Fall Break

What a good break this has been.  I have not done a lot, but I’ve done a lot of it.  Today was a nice full day.  My Aunt and Uncle took my cousin to two of his friends’ birthday parties today.  While they were out I took liberty to rip out six holly bushes in the front yard.  I was hoping they wouldn’t notice, but it was the first thing they saw when they got home.  Actually, it was their idea, and I was glad to help them with quite a few projects in the yard today.  After annihilating the six holly bushes, I dragged them into the woods in the backyard.  Then I sawed a limb of a tree, moved the compost bin and circulated some of the decaying organic matter.  I also climbed twenty feet up into an oak tree to remove an old dead limb that was resting on another.  One last task of filling in a sink whole from a plant that was removed and seeding it with grass and it was time to clean up.  Mellow Mushroom Pizza for dinner was nice.  But I really liked the chance I got to Skype Hannah for a while after dinner.

I have some fun memories from watching last year’s World Series, and once again it lines up with my break here.  I was disappointed to see how badly the Giants beat the Rangers in game one, but they won tonight bring the current standing to Giants two games, Rangers 1.  We shall see how the rest of the series goes.

I feel pretty good about the amount of homework I’ve been able to get done over break.  I’ve read through the commentary for Isaiah and Jeremiah, and I’m working on Lamentations.  I finished outline a book for Dispensations class, and I organized Proverbs 16 into it’s poetical layout for Poetical Books class.

Tomorrow I’m going to church at Bible Baptist Church in Creedmoor, NC.  I visited BBC last Spring on the Ensemble Tour.  I’ve pretty excited to go back.  Then I’ll picked up again to head back to school.

 

John

Recap

Wow.  So much has happened, and it’s seems hard to believe that eight weeks have already passed.  In juxtaposition, thinking that only eight weeks of this semester are done goes against how long it feels.  In retrospect, here is a summation of these weeks. 

Concerning Academics:  I’m taking quite a few good classes this semester, e.g. Greek, Systematic Theology, Poetical Books, Missions History, etc.  Generally, I’m doing well in my classes, and my grades were good through Mid Terms.  I haven’t received a few of my tests back yet, and a couple of them are a toss-up in my mind what the outcome could be.

Concerning Work:  I’ve been working for the IT department at school with an upperclassman named Dan.  We have a great time in our little office planning the future of technology at school.  Interesting event: Last Saturday we were installing all our electronics in a rack-mounted enclosure to clean up out office space.  Upon reconnecting everything, our network was unable to access the internet.  Thankfully it was Saturday, so we didn’t mess up the faculty or teachers.  The students, however were ‘eager’ for us to get things working again.  I found it interesting that not many take notice of the IT guys until things are broken, and they can’t get on the internet.

Concerning Sports:  During the regular season I fearlessly coached our league to a 1-4-1 season.  Regardless, we made it to the Championship in the Third Place Game.  (Our school has four leagues.)  On the plus side, our third place game was probably our best game of the season, and we won after an eight-run comeback in the 6th inning.  (We only play to seven innings.)  After a tie at the end of the seventh, we scored in the extra inning winning the game.  We were amped.  I was glad to end the season in an exciting way like that.

Concerning Spirituality:  The Lord is really working on me this semester.  I’m having to trust Him in unbelievable new ways.  I read Psalm 27 last night; verse 14 says,  Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.  Waiting on the Lord and looking to Him for strength have been sort of the themes of my spiritual walk lately.  I converged on one particular passage in an interesting way recently.  In Major Prophets class we were in Jeremiah; coming up was the passage where Jeremiah goes to the potter’s house and receives a word of the Lord concerning His being the potter and in control.  Right around that time, a preacher spoke in Chapel on God’s Divine control from the passage about the potter.  Also in my personal devotions, I was reading through that portion of scripture about the potter.  The triplicity of my encounter with this passage has really kept alive in my mind and heart God’s care and control in my circumstances.  Here is one thing the preacher said that really stuck out to me: Once the potter starts to throw the clay His attention is never diverted, and His hands never leave the clay.  Pressure on the clay is the touch of the Potter (Pater) forming the clay the way He wants it.  Before any of that, though, the clay must be in the center of the potter’s wheel (Will).

Thank you so much for all your prayers and support.  Thank you also WBC College and Career for the thoughtful and timely care (share) package.

John