Jon C. Swanson's Blog, page 305

October 8, 2014

sitting grading in my grandfather’s chair.

I hate grading. It’s the part of teaching that made college classroom teaching somewhat easy to leave a couple decades ago. As a student, I didn’t like the random feel of grading. It may have been because I always did the work at the last minute and hoped to slide by. As a prof, I didn’t like giving students bad news. It’s the problem of being a pleaser.


But I’m teaching again. I realized that as much as I don’t like grading, I do like coaching, suggesting, prodding, asking “what if”, asking “...

 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on October 08, 2014 23:55

October 7, 2014

Original faithfulness.

Originality is a compelling value. It is in our core, part of the image of God we were formed in. But it is possible that originality, creativity, is not the highest value. In some things, fidelity – faithfulness – may be higher.


Paul’s last letter, written near the end of his life as a maker of disciples (apprentices), is full of this language of faithfulness when it comes to teaching. Paul tells Timothy to follow the teaching outline Paul used. Paul provides a mentoring model: “the things yo...

 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on October 07, 2014 23:56

October 6, 2014

But some advice is different.

Last week, after running, I notice that my leg hurt. It was a muscle thing, that much I could tell. So I ignored it. And ran a little. The next day, I was still sore. Maybe a little more. So I mentioned it to my marathon friend, Richard. He identified the muscle. He gave me some counsel. He sent me a link to some stretching exercises. I took the OTC pain med. I tried the stretching once. I felt better. I went running a couple days later. And my leg hurt.


I was discouraged.


Until I remembered so...

 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on October 06, 2014 23:00

October 5, 2014

Richard and Andrew didn’t make me run.

“You’ve created a monster.” That’s what one of my colleagues told my marathon running friend, Richard, the other day.


Richard and I meet weekly, but not to talk running. But I usually know when he’s heading to Boston or another marathon site. I used to laugh when he talked about running ten miles before we meet on Mondays.


Andrew is our son of twenty-eight years. A few years ago he started running. He’d run ten miles in a gym or in the streets of Chicago.


runrobRob lives back east. He started riding m...

 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on October 05, 2014 23:36

October 2, 2014

one week for one day.

So here’s the thing.


We worry about the right way to do things like keeping Sabbath holy. Or we offer explanations of why we can’t or don’t or shouldn’t need to. But we have a hard time merely trying.


I understand. I really do. But I’m wondering.


What difference might it make if we spent one week ordering our schedule and activities so that for one day we can listen to our hearts, listen for God, live for the simple good of those around us, seek peace and pursue it, offer a tiny bit of understan...

 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on October 02, 2014 23:35

October 1, 2014

Holy shoe story

We started talking yesterday about keeping the Sabbath holy, in answer to a question from a friend.


I suggested that the first way is to acknowledge the day.


2. Celebrate the story. For Moses, there are two stories connected to keeping the Sabbath, one going back to creation, one going back to Egypt. (See Telling The Stories). These two stories link sabbath distinctiveness to rest and freedom. But we don’t remember the meaning of the day without telling the stories.


It’s easy to fall into “Here’...

 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on October 01, 2014 23:48

September 30, 2014

Fresh air.

In a few weeks, I plan to run past a beach. After the race, I’ll go back and stand on the beach, breathing in the Atlantic air. It will be cold in Maine in November. The air will bite a bit. It will have a salty edge. It will be distinctive.


There is an immense purity to that ocean air. Not emptiness, or sterileness, but air full of something we call “fresh.”


I thought about that ocean air as I was thinking about a question I got last week.


The question was about the commandment in Exodus 20 “Re...

 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on September 30, 2014 23:06

September 29, 2014

encouraging words.

I wasn’t sure I was coming back. To writing, I mean.


I’ve been busy, both in head and heart and hands. With family pain and some long work weeks and a new teaching project and my running, I was running short of time. Reflective time.


I mean, we all have the same 168 hours in a week. We all have schedules and long work weeks. But what I know about myself is that I write better when I have time to reflect. In some seasons, that time disappears.


You know that, right? You know that there are some se...

 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on September 29, 2014 23:31

September 28, 2014

Finding your stride.

My friend Richard says it sometimes takes him three or four miles to find his stride.


It’s the place in every run where you aren’t thinking about the mechanics of running: speed, coordination between breathing and steps. It’s the place where you aren’t thinking about whether you can afford the time for this run, where you aren’t taking every twinge in your knee or ankle or breathing as a sign to quit. It’s the place where start to actually just run.


Richard runs marathons. So he has plenty of t...

 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on September 28, 2014 23:27

September 17, 2014

A Podcast, iPhone 6, and Daniel

I’m doing well in my breathing space. I wanted to surface for a bit for three observations.


1. I wrote about Lee Warren’s book a few weeks ago. Recently, Lee interviewed me for his “You Start Today” podcast. We had a great conversation both on the recording and off. I appreciate the opportunity to think about my story a bit. I thought you might be interested.


You Start Today Episode 23: Pound on God’s Chest with Jon Swanson [PODCAST]


2. The other night I was talking with some friends about our a...

 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on September 17, 2014 09:42