A couple months ago I shared this small vision of making sure every kid in my neighborhood that wanted a bike and a lock could have one. I really appreciated the overwhelming support and realized I hadn’t updated everyone on the progress. It’s been a fun ride.
September
At the beginning of September, Eli (my bike partner-in-crime) and I went to a small grassroots conference called BikeBike. It’s a very cool eclectic bunch of folks from all over the country who come together to talk about running community bike shops. We had …

Last week I posted about an open letter we were gathering signatures for regarding Wheaton’s hiring of it’s next college president. This past Sunday, I delivered (via email) an open letter signed by 350 Wheaton alumni. So far I’ve received a brief email acknowledging they’ve received the letter:

Mr. Fine — thank you for sending this official listing to the Presidential Selection Committee with the information on the “signers” of the open letter.  The information has been forwarded to the Presidential Selection Committee for their review.
We appreciate your interest and especially …

The following open letter has been signed by 500+ Wheaton alum since Friday evening, and you can sign it as well here.
Dear Wheaton Presidential Selection Committee,As an academic institution and as a Christian community, Wheaton recognizes the importance of diversity and has acted successfully on it. The selection committee, chosen to help select the next Wheaton president, also recognizes the importance of diversity and includes this as part of its “Commitment” section in the concise “qualifications desired”:
To champion ethnic, economic, and gender diversityCompared to other academic institutions, the percentage of …

I’m not usually one to play the salesman role, nor am I one to plan much in advance. However, this year we managed to order some fair-trade (read: Slave Free) mini dark chocolate bars for Halloween. The deal is though that you have to buy in bulk, 888 bars of chocolate for $144, which evens out to 16 cents a bar. And you need to order right now so you have it in time for Halloween. Just do it now and then sell the candy to your friends and neighbors …

If I’ve had an impact on your life, consider having an impact on someone elses
The one thing I think about each year when my birthday rolls around is whether or not my life (and the past year) has had a positive impact on those around me. If I’ve had a positive impact on you let me know and consider doing something intentional …Read More
The one thing I think about each year when my birthday rolls around is whether or not my life (and the past year) has had a positive …

After discovering John Piper’s sermons (via a youth leader in my high school youth group), round about my sophomore year, I became a Christian Hedonist. At the time, I did not know what Hedonism was, but learned, via context, that “Christian Hedonism” was a bit of a radical/controversial doctrine. Piper sums it up most concisely like this:
“God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.”
The idea of our “satisfaction” being central to life’s purpose, to ‘worship’ and to God was apparently counter to what most religious …

Each week I walk my two toddlers down the hall at the Children’s hospital, past a large statue of an over-stuffed yellow bird and up an elevator to our appointment. Sometimes they point out the “big birdie,” other times they don’t, it’s no more attractive to them than the nearby painting of a moose or the cars they see through the windows of the skyway.
What they don’t know yet is that the big bird is, in fact, Big Bird. And though I’m sure someone will soon point it out to them (they’ve already learned who Elmo is), I’m in no rush to have Big Bird or any other media industry creations become my childrens’ branded pals.

I intended to put a lot more time into this post then I have. I was also hoping for some dialog with others pre-writing to get my thoughts stirring, but neither of those two things happened, and I promised you readers I’d get something up, so here goes (how’s that for a lame preface)
 
Last week, I suggested listening to this sermon, Did Christ Die For Us or for God?, by John Piper. It was one of the foundational sermons in my early faith development and something I had not really …