Hello, and good day! Again, it has been quite a while since I have updated, and I will be trying to get better at it. I only have a few things to share, most of them about the beginning of Spring semester here at PTS. Before I do that, however, let me share with you my Sunday church experience.
1st Church. First Presbyterian Church of Weatherly [PC(USA)] in my home town was the first ever Presbyterian church I attended. To be completely honest, I wasn't even sure they were still a church (low membership numbers averaging about ten in worship on Sundays), but I was happy to be invited by my best buddy to go with her and her grandfather on Sunday. Usually, if I am home for a weekend, I just leave really early Sunday mornings and catch the worship service in West Chester on my way back to school. Last Sunday, I decided to stay and spend an extra half day in Weatherly. Anyway, I went to First Pres Weatherly: 11 in worship counting the organist, reusable bulletins, cold church, no kids, red hymnals (1955), RSV Bibles, one usher, one minister, and God. And that's all we needed.
New Classes! Hooray for variety! Ugh, I was getting tired and sick of all that Hebrew with nothing else to study to give me a break! But, lucky for me, I have five other classes in addition to Hebrew this semester!
New Testament
Hebrew Exegesis: Women in OT Narratives
Pastoral Care: Theory and Practice
Speech Communication: Body Language and Delivery
Psalms in Christian Worship
ASL (not for credit)
I am very excited about this lineup of classes, especially Psalms... well, and Pastoral Care... and Exegesis... and NT... and ASL... and Speech. I am just really, really excited about this semester! Whoop whoop!
Well, there is nothing else too crazy (minus the regular exciting things) going on over here in the Christian bubble, so I will update as more and more excitement enters my life. Until next time, God Bless! =)
Hello, beloved friends! I am terribly sorry for my lack of updating this week. Despite being on break from school, I have been incredibly busy... busy having FUN FUN FUN! I have very much to recap from this week, so I am just going to dive right in!
Sunday: Episcopal Service. I have a confession to make: Sunday mornings have been more analytical than spiritual for me lately. Why? Well, simply because I need to find a place to do my field education placements! During worship, my brain has been wandering into the realms of theology and liturgy and different components that make up a Sunday service. I've been rating hospitality, love, ministries, music, and sermons relative to one another in order to find a place where I may fit in. This has been exhausting. So, 3 weeks ago, I decided to go to the 9pm Episcopal service at UChapel with some friends. This is exactly what I needed! Lately it seems like Sundays fly by and are full of hustle and bustle, but the Episcopal service is small, intimate, and quiet. I have truly developed a new appreciation for silence. =)
Monday: Relax. Fellowshiped with friends all day--no joke.
Tuesday: NYC. The Big Apple! I went with a small group of seminarians and one of their international friends! It was fun. We all walked through Central Park to the Guggenheim Museum, then we split into two small groups: I went to the World Trade Center Memorial site, ate pizza in Little Italy, hung out in Little China, meandered around Times Square, saw some break dancers, visited the Public Library, walked up to the Empire State building, and then finally went home!
Gutenberg Bible (left), Israel M&M's (right): I'm a little nerdy.
Wednesday: Moving Day, Bridge, Trivia. Such a wonderful day! A group of us helped move married friends from old CRW apartments to new CRW apartments! It took us all a good three and a half hours to do, but it was so much fun! Seminarians are pretty awesome people! We even got free breakfast and lunch, which is awesome since the dining hall is closed... oh, and of course, "A jewel in our heavenly crown" for our efforts! ;)
After moving, I sceedaddled on over to West Chester to visit my church mom! Wooooooo, hooray for finally being able to visit her (she is doing well, by the way, so thanks for the prayers!). I also went to the Wednesday night program at my church! The band sounded absolutely incredible... especially with all those youth up there! After all that, I zoomed back to Princeton and met up with my seminarian friends for a bit o trivia! We came in 3rd, and one of my good friends got engaged (in another state, not in Applebee's) while we were there! Yay!
Thursday: Games! Today is the day I shift my mindset from "relaxation" to "academia." I began working on things due the first week of school, applied to several field education placement sites, reviewed some Hebrew, played some games, had lunch with a dear friend of mine, and finally decided to update this blog!
Yes, we say it. Being the avid blog-reader that I am, I found this wonderful video the other day!
...and I for one can personally confirm that I have said several of these things on occasion. Very nicely done.
