Swimming through books. "Busy in a way that is away from a computer." What does that even mean? Well, quite simply, that I am swimming through vast amounts of books this semester. Despite my lack of a theology classes, I still have a whole lot of reading to get through. I must say, however, that I have gained an incredible amount of knowledge in just the last two weeks. On top of all of the academic reading I have been engaged in these past two weeks, I also can't seem to put down my books for pleasure. So even when I don't have to read, I find myself reading anyway.
Drawings. Some of you may remember my wonderful artistic skills from my Daniel 7 drawing. And when I say "wonderful," I really mean "terribly stick-figurish, not-at-all artistic, but still rather humorous." Well, you may be surprised at how much you can tell about how somebody interprets a passage of Scripture by how they imagine it; and since we have no tangible way to enter into the imagination of others, we are forced to look at "wonderful" pictures. Or better yet, if you find yourself wrestling with what a passage means, try to draw it. Sometimes the passage is really abstract, but give it a try anyway. For instance, here is my own rendition of Mark Chapter 1 (Baptism) and Chapter 16 (Death).
Hebrew. If we choose not to mention my bad pronunciation, I am getting pretty good at this Hebrew stuff. I feel confident enough to just pick up the Hebrew Bible and read (slower than in English, of course). I still need a lexicon every now and again to look up a word or two, but I can definitely read and understand the gist of the story. It's really awesome, especially when you consider that I really didn't know any Hebrew in August. Go PTSem on your Hebrew teaching methods! Quite impressive. I am also happy to report that I am truly enjoying my Hebrew Exegesis class. It is a lot of reading and translating, but our professor is incredible and we are learning so much! I am very well pleased!
What is really being examined here? As I mentioned in a previous post, I am in a Psalms class where we are singing and journaling through all of the Psalms. This should be ridiculously fun, right? Well, yes... and no. It's fun because I love singing (that does not mean that I am good at it, it just means that I enjoy it). It's also fun because the Psalter we are using is pure dead brilliant (for you NW)! There is a great diversity in the tunes, but there is also an element of recognition, which I appreciate. Some of the Psalms have taken tunes that I know well and given them words of a Psalm. It's really quite awesome. The less fun part about all of this is that while singing and journaling, you are exploring these prayers in a deeply spiritual way. With very few exceptions, the Psalms is the only place in the Bible where we explore the inner-workings and consciousness of a person.While examining these ancient prayers, I have found that they have also been examining me.
Well beloved friends, I will make a conscious attempt this week to not let my blogging get away from me. I hope all is well with each of you, and I am praying for you all--every night. Until next time (well really, and forever), the LORD be with you. =)
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