (where “normal grades” are 50-70, rather than 70-90). Even so, grading is taking more time than I think it should. It will come eventually, I’m sure.

Many of you know I have been interested in discipleship for a long time. For those of you less familiar with the word, discipleship has to do with the process of learning how to live life as a follower of Christ—and as part of that learning, actually doing it. [Jesus’ first disciples were the relatively traditional type of disciple in first-century Palestine: he taught a relatively small group of people over the course of three years, until they were ready to teach others. Those first disciples, of course, were the beginning of the spread of Christianity, and that general model of discipleship still works pretty well today—when it is used.]

Some of that process involves learning what Jesus taught, and how the early Christians lived it out, but a lot of the process is learning how to overcome your own weaknesses and temptations so that you can live a fruitful life in service to God and other people. “Learning to live like Jesus” is no simple task, and it’s a lifelong pursuit. From the point of view of the early Christians, it was expected that all believers would seek to live out what they said they believed with their heads/hearts, but in the Church today many people have all sorts of reasons why they don’t think [normal] Christians should be expected to try. On the other hand, there are also many people who don’t offer much help (i.e. training) to people who want to live according to Christ’s teachings, but when someone messes up, they’re quick to condemn or kick them out. Somewhere in between these two extremes, we need to set the expectation that Christians should actually seek to live out the gospel in daily life, yet extend grace to all of those genuinely trying but who do it imperfectly (which, of course, is all of us who are genuinely trying). And because we’re Christians, we recognize that we couldn’t really live out Jesus’ way of life without the empowerment of God in the first place, so there’s no room for pride or arrogance. The sad thing is that most Christians have never had a more experienced Christian pour into their lives in that kind of an intentional way.

I’ve mentioned that I spend a lot of time in preparation. Long ago I heard that if you really want to learn something, you should teach it to others. Teaching [well] forces you to learn at a deeper level than if you were just taking a class. So I get to study discipleship in an intense, formal way so that I’m ready to teach it. There’s reading, organizing, prioritizing, and writing involved, among other things. I often wish I had even more time to study it. I’m blessed with students who seem to care about the course content, too, and believe that it will help them to better serve their respective denominations and congregations. [Incidentally, none of my students this term are connected with my own denomination.]

The other class I’m teaching is on the book of Matthew, so I get to study the book first and then teach some of what I’m learning and have learned over the years. Along the way, I’m also trying to reinforce healthy and helpful ways of studying the Bible that can be used when they study other biblical books. Most people know that the Bible can be twisted to support or attack all kinds of things—meanings that the authors never intended. It takes intentionality and discipline (and God’s help) to seek out what the verses really mean, and we want our students to get used to taking the time to do that, instead of using the Bible’s words to support whatever they happen to already think, or whatever they heard from someone else.

The gospel according to Matthew is a great book to study and teach, and it’s fun to do that alongside of a class on discipleship—they really work well together. It forces you to deal with the life-changing implications of what Jesus is teaching—it involves changes in action and behavior, but even more importantly, involves changes in the way we think. The kingdom of heaven/kingdom of God just doesn’t play by the usual human rules.

In addition to teaching the two classes, I also lead a counseling group of four students. We meet about once a month, but each week they also update me on their progress in various programs: scripture reading/reflection, Thursday afternoon ministry (hospital visitation, for example), and weekend ministry (students are each assigned to a church, where they are to seek out ways that they can serve the congregation, whether “up front” or on an individual basis). When my counselees are assigned to lead morning devotions, I go over their plans with them and make comments and suggestions as needed.

Beyond that, I’ve led morning devotions once and will lead a chapel service later this term. There are campus activities such as daily devotions, daily tea, weekly chapel, weekly campus prayers, and sports & fellowship afternoon once per term. (The picture at the top of this post is my weekly schedule, with afternoons, Mondays, Wednesdays, and half of Friday currently going to class prep and grading.) I also have a preaching schedule for Brethren in Christ churches in the surrounding area. So far I’ve preached twice, but I’m scheduled five more times before the end of the year. (I’ll say more about that in another post…)