I am hoping to start a new series on this blog this spring that I think some of you may enjoy! In addition to my regular posts, I will be getting seminarians to make short videos of the most well known Bible stories. The unique thing about these videos is that they are going to be simple, in layman's terms, and maybe a little bit hilarious! We promise to be true to the text, but we're interested in making these stories interesting to you. If you have particular suggestions for such a video (or are interested in participating), email me at: ashley.reimold@gmail.com. God Bless!
Hooray! J-term is conquered! Finally! Now, I have a week off for inter-semester break (in which the seminary is promoting fasting once again), and a time to relax before jumping head first into the spring semester! This week promises to be a fun one with a few plans here and there, but mostly filled with an enormous amount of unstructured time.
Psalm 34 & Bibleworks. This was the final bit of translating on my Hebrew final, and a good choice to finish off the class. My translation: (1) Let me bless the Lord at all times / Always praise him with my mouth. (2) The LORD will be praised by my soul / It will listen for answers and it will rejoice. (3) The LORD is great to us / Let us exalt his name altogether. (4) I seek the LORD and he answers me / And from all my fears, I am saved. We only had to translate these four verses for the poetry section, but we also had to translate a sizable chunk of narrative from Judges. Other than the translation, the rest of the test was pretty simple and straightforward. Being the studiously dedicated seminarians that we are, we also incorporated our Hebrew studies into a game of telephone pictionary (Note: "Hebrew scholars"):
Nelson is slightly distracted from interpreting because Katie and I are really funny!
Looking ahead to my Hebrew exegesis class in the spring, I spent the better part of the morning familiarizing myself with Bibleworks. It is an amazing program that breaks down every single word in the Bible in its original language and also provides cross-references of any word to other places in the Bible. Simply put, it is AWESOME! =)
Snow. Finally...snow! Not counting that weird Halloween blizzard-thing, it has not snowed in Princeton this season! Despite my knowledge of the forecast, I still woke up this morning pleasantly surprised by the amount of snow outside my window! Since I have no particular place to be today, I will enjoy this accumulation with no complaining!
07:00 PTS quad
Well friends, I hope all is well with each of you and that you are enjoying the snow (if you are reading from a snowy place). I will try to see as many of you as I can during my week long break. I will be taking trips to NYC and Pennsylvania this week, and I am rather excited about both! Grace and peace to you! =)
Grace and peace to you on this midweek evening! =) My iPod decided to play another great song for me today, so I thought I would share it with you. I have also included a poem that I love by Dietrich Bonhoeffer that shares its title with the song. Sorry I cannot elaborate more on seminary life other than to say: "Busy, busy!"
SONG: Casting Crowns: Who Am I?
Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth Would care to know my name Would care to feel my hurt. Who am I, that the Bright and Morning Star Would choose to light the way For my ever wandering heart.
Not because of who I am But because of what You've done Not because of what I've done But because of who You're
I am a flower quickly fading Here today and gone tomorrow A wave tossed in the ocean A vapor in the wind Still You hear me when I'm calling Lord, You catch me when I'm falling And You've told me who I am I am Yours, I am Yours
Who Am I, that the eyes that see my sin Would look on me with love and watch me rise again. Who Am I, that the voice that calmed the sea Would call out through the rain And calm the storm in me Not because of who I am But because of what you done Not because of what I done But because of who you are
POEM: Who Am I?
Who am I? They often tell me
I stepped from my cell’s confinement
Calmly, cheerfully, firmly,
Like a squire from his country-house.
Who am I? They often tell me
I used to speak to my warders
Freely and friendly and clearly,
As though it were mine to command.
Who am I? They also tell me
I bore the days of misfortune
Equally, smilingly, proudly,
Like one accustomed to win.
Am I then really all that which other men tell of? Or am I only what I myself know of myself? Restless and longing and sick, like a bird in a cage, Struggling for breath, as though hands were compressing my throat, Yearning for colors, for flowers, for the voices of birds, Thirsting for words of kindness, for neighborliness, Tossing in expectation of great events, Powerlessly trembling for friends at an infinite distance, Weary and empty at praying, at thinking, at making, Faint, and ready to say farewell to it all?
Who am I? This or the other?
Am I one person today and tomorrow another?
Am I both at once? A hypocrite before others,
And before myself a contemptibly woebegone weakling?
Or is something within me still like a beaten army,
Fleeing in disorder from victory already achieved?
Who am I? They mock me, these lonely questions of mine.
Whoever I am, Thou knowest, O God, I am Thine!
