Category: Misc.
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In Memoriam: Chris Mitchell (1950-2014)
“We cannot understand. The best is perhaps what we understand least.” ― C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed I am Resurrection and I am Life, says the Lord.Whoever has faith in me shall have life,even though he die.And everyone who has life,and has committed himself to me in faith,shall not die for ever. As for me, I know that…
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20 things I wish I knew as a college student
I don’t know if you are like me, but as I look back on my college years I wish someone would have pulled me aside and given me some tips on how best to pursue an education at the university. So I decided to put together a list called 20 things I wish someone told…
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20 Things I Have Learned as a College Professor
As the start of the fall semester is almost upon me I have been diligently trying to complete my summer projects and prepare for my classes. As I was working it dawned on me that I am looking forward to the beginning of the year. Yes, I make the same jokes all of my colleagues…
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Scriptorium Daily Classics: Celebrating our Ten Year Anniversary
Scriptorium Daily is officially ten years old….and we want to throw a party. A decade ago, “blogs” were a new medium that (we were told) was going to revolutionize the news industry by enabling anyone with expertise to broadcast their opinion. The effects of the new mode of communication are still unwinding, of course, and…
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Ashes and Life
This summer a neighbor of mine died. I had gotten to know Jim and his wife, Teresa, during the last ten years I’ve lived on their street. I had the privilege of offering a tribute at his memorial service. The service was unlike any I’d ever been part of because instead of burying his body,…
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How Do I Learn From Experience If I Don’t Have Any?
Earlier this summer, I got an email from John Buchanan, a current student in the Torrey Honors Institute: Hello, Dr. Jenson. As you may be told from time to time, you are the mentor that seemed sensible to talk to regarding the subject of this email…Probably because you are a younger male but who knows for certain.…
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On Being the Local Church: A Musing
Last December I helped plant a new church in La Mirada – Anglican Church of the Epiphany (ACE). Not only did I help plant it but I am the pastor of the church too. Needless to say life has gotten quite busy in the last seven months. I have pastored churches in the past, during…
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Change: Looking Back and Looking Forward
I am waxing a bit nostalgic at the moment. Fifteen years have gone by since I first faced a class of eighteen eager and thoughtful young people, wondering who this strange guy in tweed playing second fiddle to the charismatic, magic-producing founder of the Torrey Honors Institute was. In the weeks before my very first…
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Christmas Playlist 2012
A Christmas tradition we have in the Sanders family is to make a new mix of music each year, to play in our own house and to give to friends. We’ve posted the playlists here at Scriptorium (see four mixes and four more from previous years). Here’s the 2012 collection: Folk Christmas Mix We’re taking “folk” in…
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A.T. Pierson's Biola Connections
I was asked recently about the relationship between A. T. Pierson (1837 -1911) and the early years of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles. I am not aware of any direct connection –Pierson never worked at BIOLA, for example. But Pierson and Biola’s founders were the same kind of people, devoted to the same things, and…
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Becoming a Christian
Little of the growth in my life comes from learning something new. Instead, it comes from learning—really learning—something old. Or it comes from getting inside something I’ve known about for a long time. It comes from re-examining, from walking over the territory yet again, hoping that a fresh look will yield a sense of things…
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The Need to Work
Another school year has come and gone and summer is now in full swing. In fact, I write this before I head home to swim with my two sons. Nothing is better in the summer for a university professor than sleeping in, doing some reading and writing and going for a late afternoon swim with…