well i guess this so called “storm” that’s supposed to be coming is a lot worse than many have been giving credit…

you know the storm has got to be bad when you get an email like this:

We were just notified a few minutes ago that local officials will be issuing a “blizzard warning” for all of Logan County from 9 pm tonight until 4 pm tomorrow (Tuesday, March 21). In light of this most recent information, the Administration has decided to go ahead and cancel classes for tomorrow. All employees and students should stay home (or in their dorm room) on Tuesday. It is also likely that the cafeteria will not be open tomorrow, so on-campus students may want to stock up accordingly. Thank you.

Dr. Tom Tanner, Vice President of Academics
Lincoln Christian College and Seminary

lincoln doesn’t shut the campus down for anything! now watch, we’ll get nothing… but a day off!

for all of you that live up north and out east… our idea of a blizzard in central illinois is 6 inches of snow… that’s what’s predicted. i remember up north they wouldn’t have shut anything down for a puny storm like this–not even for over a foot of snow!

this past week was long, difficult but very good as i trudged through an entire semester of systematic theology in one week. it was certainly interesting using grenz’s theology for the community of God as the textbook for the class, and has certainly been a good book to read (although i’m not quite finished with it yet).

the last day of class was probably the most interesting as we pondered the immense nature and theological distinctions of baptism based upon its mode and function. when the class finished, we were invited to witness the baptisms of two classmates. it was an exciting moment wrought full of unexpected joy and surprise… especially in a seminary class. we made our way to the baptistry at a local church, watched these two men immersed and rejoiced with them.

what an end to a class…

so this week i am going to fry my brain… i am taking systematic theology from 8am-4pm every day except friday which mercifully ends at noon. after the first day my head hurts, my brain is tired and i think if any more were to be crammed in there it might just explode.

so, here’s to a week of “hell” as Castelein put it… (it always makes you feel good and highly encouraged when your prof calls the week “hell”…)

last semester i had the priviledge of taking a class with an inspired woman who was constantly filled with joy and excitement. she consistently allowed for the joy she held deep down to overflow into the lives of everyone she was around. she was very smart, very savvy, and cared deeply about the people around her. she was always asking how she could pray for you, inquiring about how things were going in your life, giving words of encouragement or a gentle pat on the shoulder to let you know she could be counted on to pray for you. you couldn’t be around her without knowing that she cared for your concerns. for me she embodied the very idea of care.

in december she was diagnosed with cancer yet she never concerned herself with her troubles. she selflessly cared for all that happened to be around her. this was a woman who spoke of jesus with such exuberance, with such a personal vigor that nowadays seems so rare. she spoke of her experience in meeting jesus like it was yesterday and how amazing it was as a jewish woman to meet the long awaited messiah in the midst of a presbyterian worship service. for her jesus was everything.

this afternoon i learned that she passed away. two months after being diagnosed, she succumbed to the cancer. it’s amazing how short life can be. it’s amazing how over the course of a semester class (2 1/2 hours, one day a week for 14 weeks) someone can leave a profound impact on your life. i won’t soon forget her care, i won’t soon forget her selflessness, but most of all i won’t soon forget the vigor and passion she had for jesus. i hope that someday i may exude a fraction of the passion she had for jesus… that her passionate legacy of jesus’ love would be found in all the people she encountered in this, her short journey of life.

thank you susan, and shalom.

i am currently skipping out on chapel writting this wonderful post and responding to comments after sitting through the first half of a class entitled “shaping the heart of a leader.” the stated purpose is for this class is:

this course will engage the student in the ongoing process of shaping the heart and developing Christian character for spiritual leadership…

i guess we’ll find out whether the class succeeds or fails by whether or not i end up going to chapel during the semester!

the first class of the last semester of classes…. thank goodness! not just because i’m almost done, but because now i have something to do. it’s been a fairly boring past month sitting at home on my butt doing nothing. it’s amazing that after a month of laziness a day of activity can leave you absolutely exhausted… onward to day 2!

update: okay so maybe the exhaustion wasn’t the result of a lazy routine but rather the sickness that is festering and mutating within my body. there’s nothing like waking up from a nap struggling to breathe because your nose forgot it’s job is to let air pass through it!

this is stinkin’ hysterical and should take shape on every campus in the U.S. it’s a bracket tournament with professor bios posted. students vote on who would win each fight and the winning professor moves on to the next round. i just wish it weren’t based on voting, and the actual fights took place in the seminary lounge! can you imagine the carnage? i wonder who would fight dirty?!

“professor fight club: this time it’s eschatological” (./link)

this is for all those that knew me in college… my report card from my first semester in seminary came in the mail today, allow me to brag just a bit cause this is a first for me in the report card realm.

A = contemporary protestant church theologies
A = insights for ministering to the contemporary mind
A = critical hermeneutics
B+ = science and theology

3.83 = Cum. G.P.A.

i’ve got 2 weeks to finish up my hebrew class on video.

hebrew sucks. it makes no sense and there are all these funky rules that really aren’t rules because the only real rule is that there are no rules…

well, here’s to the next 2 weeks of hell on earth.

castelein shows the jesus video’s at the end of class! these just never get old!

./jesus1

this video is from vintage21… a church if you’re curious. there are three others at their site…check em out, cause they’re pretty funny!

i am in the throws of an all-nighter finishing up one of my final papers for class tomorrow. it’s long–but not yet long enough. i only did all-nighters twice in college once for the stupid missions project that i waited until the last minute to start (not a smart idea) and the second was when tracy stayed up all night working on her internship project–i stayed awake with her (we weren’t even dating yet)

well, now this is my first in seminary….hopefully the last, they suck. although the 2 pots of coffee that i’ve downed has made it a lot more tolerable…i’m not sure i could sleep even if i wanted to!

i wonder if the reason why the israelites always thought they could bend the rules (read: the law) is because they do it so much with their language… it only takes a few weeks of learning hebrew to wonder such a thing.

hebrew’s not frustrating at all.