Just a Slow August Day

It’s finally hot in Southern California this summer—but temperatures aren’t the only numbers jumping around here. Ever since we stepped off the boat from the Alaskan Cruise a few weeks ago––and it took a few days to stop rockin’ for good—the RTB scholar team has been churning out faith-building material.

First, on the cruise itself, we recorded two I Didn’t Know That! podcasts, which will be available on iTunes September 6 and 13. If you are new to RTB, this is a Q&A podcast in which our scholars answer emailed questions on the spot—usually in the RTB studio—but this time aboard the ms Zuiderdam, where our guests asked questions on a live mic.

Emails from Baker Publishing Group heralded the arrival of Hugh Ross’ much-anticipated Hidden Treasures in the Book of Job. A truck arrived soon thereafter and had our shipping clerk scurrying about—wondering where he was going to store 10,000 books. He got it done. Later in the week, Kenneth Samples heard from another Baker editor that the galleys for his latest book, Seven Truths that Changed the World, would be arriving soon.

A week or so before the arrival of Hugh’s book, RTB had announced the completion of a DVD, In the Days of Noah: A Deeper Look at the Genesis Flood, based on a course Hugh taught at A. W. Tozer Seminary in 2010. Another of Hugh’s books, Why the Universe Is the Way It Is, has been developed as a small-group study DVD with a slightly different name: If God Made the Universe…Why Is It the Way It Is? The project coordinator emailed us this week to advise us on exciting progress for this study (eight disks, stunning satellite photos, Q&A—look for ordering info in October).

“Wait a minute,” you say. “This sounds more like a ministry letter than an Average Joe blog.” Agreed. And that’s intentional.

Science news of all kinds—aliens, hominids, extrasolar planets, medical breakthroughs—made headlines, so back into the studio we hopped, and the scholars and Sandra Dimas and I recorded eleven Science News Flash podcasts the past two weeks. In addition, we will be interviewing Old Testament scholar Dr. C. John “Jack” Collins on his new book, Did Adam and Eve Really Exist? for a series of four programs on Kenneth Samples’ Straight Thinking podcast next Tuesday, and I need to find time to read the book by then!

The latest issue of New Reasons to Believe, our e-Zine featuring cutting-edge science buttressed by theological and educational insights, has literally come to my inbox today and will be coming to yours (if you’re a subscriber—you should be, it’s free) in a day or so. And our bloggers have been busy as usual—in fact, Maureen’s latest went up in the midst of this writing.

That’s not to mention talks, articles, and books the scholars have already been working on or the courses offered and number of students enrolled (several dozen) at Reasons Institute. Whew.
And these are the dog days of summer. (Yes, that’s a cliché. Something editors catch, but I deliberately used out of mild protest because we have six cats at home—I had no choice—and I wanted to give my dogs [we have two] a shout-out.)

A long, summerlike day’s way to say that the RTB scholars are content (as in “info”) generators. They can’t help but think about, talk about, write about, and incorporate what they encounter in their areas of expertise into God’s special revelation. Integration of God’s world and his Word seems as natural as a bee landing on a flower and “integrating” to (eventually) produce fruit.

So, it’s a slow, late August day at the office. Fuz and Hugh are preparing to board a plane to North Carolina, where Irene may have a say in the matter. Nothing to see here. Just integrating science and faith. Always have. Always will.