WVU Orange Bowl 2012 One Year Later

After an 18 hour drive, we finally arrived in the greater Miami area. We were able to celebrate New Year’s with an old roommate, and then we proceeded on to Florida to celebrate with another old roommate.

We arrived at the stadium late Wednesday afternoon, and began connecting with an array of friends who made the journey for the bowl game. The atmosphere was warm and a bit electric. No one was sure what the outcome of the game would be, but it appeared that 49 out of 50 states were sure we would get pummeled. Clemson jumped to an early 7-0 lead.

Earlier in the day, I will say that the Clemson fans were friendly and civil and just about everybody there was having a good time enjoying a mini-reunion and anticipating what might happen during the evening.

After the game started, it appeared we were going to exchange blows until we were able to acquire three quick turnovers and jump to a 49-20 score at half-time. As a side note, the Mountaineer basketball team was playing Rutgers at the same time, and had scored 51 points in the first half.

I have never seen our team play so well. It was absolutely incredible to see us put up so many points in one half. As the game progressed, Clemson fans, began emptying the stands and heading to their cars. Most were truly impressed with the talent of WVU, and in the limited conversations I had with a few Clemson fans as I made my way back to West Virginia over the weekend after the game, they were congratulatory and applauded the team.

And why not? This team broke several records!

As Jamie and I start our 2013 together, we wonder what adventures will ensue. We are not starting the year with tickets to a bowl game, but we will do our best to live every moment to its fullest!

Prophet's Rock 2012

Last fall, Jamie and I found ourselves standing on the battleground of the Battle of Tippecanoe in Prophetstown, Indiana. Just a little over a week ago, we found ourselves driving back near the location, and I felt drawn to visit again. It was a great time for a short break from our drive back east, and it was an absolutely beautiful day as well.

There’s something magnetic about knowing something of the history of a place, and knowing that perhaps a distant relative also walked along the same piece of land. I believe this is especially true, when one lives a great distance from that land, but can also be said of longstanding stomping grounds. For instance, I try to regularly carve out time to sit along the confluence of the Ohio and Little Kanawha Rivers in Parkersburg just like my dad and his brothers did, and just like my grandpa, and great-grandpa did. It’s a magical place, pregnant with histories untold.

Prophet’s Rock itself holds a geographic kinship connection for me in the contemporary era as well. My brother Chuck made the journey to Prophetstown and stood atop Prophet’s Rock in the spring of this year. I couldn’t help but think of him as I returned to this site.

My family is Shawnee.  Both my mom and my dad are Shawnee. And as much as I know that Shawnee people inhabited many places, there is something about this rock and this space in Indiana that is different. Maybe it is because I know the history of what happened at this site. Maybe its because I know that over 200 years ago, Shawnee people prayed from the top of this rock. Maybe its because I know that events in this place in many ways have shaped the history of Shawnee people from that day to now. And maybe it is because after all that has happened, nobody would have dreamed that Shawnee people would return to the rock, and maybe that offers me a unique act of defiance, resistance, and connectedness to generations past.

The rock rises along a steep hillside and cliff amid surrounding flatlands. It is a special place, and one that I hope to visit as often as I have opportunity.

I imagine everyone has a place or places to which they feel connected. Maybe yours isn’t Prophet’s Rock, but whatever it is, I hope you can visit it soon. And if you can’t physically go there, maybe you can take a moment right now to reminisce and reacquaint yourself with the memories, sights, sounds, and smells of that place.

Indianapolis Colts and Cleveland Browns Game

Wow! Recently, my friend Noah and his awesome girlfriend Kristen hooked me and Jamie up with tickets to see the Indianapolis Colts play the Cleveland Browns. It was mine and Jamie’s first NFL game together, and it was most definitely memorable. There were so many cool connections and happenings that made it memorable, but here are a few…

Jamie and I were driving the Nuru van, and we received a parking pass that put us literally a stone’s throw from Lucas Oil Stadium. That meant that many of the thousands of people walking to and from the stadium had an opportunity to find out about Nuru’s work. Pretty stellar, huh!

Andrew Luck is the quarterback for the Colts. He went to Stanford University during his undergrad. Jake Harriman, Nuru’s founder and CEO also went to the Stanford GSB. I believe Jake graduated after Andrew’s freshman year.

Andrew Luck’s dad, Oliver Luck, played football at WVU, is a Rhodes Scholar, and is also the current athletic director for WVU. Jamie, Noah, and myself are WVU alumni. My buddy Jake, started his college career at WVU (where we met), was also a Rhodes Scholar finalist, but played rugby at Navy not football.

We watched Andrew Luck become the first Colts quarterback since 1988 to rush for two touchdowns in a game. We also saw Andrew Luck notch the victory. Beyond that, we saw former Mountaineer Pat McAfee make a solid tackle and boot the ball a few times during the game as well.

That list is by no means thorough, but the greatest cool connection and happening had to be reconnecting with an old friend, and enjoying a somewhat relaxing afternoon together sharing stories and making memories.

Being Nuru: A Visit To "The Well" at Ashland University

It was about this time last September that I received the call. Zach Hefner, a student at Ashland University called me to see about how his campus, and more specifically, his church could get involved with Nuru. He told me about how active students were on his campus, and how he had been following Nuru’s work more or less since we started in 2008. He was interested in seeing his campus have the ability to drill a well, or buy some goats, or something of the sort.

I let him know that Nuru doesn’t do any of those things. We don’t drill wells (although we have in the past), and we don’t do anything that could resemble a handout. I also let him know that I was incredibly excited to talk to him, and I was even more excited about the fact that he and his friends had decided to take action toward ending global extreme poverty. I could guarantee to Zach that whatever funds he was able to raise on campus, Nuru would do its best to leverage them for the greatest impact in ending extreme poverty for the people of Kuria West, Kenya.

So many people have the greatest of intentions, but they stop short of taking action, and what the world needs is people who take action, folks who choose to make a difference with their limited time and resources on this earth. Zach is one of those types of people, and thankfully there are more people like him.  I am filled with joy that every day, I have the opportunity to meet and interact with passionate difference makers like Zach.

After my own life was awakened to the issue of global extreme poverty in an English class in 2005, my life has been on a different trajectory. I believe that global extreme poverty is the greatest humanitarian crisis of our generation, and I believe further that future generations of humanity will judge us based on what we did or did not do to bring an end to global extreme poverty. As a result, I am passionate about seeing others get involved, and taking action, people like Zach.

A few months after my initial call with Zach, I made my way to Ashland University, and met one of Zach’s campus leaders, a guy named NateBebout. Nate and I were able to have lunch together, and we talked at length about seeing people get connected with issues and even discovering their own callings as a result. Nate is a solid leader, and honestly, he is a true gift to the students at Ashland.

At Ashland Uniersity, students had raised over $2000 for Nuru through giving a little bit each week. As I shared with members of their campus ministry in April, I couldn’t help but think about the future. You see, the students here had taken a big step from good intentions to action, and had started down a path of being engaged in ending global extreme poverty together with Nuru.

I’m excited for the future because of leaders like Nate who will be able to work with even more students in the future, and provide them opportunities to care and take action to end extreme poverty in our lifetime.

If you are reading this blog, maybe it can be an encouragement to you to take action as well. When Zach started talking about Nuru on his campus, he was the only person there who knew about Nuru. Maybe you can lead the charge in your workplace, on your campus, or in your faith community to be Nuru, and invite others to join us in this work.

May today be a day for you to be Nuru, and to move good intentions into conversation and action toward making a difference in this world.