Greetings! I am gearing up for my final week of Hebrew! Just four more days to go... I feel like I'm running a race and I can see the finish line. It's just that the finish line is uphill and has a three hour final involved! After all that, I can say that I am done with Biblical Hebrew... at least until Spring term begins when I start my Hebrew exegesis class, which I am ridiculously excited about!
Hebrew. I reviewed everything I have learned in Hebrew from last semester over the weekend: grammar and vocabulary. I must say that I am very pleased with the amount of information I have retained. Check this out:
Left: Words I know. Right: Word I don't know ("cattle")
I then went on and reviewed everything I learned in the past two weeks of intensive Hebrew. I have retained much of the grammar, but my vocab needs some practice until it is mastered--seems like a task for inter-semester break! I have also been doing a semi-insane amount of translating, and I am very pleased with my ability to do so! Thank you PTSem! =)
Confessions. You may recall that my most tangible New Year's Resolution was to read the PC(USA) Book of Confessions every night. Hooray! 16 days in and I am still holding fast to such a resolution. I am up to the Westminster Confession of Faith! It is a book I would recommend. It is a relatively easy read and most things are articulated very nicely! Plus I found out that there is a scholarship available for people able to recall the answers to all 107 questions in the Westminster Shorter Catechism. That is a tall task, but I think it may be one worth taking up... even if it is just for the knowledge!
I hope you all had a wonderful MLK Jr. day! I sure did... and a wonderful weekend as well! All the best, and may the Lord be with you now and always!
"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
13 to 37. This is the estimated age of Isaac at the time all of this is going on. It is derived from clues given through in chapters 12-24 of the book of Genesis. Genesis tells us that Sarah bore Isaac when she was 90 years old. It also tells us the Sarah died when she was 127. This story occurs between those two. In order to be able to carry the wood, Isaac would have had to be about 13 years old, but chronologically he could not be older than 37. So, why does this matter? Well, because his 100+ year old father bound this young boy/man with no struggle (at least that is accounted for in the book of Genesis). Again, I ask this question: what does that mean? Was Isaac willing to die? Was he that faithful? Was he that obedient? Who knows... Genesis lets us work these questions in our own minds.
The ending. We all know the ending to this story, right? An angel of the LORD stops Abraham from killing Isaac, then Abraham finds a ram stuck in the bushes and offers that up as a burnt offering instead of his son. But there is more to the story, and I must admit that I missed this the first time I ever read through it. Check out verse 19. "So Abraham returned to his servants, and they arose and went together to Beer-sheba." Wait a minute... something is missing here... or better yet, someone is missing here! Where's Isaac?! There is no indication that he came down the mountain with his father. We know that he survived because of the rest of the stories in Genesis, but it wasn't "the two of them walked together." Very interesting...
Sacrifice. So what's the point of this story? God 'commanded' Abraham to sacrifice his only son, and Abraham proved himself faithful? Maybe. But I think we could do better than that. Let's think about it: oftentimes, people are enraged by this story. Why? Because why would God ever 'command' someone to kill another person, let alone their own child? And why would Abraham willingly agree? Why would he almost follow through with it? There are a lot of "why's" and unanswered questions surrounding this story. Instead of addressing those, let us ask a different question: Have we ever done something like this? Now, my instinctual answer (and I'm guessing yours is as well) is "NO!" But wait just a minute... to me this story is just as much about sacrifice as it is about faithfulness. This is how I see it, Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son for personal gain (to prove himself faithful, to receive a blessing, to get offspring and land, to claim that which God promised unto him). And so I ask again, have we ever done something like this? Have you ever seen individuals sacrificing family time and intimate relationships for career opportunities and self-accomplishment? Have we ever paid more attention to the things of this world that don't matter than we do to the people in this world that do matter? Have we ever been selfish at someone else's expense? Have we ever looked out for ourselves more than others? I think happens. And I think it happens too often. Perhaps before we praise Abraham for his faithfulness or curse him for his willingness to kill his son, we need to ask ourselves: Have we ever done something like this?
The Hebrew Bible is filled with these kinds questions that are just begging to be asked, especially in the narratives. OT narratives have a tendency to not include the thoughts of characters in the stories, and they oftentimes leave big holes or ambiguities. This makes it fun for people like me to read through them! There are always unanswered questions and mysteries. I read these stories again and again and again and come up with new ideas every time. This is only part of the reason I love what I do! Until next time, the Lord be with you! =)
Ha-shalom, beloved friends? I hope all is well with each of you, and that this post finds you in a state of contentment if not overwhelming joy and happiness! Today, I figured I would share a little bit about the visitation of a Rabbi to my Hebrew class and a whole lot a bit about Genesis 22. Why Genesis 22 you might ask? Well, several reasons: (1) We've studied it in both OT and Hebrew; (2) I had to translate it the other day; (3) It is an 'alarming' text; (4) It's interesting.
