Today Shirleen went to the Seminary Spouse Thrift Store Day, so I got to watch little Tommy.  We had a fun time.  Here are a few pictures from our day.

   As you can see from the first two pictures Tommy is trying to pull himself up from the floor.  He is really good at pulling himself up to his knees, but he's not so good at getting to his feet...yet.  About 10 seconds after I took the second picture Tommy tried to go to one foot and one knee and held if for about a half of a second before he spun out of balance and took a dive to the floor and smacked his head.  He cried for about 2 seconds before I got him. 
   The last 4 pictures are of Tommy in his brand new Johnny-Jumper knock-off.  He seemed to like it, and I think it will help him learn some balance skills so that he doesn't fall over every time he tries to stand up.
   It sure is interesting to see how quickly Tommy has learned to do things and how quickly he is already doing things that many older babies have yet to learn.
   Seeing Tommy develop at a different speed than some of those around him has made me think a little bit about ministry.  Everyone starts off as infants in their knowledge and walk (or crawl) with God, and some people develop faster than others.  There is absolutely no problem with Tommy developing faster or slower than any other child...so why do we make such a big deal about Christians developing at different speeds?  The important thing with Tommy is that he is alive, healthy, and that he is making forward progress...we will love him no matter what.  What would the church look like if we embraced new Christians in the same way?

Starting tomorrow at noon I will have 10.5 days of no class.  Talk about a much needed break!  I will be working quite a bit during the time off, but it will be nice to not have any assignments due.  I have a goal of reading eight books during the break.  I would also like to write at least 4 papers.  It is hard to believe that we are basically half way thru our first semester!

As far as fun things to do during my reading week, we plan on going to the Shedd Aquarium (it's free admission the whole week!) and maybe go check our Navy Pier.  Even though we sometimes get overwhelmed here in Chicago, it is nice to always have options for fun cheap things to do.

On another note, I am going to try to start writing something every post that I've learned here that applies to ministry in Alaska.  So today I'll write about baptism.  In Bush Alaska, most villages have a "Christian" culture.  What I mean is most people in the village would identify themselves as Christians.  Would most identify Christ as their Savior and Lord?  Perhaps not.  So how can you tell in a Christian culture who is really a follower of Christ and who isn't?  Certainly church attendence is one good indicator, but not fool-proof.  Which brings me to baptism.  Some churches are better than others, but in general, I think most Covenant churches in Bush Alaska don't give enough time to baptism.  Furthermore, I think baptism needs to become a more serious matter, as it was in the early church.  In the early days of Christianity, if you wanted to be baptized, often you had to tell the church prior to the season Lent.  Then all 40 days throughout Lent you would meet with a priest and study key passages in the Bible concerning what and why Christians believe what they believe.  During the final week, you would meet twice with the priest.  Finally, during Easter, you would have the chance to publicly declare your faith in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  You would walk backwards into the baptismal pool, be baptized, then literally turn your body as your turn from your old life and walk forward and celebrate your rebirth in Christ.  Now I'm not suggesting that Bush Alaska adopts all of these practices, but maybe some of them adapted to the culture would really be a significant time to develop true followers of Christ.  What exactly would that look like?  I leave you with that thought.