There are the occasional nights (or early, early mornings!) when I wish I could just build a database and go home and not think about work--instead of trying to figure out how to best teach some passage or concept, but it doesn’t happen often. I’m getting better at preparing during daylight hours, so that I can get a healthier amount of sleep. But just the other night, when I thought I couldn’t think any more and just had to sleep, I read something in a commentary that helped to explain a verse in a way I hadn’t considered before. Right away, I was wide awake, and the verse made much more sense to me than it had before. (Of course, now I have more incentive to read a number of other commentaries to evaluate other interpretations of that verse…but that may have to wait until after this academic term.) It’s moments like that which seem to indicate that this really is a good field for me… A classmate said to me about ten years ago, “Everyone is a nerd in something. It might be math, music, literature, politics, sports statistics, or video games, but everyone gets just a little too excited about something.”

Teaching is more than preparation. I’m slowly getting better at leading class discussions, and I’m learning to write on the board more to highlight the most important points. (It may be quite some time before Powerpoint presentations will be standard lecture material here.) Certain topics or ideas catch the students’ special interest, and natural discussion just flows without much effort on my part. Best of all is when a student tells me how a topic we’ve just covered will be helpful in their home congregations, or when a student describes how he/she used an idea from class to share at church, and the congregation was hungry for more.

I’m too much a beginner for such small successes to go to my head, though; my teaching skill is quite far from what I hope it will someday be. I share them only because they are some of the little surprises that brighten my day and confirm to me that I’m right where I should be. They help to make up for the “face-palm” moments, when I realize I’ve messed up—like the day I forgot to record the quiz grades before returning the quizzes to the students.  :)

Refueling and Other Chances to Learn

(In case you're keeping track, this is Jonathan's first blog post.)

Yesterday I got a call: there's word of a fuel shortage!

Fuel supply in Malawi has seemed better since earlier this year the government began trying to improve cooperation with other countries. But in Malawi, fuel shortages are a somewhat normal occurrence. When fuel is in short supply, you cut back on driving wherever you can, and you listen for word that a station has fuel--and get there before it runs out!

So when our colleague heard that a fuel shortage had begun, he called right away. Within twenty minutes we were both on the road. We headed for the closest station, and he was able to get petrol (unleaded gasoline). However, the station attendants took one look at the truck I was driving and said, "No diesel!"

So I pulled out and went to the next station I knew of, a few kilometers away. There they still had diesel, and I was able to fill up the tank.

Now, this was the first time I had bought fuel for the truck. I quickly became aware of a few things:

1. The fuel goes into the right side of the truck, not the left. The station employees had to motion and yell to stop me from going in the wrong way. (Doh!)
2. I didn't know where the lever was to open the fuel door.
3. I couldn't remember how much the tank could hold. (I hoped I had enough cash on me!)

Well, I found the lever, and I could afford the fuel. I was grateful that I didn't have to wait in line, and that I was able to get diesel at the second station I tried. Time will tell whether the shortage is a blip, or whether it lasts a while.

Adjusting to a new place is full of these humbling experiences. Whether it's my own lack of familiarity with something (like the truck), or getting used to new ways of doing things (driving on the left side of the road is starting to feel normal, as is driving a pickup truck instead of a compact car), or trying to think in terms of a culture new to me, or just building a lot of new relationships--no matter what the experience is, it is humbling. And sometimes exhausting! Little things add up!

The term begins next week. I'm excited and hopeful, and I'm looking forward to it. I am also well aware that along with more immediately-rewarding experiences, it will bring additional humbling experiences. So be it!

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PS:  I just typed this on a 2-year-old notebook computer whose heat sink had never had the dust cleaned out of it--until last night. It's also a model known for having heat problems that have led to component failure. (Shame on me; I know better than this!)

Since cleaning it, I've been blown away by how much better it is running now. It almost feels like it's new again. My laptop was running at a fraction of its capability, in order to control the heat output. Now it can use its full power again, and it still stays cooler in "high performance" mode now than in "stingy" mode before it was cleaned.

Folks, consider this a public service announcement. If you've had your laptop for a while, and especially if you use it on the floor or on carpet, clean out the fan and heat sink. You can often get detailed maintenance and service instructions from the manufacturer online. If you're not comfortable opening it up (check your warranty), hire someone who knows what they're doing (not necessarily one of the big-box store service departments).