The 'command' to sacrifice Issac. This is the title the NRSV gives to the passage of Genesis 22, although I added the quotation marks. First thing to note from this passage is the Abraham's immediate response when God calls to him. In the Hebrew, he says הִנֵּנִי which means, "Here I am." This is found in several places throughout the Hebrew Bible as proper responses to God's calling. So if God ever calls you, just say, "Hin-ah-nee!" Moving on to God's 'command.' I put this in quotation marks because I'm not entirely convinced that it is actually a command. It sounds more like a request. In Hebrew, קַח-נָא which is an imperative meaning, "Please, take..." In the NRSV, however, it is translated without the 'please,' but that is literally what the left part means. "Kack-Na."
One sided conversation. Next in verse two we get a lot of specificity. "[Please] take your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac..." <--I reordered the words to conform with the Hebrew more than the English. Rabbinical tradition believes that this was truly a dialogue, and we are only hearing God's side the conversation. Their logic--God doesn't waste words and this is exceptionally extensive. So maybe, the conversation went something like this:
God: "[Please] take your son..." Abraham: Which one? God: You're only son. Abraham: I have two sons. God: Whom you love. Abraham: I love them both.
God: Isaac.
Eagerness. In verse 3 we find out that, "Abraham rose early in the morning" and "saddled his [own] donkey." Whoa, whoa, whoa. Now, why would one wake up early on the day they plan to set out to sacrifice their child? And why would such a rich man saddle his own donkey, surely there were slaves to do this for him. These are several unanswered questions, especially for those who believe that Abraham was overly-eager to kill his son.
So the two of them walked together. The repetition of this phrase suggests that it is important. They walked together, father and son. The interesting thing is Isaac asks where the lamb for the sacrifice is; now check this out: אֶלֹהִים יִרְאֶה לּוֹ הַשֶּׂה לְעֹלָה בְּנִי wow, that's a lot of Hebrew. Transliteration: elo-heem yi-ra-ah has-ah la-o-lah ba-ni. In English Abraham says, "God will see to it the lamb for the burnt offering my son." But, wait just a minute, there is some ambiguity since there is no such thing as commas in Hebrew. Grammatically speaking, it could also be translated, "God will see to it the lamb for the burnt offering IS my son." WHOA! WHAT?! Unfortunately, there is no real way of knowing which is intended--not from the grammar at least. So, if Isaac knew... and then "the two of them walked together," what does that mean?! The plot thickens!
Good day everyone! I think I can officially say that I am beginning to get sick-and-tired of Hebrew. Hebrew this, Hebrew that, Hebrew everything! Good news for me, however, is that I just totally rocked that 2nd midterm, AND now I get a three day weekend. By Tuesday, I should be adequately un-sick-and-tired of Hebrew! Hooray! Keeping in mind that I still have the other half of class in about 20 minutes where our Rabbi friend is back for a special visit with our class (more on that later this weekend), I will instead write about other occurrences this week.
ASL class. Wooo Hoo, an official ASL class here at PTS! This is going to be awesome! It will begin in the spring semester and be a one hour a week not-for-credit class. A few friends and I have managed to pick up some ASL here and there from those around us very skilled in ASL (Noah, Nelson, Jacob), and I would argue that we could hold our own in a conversation.... BUT, now with a class, we'll get even better! Yay! Yesterday, a few of us even had a whole conversation at lunch using only ASL! Oh, the wonderful sounds of silence!
Frailty of Life. For me, January has been a lesson all about this. Several of my very dear friends have been in the hospital, others have had severe illnesses, it seems like everyone is getting sick, anxiety and depression are in season, prayer requests for healing and recovery have hit me like a tidal wave of emotion, and now my beloved brother is in ICU. I have been lucky enough to avoid any of this stuff happening to me, but it's almost worse in a way because many around me are suffering, and there is very little I can do about it. I suppose that's the nature of health issues, though. I'm persistently praying and in the meantime I am here to listen, to pray with and for others, and hopefully to provide social support that may be needed. Hopefully, February brings with it more than just a new semester. Anyway, look at my fortune:
Determination is right! =)
Well, I am very near to being late for the lecture half of my Hebrew class this morning! I wish all the best to each of you, and humbly ask for your prayers for all of my friends mentioned above and also my brother. God Bless!
