Praying Paul

Greetings dear friends! It's been a wonderful week here at PTS, and the weather is being as inconsistent as ever. I'm cool with it, though, because it means that there is a rare nice day here and there--nice enough to have Hebrew Exegesis class on the Chapel steps last Thursday! Anyway, we have entered the Lenten season, which means we have about seven weeks until Easter Sunday! Woo Hoo!

Lent Discipline. To many people, Lent has been a season of giving something up--chocolate, coffee, cookies, cursing, whatever... Less often, I see people endeavoring into the realms of new disciplines. Both of these observations have inspired my plan for Lent. Now now now, having a background in Psychology means that I read a lot of studies about such endeavors: taking on too much too fast usually ends in failure, temptation gets stronger the longer it persists, and it takes about 60 days to develop a new habit. All this considered, I have decided to give up three of my dining-hall weaknesses: cookies (which are consequently on NW's top ten list of awesome things in America), ice cream (which kinda stinks now that they got rid of all that cherry ice cream and replaced it with my two favorites--choco mint chip and cookies and cream), and granola (which you can eat as slow as you want because it practically never goes soggy)! So, wish me luck with all that! The far more interesting part of my Lenten plan is my new discipline: Praying Paul. This might not be the most accurate description of what I am actually doing, but my plan is to memorize an awesome section of Paul's letters everyday. Sometimes this is a single verse, sometimes it's five or six. The point is that I will be memorizing even more Scripture than I already do, and to be quite honest, I have been obsessing with the Prophets and Psalms a little bit too much lately, so this should jazz up my rememorizing a bit! I'm getting most of my suggestions for passages from my brain, my friends, and a nice little book titled A Still More Excellent Way. 


Psalm Sing. I foreshadowed the Psalter celebration two posts ago, but man o man it was pretty darn cool! There was a reception with tasty snacks, lively people, and a book signing. We all then ventured over to the Chapel to sing a little bit. It was quite a fun and uplifting night. Check out the first page of my Psalter:

You know, I really love the Psalms. What a wonderful book! You should go read a few! They're short, and there is one for every occasion. Also, I will be sure to have my Psalter with me as I travel to West Chester and Weatherly over Spring Break if any of you want to look at the pure dead brilliance contained on the pages of this incredible collection of Psalms!

Palm Sunday. First Pres WC is having a Palm Sunday 5K run/2k walk that you should all try to attend. I am currently training for the distance of 10K, which includes five days of gym time and at least four evenings icing knees. So, if you are a seminiarian reading this, I encourage you to join me in my training. If not, you should go to about.com and get a good training schedule for yourself. More details can be found at: http://www.firstpreswc.com/palm-sunday-5k

I hope all is well with each of you, and I hope to see you soon (whoever you are)! The LORD be with you! =)