Josh also started his internship at Siemens this week. Jenn will start working next week in the donor department at Cru headquarters.

We’ll have six more days together for our family vacation. It’s been wonderful for all of us to be together: relaxing, playing, and helping Jenn move back home. Of course, we’re all enjoying little Patrick.  He loves to clap his hand and to stand up. He even took two steps last night! You know us… we’ll have lots of photos and stories to share with you. Right now, though, I need to sign off and pack up for our trip to the beach today; Bonnie loves the beach and it’ll be Patrick’s first time.

Unfortunately, the Hatters lost, but we enjoyed a beautiful Florida evening.

NOTES:

• If you’d like an affordable, purse-size camera that takes great photos, check out the Canon PowerShot A2300. Photography is a family hobby, so we highly recommend this camera for most of your needs from close-ups to videos.
• Stetson University has had a great baseball program for many years. Visit Stetson Hatters baseball online.
• Try DeLand for Something to Do
• Restaurants in DeLand, Florida

We don’t take advantage of opportunities to talk about Jesus.

I have long said that Delta’s seat assignment system would be God’s appointment system for me. So last Monday, why didn’t I take more initiative to talk with the man from New Zealand about Christ? Flying to Dallas, he was talkative. We talked about the economy (he is deeply concerned). We talked about political instability in Nigeria (he has done business there).

But we didn’t talk about Jesus. And I didn’t even get his name. I was not very friendly or engaged!

After the flight, I talked with God about it. I told him I felt unable to turn the conversation to spiritual things. I haven’t felt that unable in a long time. Kay and I have been traveling together most of the time lately so I’m not engaging another seatmate. I must be out of practice.

So with a renewed dependence on God’s empowering, I took my seat on this yesterday’s flight home to Orlando.

And I had a wonderful conversation with A—. She grew up an active follower of Jesus and even thought of mission work but has become engrossed in her career since college. She no longer attends church. Her parents have split up. She told me she is drifting.

But in her story, I heard a heart for Jesus. Her eyes danced when she talked about a missionary friend’s emails from Ghana and a college friend’s job in Kenya.

I left her with a challenge—find an accountability partner who will ask her hard questions to help her stop the drift, someone who will hold her accountable to find a group that can feed her soul. I challenged her to save $3000 and join a mission trip to Ghana or Kenya and come back a changed person because she’s seen God at work in a place very different than she’s ever experienced.

To give her something tangible to feed her missionary soul, I showed her the JESUS Film app on my mobile phone with films in hundreds of languages. As we taxied to the terminal, she had already downloaded the app and eagerly showed me the app on HER phone.

A— is reconnecting to a seed God planted many years ago. The worries and cares of the world have been growing and choking it out. Pray that the garden tending of this morning will help the seed to grow and bear fruit.

And once again, Delta’s seating system provided a divine appointment, as long as I’m willing to talk about Jesus!

Who can you talk about Jesus with today?

Guest Post by Keith Seabourn

Keith serves as the Chief Technology Officer of Campus Crusade for Christ. He is a committed follower of Jesus and enjoys helping others use Facebook, blogs, Twitter, and other tools to help everyone know someone who truly follows Jesus.

I know you’ve enjoyed the guest posts here on MikeandSus.org from a number of Campus Crusade for Christ (CCC) staff.  For several years now, in my role as Technology Ministry Developer for Women’s Resources at CCC, I’ve met and worked with hundreds of our bloggers.

Last month, I encouraged them to “guest-post” on each other’s blogs. Here’s a few of the best posts they wrote on each other’s blogs (click here for all of the posts):

• “When I Can’t See the Diamonds for the Bling” on Thru a Dirty Window from Cheryl Boyd’s blog
• “A ‘Fishy’ Lesson for Parents” on Hope for Hurting Parents from Compelled
• “Ring, Ring!” on Tip of the Iceberg from The View from Here
• “What Are You Doing, Jesus?” on Thru a Dirty Window from Samantha Today and Celebrity Gospel
• “Learning from Library Fines” on along the way from  Second Cup of Coffee
• “Josceyln’s Story” on JudyDouglass.com from Motherhood and Ministry: notes from a feisty mom
• “Not So Tasty” ~ on Second Cup of Coffee from Tip of the Iceberg

Here’s the links where I wrote a guest post on other staff blogs:

• “Helping Your Children Share Their Faith” on A Good Seed
• “Easy Crockpot Salmon Chowder” on Foodie Forever
• eMinistry Tips for Facebook, Part One and Part Two on My Generation for Christ (in Ethiopia)

I’ll be publishing guest bloggers as often as I can on MikeandSus.org. The collage photo features some of the ones who’ve already posted. You can read all the guest posts by clicking here.

She was invited to an honors banquet where she received the Outstanding Senior award in German and also was one of five receiving an Outstanding Senior award in English.

Several days later, Stetson students gave oral presentations of their research projects all day long for the faculty and other students to listen and learn from their studies.  (This annual event is called Stetson Showcase).  Jen’s paper, “Two Women in Conversation: a Blues Approach to May Ayim and Audre Lorde“, earned second place in her category.

Here’s her summary of the paper:

Even though Ayim’s and Lorde’s poetry share similar themes, few comparisons have been made between the women as poets. I analyze them side-by-side and examine the intertextual dialogue that emerges from the interlacing of their poetry. Furthermore, my research into Ayim’s untranslated and virtually unknown poems reveals how writing helped her psychologically, and my paper calls for a deeper look at Ayim as an equal to Lorde and as a poet creating her own identity within the blues tradition.

Congratulations, Jenn!  You’ve worked so hard at Stetson and we’re all proud of you!

NOTE: Also during Stetson Showcase, Jenn and a few fellow tutors presented their excellent research paper analyzing the effectiveness of The Writing Center at Stetson University. They had also presented this research at the Southeastern Writing Center Association conference (SWCA) where they were highly commended for their work.

Read more about Jenn’s award she received at the SWCA conference.