Pat Robertson's Comments

Last night we had the 700 Club on as we were getting ready for bed and heard Pat Robertson's call for the assasination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. I was utterly shocked to hear this statement come from a man who is a leading conservative Christian. Many Christian leaders have called for him to retract his comments and I add my small voice to that call. I agree with Mr. Robertson in that President Chavez presents a serious security risk to this nation if he is allowed to continue along the course he is currently on. However, assasination is not the answer to this problem. There are numerous other courses of action that are open to the United States besides killing the head of state of another sovereign nation. We as Christians need to be especially careful of our words particularly when in the public sphere. We need to be sure to speak the truth in love if we ever expect the lost people of this world to listen to the message of the gospel.

what have i gotten myself into?

I just got done with my homework for my Greek class and I'm wondering what in the world I have done. Today was the second day of class and for homework we had to translate 20 sentences from Greek into English and 4 from English into Greek. This is the 4th language that I have studied formally (other than English) and I'm amazed at how quickly the class is moving. Day 1 - here's the alphabet, Day 2 - translation. Yikes! I knew seminary was going to be a big jump from what I was used to and so far I have not been disappointed. Actually, it's not too bad. It's going to be A LOT of reading, but luckily I love to read, and so far everything I've had to read has been really interesting to me. Again, luckily I'm a history geek and that's alot of what we've had to read so far for my classes.

books, books everywhere

I have a stack of books that is about a foot and a half high sitting here on my computer desk. These are the books that I will have to read for my classes this semester. Here's my schedule of classes for the fall. Anyone reading this who has been to seminary please feel free to tell me how absolutely insane you think I am.

9:00-9:50 AM Tuesday - Friday - Elementary Greek
11:30-12:20 PM Tuesday - Thursday - Intro to New Testament
12:30-1:20 PM Tuesdy - Thursday - Personal Spiritual Disciplines
1:30-2:45 PM Tuesday & Thursday - Intro to Church History
5:45-7:00 PM Tuesday & Thursday - Biblical Hermeneutics

I put all the reading assignments into a single calendar so they would be easier to keep up with. I'm not sure how smart of an idea that was. It's a little overwhelming when you look at the calendar and see assignments for 50 pages in one class, a chapter in another, 2 chapters in another and an entire book in another. Luckily on that particular day I only have to read about 10 pages in the fifth class so it's an off day :)

Classes start next Monday, or in my case next Tuesday and my first quiz is scheduled for next Friday in Greek. Part of me keeps asking "What have I gotten myself into?" But then I remember how clearly God told us that this is where He wanted us to come, and this is what He wants me to do. As long as I keep my focus on Christ and doing what He has called me to do I can do anything.

On a different note, I posted a new book on the recommended reading list, Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller. While I don't agree with everything Miller has to say (he is very much a part of the emergent church movement which I don't fully agree with) I would still recommend this book. He focuses alot on the biblical commandments to feed the poor and clothe the naked and how we should build relationships in order to share Christ with the lost. Plus the book is incredibly funny in places. There's one section in particular in his chapter on Money where he ends up having a shouting match with his conscience. You gotta lova a book that has the author shouting "Shut your gaping piehole!" to the voices in his head

back online

We're back online after what seemed like an eternity. It's amazing how dependent we have become on the internet. I didn't have easy access to the web for over a week and felt like I was cut off from civilization. No news, no stock quotes, no email. Thankfully the cable man came this afternoon and got us connected back to the world again. At least to the cyber-world. Well, that's about it for this installment. I know it's short, but it's late and I need to get to bed.

We're here!

We made it to Louisville after a very, very long couple of days. We picked up the U-Haul on Friday and started loading that afternoon. We finished loading and cleaning up the old apartment by about 2:00 on Saturday. Sunday we drove to Dee Dee parent's house in Tennessee and unloaded and then reloaded part of the truck with furniture that we were trading with them. On Monday we drove up to Louisville. We got here at about 3:00, picked up the keys to our new apartment and went with the lady from the office to do a walk thru only to find out that they had that particular apartment entered incorrectly in their computer files. It was a two bedroom with a den instead of the three bedroom we need. She quickly switched us into another apartment that is a three bedroom, but when we walked in the hall carpet was soaking wet. The drain pipe for the air conditioner had become clogged and condensation overflowed. They got someone in to rip out the padding and extract the water. We finally started unloading the truck at about 5:00. Since we were all already exhausted, and since we couldn't put anything in one room until the carpet dries it took forever to unload. We finally finished at about midnight.

Alright, that's enough rambling for one night. I'm off to crash in my own bed (for the first time in two weeks) in my new apartment. Good night all.