Contrary to what you may have gathered from reading my past few entries, life in seminary has been more than listening to Thrice (check out
this video to hear the song I've been listening to nonstop for the past two weeks) and watching Youtube videos. A lot has happened over the past month; some of which I'll recount here and some that you'll have to hear from me in person.
A few highlights from the past semester (in no particular order):
The education: I took five classes this semester; two I took only because I had to, two foundational courses that I really enjoyed, and one language class that ate up a lot more time than I wanted it to. My favorite class was an Old Testament survey taught by a great teacher. We went through every book of the OT and considered the historical, literary and interpretive of each. Before this, I had never read through the entire OT and I regret not doing it sooner. Doing so opened my eyes to how God has been working throughout history for the sake of his glory and the redemption of man. There were times when the class was almost (unintentionally) like a church service to me because it made my heart thump with gratitude for all God has done in history and filled me with hope for all that he will do in the future. If you haven't already, I highly recommend reading through the OT, along with a good commentary. It will change the way you view everything else.
I learned a lot in the other classes as well, but you'll have to talk to me in person if you want the full scoop. I understand that most people aren't really interested in the specifics of my academic enterprises. One thing I should note: being immersed in theological studies and surrounded by Christians did not necessarily improve my spiritual life. A cousin who graduated from seminary a while back told me that seminarians often feel their souls shrivel up in the midst of their studies because they're so focused on the academic aspect of their education that they neglected what really matters. This happened to me quite a bit this semester.
The Biola cafeteria: I LOVE this place! I was a bit hesitant to pony up the money for a meal plan at school, but I'm so glad I did. The convenience factor alone would have made the plan worthwhile, but the quality of the food made it doubly so. The cafeteria has plenty of healthy AND delicious options. That ensured that I had my fill of veggies and fiber that I otherwise would not have had, and I really enjoyed pretty much everything they served. As a bonus, I sometimes got two meals for the price of one. I'd grab some apples and eggs and saved them in my backpack as dinner later in the day.
SoCal and Lisa: I'm not a huge fan of SoCal yet (especially the horrendous traffic and accompanying infrastructure), but I was blessed to be able to explore parts of it with Lisa. She made the transition to the area a lot easier and it was really great to finally be able to see her on a more regular basis. If not for her, I probably wouldn't have seen 75% of the places I went to.
Visitors: It was so very wonderful to have friends visit me...
The 'rents came down the week after I moved down to join me in shopping for furnishings and help me get settled in.
Here I am with the Zhengs in some dirty corner of a shopping center in Alhambra at 2:00am.
Melissa and I went to Target and ate Panda Express (I despised myself for the next three days for voluntarily eating that $#!*).
Heather gave my hand the evil eye after it got a little too close to her boobies.
Meredith came and we went to the Getty and had really mediocre Japanese food for dinner because the noodle place we were planning on going to had a crazy long wait.
But I was able to go a week later when Samuel and Lily were in town.
Carmen and Justin - both also in SoCal for school - visited my apartment.
The roommates: I have three - Caleb, Kevin and Jon Marc. The two white guys are in the philosophy program and spend their weekends watching football. The Asian guy is in the same program as me and we watch a lot of Youtube videos together. All three have questionable eating habits. We're all pretty laid back and apartment life is just peachy (with the exception of the smells and occasional unmentionable stains).
I'll be posting more in upcoming entries. Let me know in the comments if there's anything you want me to specifically address.