Shalom dear friends! I am officially 40% done with my intensive Hebrew course... but really, that is only in amount of days, not quizzes/tests! Anyway, over the next two weeks I am probably going to be talking a lot about my Hebrew endeavors mostly because it consumes the majority of what I have been and will be doing (with the exception of the gym, basketball, meals, games, church, and a few town trips).
Hoshek, it's dark! Since I am in no way trying to convince you that studying Hebrew all day everyday is a good way to protect your sanity and guard your patience, instead I will share with some instances that made me think: "Clearly, they (or I) need a break from Hebrew..." The first one was the title of my last post: "How do you Hiphil that?" (2) "Kadosh!" simply meaning 'holy,' but when you yell it at your grammar book, it sounds like you're angry. (3)"Hoshek, it's dark" when the lights are off; hoskek = 'darkness.' (4)"You can tell from context..." Response: "If I hear that one more time... *mumble non-nonsensically in Hebrew.* (5)"This one is irregular." Response: "Can we just say they're all irregular and call it a day?! (6)"I didn't know what the word meant, so I just translated it as 'pizazz.'" Response: "Pizazz in the eyes of the Lord?!"
Circled words in Hebrew: "Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, Adonai" meaning Holy Holy Holy is the Lord.
Isaiah 6:3
Suspense. We have been doing a great deal of translating recently, more so than usual. The nice thing is that when we finish, we really feel like we've accomplished something... especially after an hour or two of nothing but translating. Most often, we have been working on familiar texts: Sarah and Abraham, Solomon's prayer for wisdom, the sacrifice of Isaac, Solomon settles the dispute, Samuel speaks to the Lord about appointing a king, etc etc. So, we know what is going to happen because we know the stories so well. But, we don't know the stories well enough to recite them. Plus, the literal Hebrew can be slightly different than the English. This creates a feeling of suspense, especially when you have to slow up your translating to look up an unfamiliar word in the lexicon. I distinctly remember saying, "What is the Lord going to say in response to THIS?!" In addition, I think the slower pace that we have been forced to read these stories at has brought with it thought-provoking effects. It makes us think more about what every word means and the intent of just a single verse (as opposed to a whole story, chapter, or book). Despite the grueling hours spent in a Hebrew bible trying to translate it all in a way that makes sense in English, I really like this suspense, and I really enjoy translating; it's much better than other types of written homework!
Another two weeks to go! Yay! By then, I hope to be able to translate straight from the Hebrew with minimal use of a lexicon. We're getting there, and the progress we've made in just a week's time has been incredible! I hope all is well with each of you, and trust me when I say that I will be looking for something else to write about when I get time to write again. I continue to pray for you all!
Good morning friends! It's has been far too long since I updated this blog! Ugh, what a loooong week! I returned to PTS just six days ago, but it feels like I've been back for an eternity! Since J-term started less than 12 hours after I returned, I practically had no time to catch up with friends about their breaks, except for passing conversations here and there that were far too short in my estimation. Finally after a week, I feel like we're all caught up. =)
Hebrew. This week went pretty well. The class is split up in such a way that I don't get antsy in the three hours of Hebrew every morning. Precept has been quite fun: my preceptor is an awesome teacher, we're learning new things, there is a nice sense of community, and we've been doing straight-from-the-Bible translating. This week alone we've worked on passages from Genesis, I Samuel, Ruth, and Psalms. Many of us have been studying in groups which is extremely helpful... and we get a lot of laughs from statements like, "How do you Hiphil that?"* On the other hand, the test yesterday was hard! I'm convinced that my brain hurt afterward, and the professor kept saying, "I know your brains are fried, so... [we'll have an easy lecture]." My attitude for next week: bring it week two!
I found this picture online, but it says something like: "And it came to pass after the death of Moses, servant of the Lord, the Lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun minister of Moses saying..."**
YAAD. Just a quick update on my YAAD (Young Adult Advisory Delegate) application. I received an email from the Presbytery confirming that they got my application, the endorsement from my session, and my written statement of faith. Yay! On 24 January 2012, Presbytery will vote on recommendations, so I should know shortly after that if I get to go to GA (General Assembly) this year in Pittsburgh! =)
Please continue to pray with me for my dear friends in the hospital! I hope to post again soon, but that is only Hebrew-willing. All the best, God Bless!
