Thursday, July 9, 2009

written the following day

Thursday was my Friday, and it felt like it. Class ended and even though I attempted to continue studying Hebrew, my brain told me it would not tolerate such a thing. And so I sat in the student center and worked on some other things and it was desperately quite in there and the clock ticked away like molasses on a cold day. Even Marilyn noted as she walked out of her office at one point, “This day is going so slow!"

In the midst of my writing the latest This Week At Asbury communication, Marilyn came walking out of her office and said to me, “Come on, let’s go outside. Let’s lay in the grass.” And when Marilyn makes a comment like that, it is generally spoken quickly and with her on the move. Marilyn does not dilly-dally. She was all the way to the door before I had hardly gotten out of my chair, but she waited for me as I hurried over and wandered outside. So for a few minutes, Marilyn and I lay on the grass beneath a tree, looking up at its branches and noticing its bark looked like camouflage. How strange. What did we talk about? I don’t even really remember now, but it was blissfully delightful!

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Hebrew, Hebrew, Hebrew! All day long, that’s all I do! I get up at quarter to six, go to the student center, study before class (and, so it seems, receive a congratulatory comment about my diligence from Marilyn as she comes into work), go to class, come back to the student center, study, study, study, eventually leave and go back to my dorm where I study some more. And yet, I’m hard pressed to actually have it all done by the time class starts the following morning. Ugh.

But, on the bright side, on my way back from a break during class, I ran into Marilyn and got to chat with her for a few minutes. She’s back this week from a month long vacation from Asbury and it’s nice to see her around. When you’ve been on a campus like Asbury’s for long enough, it’s hard to tell how on the edge people would seem to the outside world, but in the world of Asbury, Marilyn’s personality always borders on the offensive (and for some, I’m sure, falls into it). This is what I love about Marilyn. This is, not, however, what I love about Asbury.

Friday, we do not have class, so currently, the plan is to plant some flowers with Marilyn in the little garden behind one of Asbury’s many chapels. It will be interesting, for sure! And a good break from Hebrew.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

written the following day

What did I do on Tuesday? Oh, good grief. All I did was Hebrew! I’ve been told I’ll start dreaming in it soon enough. Well, won’t that be fun? I’d like to have a dream where people speak Greek and Hebrew back and forth to each other. But if I had that dream, it would mean I need to get the hell out of seminary as fast as I can!

Monday, July 6, 2009

written the following day

Taking a semester’s worth of a language class in one month is absolute insanity. What?! This week, I began my Hebrew class, and it has absorbed my life. I can’t write much here for now, because my taxing schedule for Hebrew study is demanding my time. I may have just signed my death certificate with this class. Word on the street is that before long I will be dreaming in Hebrew. Just what I want.

In the midst of attempting (unsuccessfully) to catch up with church history before beginning with Hebrew, my day hit a bit of a road block. My history assignment has to do with writings of Irenaeus, a second century apologist who wrote in refutation of the Gnostic heresy of the day. In the middle of reading his writing—in which he clarifies both the humanness and divinity of Jesus Christ and the totality of God as both Father of Christ and Creator of all—a question hit me. This is not the first time this has crossed my mind, but today it seemed to overwhelm me. As I read this apology against heretical beliefs, it hit me just how fucked up we are, and then, as if I’d never thought of this before, I wondered why in the world God created all of this, all of this. What in the world would compel him to do such a crazy thing and something that from my vantage point seems as if it was completely not worth it. It was a question that overwhelmed me to the point of being unable to continue with my work and after sitting for some time in the student center where I was attempting to work, I decided to get up and go see of Peg was available to chat. I’ve talked about Peg before in these entrees. A spiritual lighthouse of this campus, Peg is someone I always enjoy talking to. I value her insights on live and spirituality and God, and I value the insights she has into me.

Peg was, indeed, available, and we ended up chatting for quite a while. It was the kind of conversation that stretches my thinking in a way that is not uncomfortable but instead intriguing. I enjoy Peg and am glad she takes interest in my thoughts. The conversation was exactly what I needed, and as I wandered back to my work, my heart, while still pondering the question, was a bit more at ease.

Sometimes, I find Asbury to be the most difficult place in the world, but in the midst of those times, I find it has some of the most amazing people here, too.

Sunday, July, 5, 2009

written the following day

Well, Sunday was my last day of freedom before Hebrew came and swallowed me whole. I had homework due in the evening for church history, but instead of doing it, I wandered the mall with Morgan for Bob Dylanesque sunglasses and found the exact pair he used to wear at the Sunglass Hut—Ray Ban Wayfarers 2140. It’s a bad idea, I just want to say, to look at the real deal when you’re trying to find a cheap version of them. It’s bad because nothing looks quite like the real thing and the real thing looks just like Bob Dylan. But hey, I need to update my prescription sunglasses anyway and you can’t put prescription lenses in cheap Old Navy frames…. Oh my.

And speaking of Bob Dylan, Morgan and I finished off her weekend Dylan education with the documentary No Direction Home. It’s a fascinating and very informative documentary about Dylan’s music career, focusing especially on his move from acoustic to electric. I had forgotten, though, that it’s over three hours long. It was aired on two consecutive days when it was on TV. But we watched it all, anyway. Dylan is always worth watching all of.

Now to prepare for the hurricane of Hebrew that shall blow in on Monday and remain for the entire month of July. A language in a month. Oh good grief.

Saturday, July 4th, 2009

For the Fourth of July, I think I will let the pictures tell the story. First, I watched a parade in Wilmore. Then Bekah and I went out to Highbridge, so I could see it for the first time, and afterward I waved my final official goodbye as she left home in Wilmore for good. And then of course there were fireworks, which I did not take great effort to go watch, but could see a bit of from the third floor of the dorm.

Friday, July 3, 2009

written the following day

Last night, I wrote a post for my blog, and then my Word program unexpectedly quit on me and I lost the whole thing. %*&^#@!

So now you get the summarized, truncated version which goes like this. In the morning, I got to go out to breakfast with some great ladies from the dorm—Morgan, Nicole, and Bekah. We drove thirty minutes to go to IHOP, because I wanted a good variety of syrup. It was delightful.

And then in the afternoon, I got to enjoy more time on the rocking chairs and even had a little company. Angela came with me and Bekah joined a little later. Mostly, we did our own thing, them reading and me practicing some more on my guitar. When the blisters got too painful, I had to put it down and decided to catch up some on one of my Granta issues—a literary magazine that looks more like a book. It’s British which means it’s incredible.

In the evening, I began educating Morgan on Bob Dylan and we watched the 1967 documentary, Dont Look Back. Always a beauty to watch. For a day in Wilmore, it was a good one.

Love the rocking chairs. Love the reading. Love Bob Dylan. Not, however, a big fan of Word.