*Hiphil is a verb form in Hebrew. Saying this is like saying, "How do you gerund that?" in English. **My translation. Text sounds/looks like it's from the book of Joshua.
And so it has begun! J-term Hebrew. Some of us are beginning to get a little crazy after just two days, but it's no wonder! 3 hrs of class every day--half precept, half lecture. It all starts with a quiz (everyday) or test (on Fridays), then going over homework, going through the new lesson, trying to remember yesterday's lesson, going to lecture, speeding through that lesson, translating for an hour.... then go to lunch and spend the rest of the day jamming 20-30 new vocab words in your brain, new grammar to learn, new forms and idioms to shove in there too, the next chapter to read and understand, and on top of all that-homework! In total, it has been equating to about 8 hours of Hebrew a day! Sounds fun, right? ...in a slightly geeky way, I kinda like it. =)
Hold My Heart. I was at the gym this afternoon (physical activity boosts mental activity--that's my justification) and my iPod was on shuffle. For some reason, my iPod loves Tenth Avenue North... seriously loves them! I have two of their albums, but I also have over 3,000 songs; every time I put the thing on shuffle, within ten songs, I will have a Tenth Avenue North song. It's quite astonishing. Anyway, today at the gym, my iPod chose for me to listen to a song entitled Hold My Heart by Tenth Avenue North (first song this time). It's lyrics are really good:
One tear in a driving rain
One voice in a sea of pain
Could the Maker of the stars,
hear the sound of my breaking heart?
One life, that's all I am
Right now I can barely stand
If you're everything you say you are,
would you come close and hold my heart
To me, it sounds like a desperate prayer. Have you ever prayed with such desperation? It also got me to thinking about the title of the song, Hold My Heart. Sometimes hearts hurt, hearts need God, and hearts need holding. Really, it's incredible that your heart even fits in your chest with everything it holds! Anyway, it's a great song, check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ry6udsW9leA.
Prayer Request. Two of my very dear friends are having serious surgeries this week (one tomorrow and one on Thursday), so if you could pray for them and their families, that would be greatly appreciated!
Well, friends, it's about time I get back to Hebrew! I hope you all had wonderful Christmases and New Year's celebrations! All the best and God Bless!
Happy New Year! Whoo 2012, here we go! I hope everyone's New Year's Resolutions are off to a great start! For me, today begins at least four or five months of inaccurately dating all of my papers as "2011."
Interestingly enough, statistics show that it should only take me about 60 days to adjust, which is always a gross underestimation in my document-dating behaviors. This is because experts say it takes about 60 days to develop a new habit. 60 days. So get out your calendars, and mark March 1 as a day to check up on the progress you've made with your resolution. This same study also suggests being as specific and public about your resolutions as possible. For instance, instead of saying "I am going to eat healthier," make a list of foods you intend on eating, intend on not eating, and replacement foods. Also, being public keeps you more disciplined and committed to such a change of habit--so tell a few friends. Good luck!
Resolution. This word is defined as "a firm decision to do or not to do something." After reflecting on my past year (2011: An Awesome Year), I could not really come up with any ground breaking resolutions. Rather, I decided that I wanted to strengthen some of my current behaviors. For instance, I plan on reading the Book of Confessions more often (ever since I finished it in August, I've only referenced the Westminster Shorter Catechism a few times). Others include: listening for God, out-of-the-way kindness, public prayer, and intentional relationships (especially long-distance relationships). Each of these is articulated in more detail on post-its on my desk. Wish me luck!
Criminal Minds. Last week I had a real break. I literally had nothing to do, so I turned on the tube. Believe you me: I watched more television in the past two weeks than I did in the four months previous. It was pretty awesome to just sit back and relax. As I was flipping through channels, I found a new show: Criminal Minds. I love it, and I recommend trying it out. It reminds me of my days as a Psychology major doing Applied Behavioral Analysis work at the clinic.
J-term. Well after a two week break from seminary, I begin the J term tomorrow with intensive Hebrew! 15 chapters in 3 weeks; quiz everyday, test every Friday. 15 days of Hebrew! Here we go! Wish me and my friends luck!
It's great to be back in Princeton, but it was also good to be in West Chester and the Poconos over break! January is going to be an interesting month! Good luck with all of your resolutions and Happy New Year! God Bless! =)
