the other half of last week...

Thursday, September 3

Chapel that morning was very good. We had communion (they do it once a month at chapel on campus), so there wasn't really a speaker. The chaplain, Mr. Reed (who is actually a childhood friend of one of my mom's cousins!) did talk a little bit about why we have chapel in the middle of the day rather than first thing in the morning...to remind us that Jesus is to be ther center of all that we do. I definitely agree with him...it's hard sometimes because chapel makes me really feel closely connected to Christ or something, but then when I leave and go eat lunch and go about my day, I almost lose that feeling. It's kind of weird...and I definitely wish it didn't happen. Always remembering that Christ is to be at the center of my life....meditating on His Word throughout the day....praying without ceasing...I know these are the things I should be doing to have a deeper relationship with Him, to keep that chapel feeling of worship all the time, but it's difficult..... So please be praying for me!

English Composition that afternoon was a very interesting class.....we were discussing the Genesis Creation story, somewhat in comparison to the Koran's mentions of creation and the Native American creation stories. But we were mainly talking about Genesis. I don't remember if I already said this on here...but our textbook has lots of different articles/selections from western thinkers on various important topics. The editors wrote an introductory essay for each section, and that is what got our discussion going to start with. Gaps in the Genesis geneologies, where did Cain get his wife, the beginning of Genesis is poetry, God may have added His image to some common ancestor between us and a monkey (basically theistic evolution), we don't know how long the days in Genesis are, etc. etc. all came up, which I honestly found VERY annoying....... What about the crazy idea of accepting God's Word as authoritative and true from the very first verse????? I definitely added my two cents worth, several times! I always tried to hear the other people out first though, and I tried to be nice about giving the explanations upholding the Bible. So on Tuesday we will be adding Paley's argument for design and some of Darwin's writing to the mix, and the discussion should be just as interesting, if not even more so. If you don't mind praying that I would behave myself decently towards these, my brothers and sisters in Christ, that would probably be a really good idea.........

I'm not sure what I did between class and dinner...after dinner I went to the cathedral for a short meeting with the teacher and other members of the Worship Ministries Ensemble. We just went over what the expectations and schedule are for the semester. I was glad it was short that night, because I wanted to get to Walker's Float or Dye!

The Float or Dye was a dorm activity that we had out on the Quad. It consisted of enjoying rootbeer floats and tie-dying shirts! I kind of like how mine turned out. The design part was great, but I should have left it in the dye a lot longer, because the colors aren't very dark :/

I did the tie-dye on the back of one of my free JBU athletics T-shirts...here's the front:

Afterwards I went with my suite mates and a bunch of other folks to play wallyball (again!). We played for about three hours I think....until 11 pm...I probably shouldn't have stayed up that late, but it sure was fun! And I did have all my homework done! :D

Friday, September 4

I got up early....at 6am! (You'll see why in a bit....) Went running at the inside track, 2.8 miles in 27:42. I stayed under my 10 minute mile pace the whole time!!!!!!!!! So it was GREAT! :D Took a quick shower and ate breakfast, then met up with Shannon (my O-group leader) at 8:30 so that she could take me to run some errands. I finally opened up a bank account here in town (I've been needing to do that ever since I got here!), then we went looking for a thrift store so that I could get some black pants to wear to work (I am doing workstudy in the cafeteria this year...more on that later...). The first two we found didn't open until 10, and she had to be at her workstudy job by then...we went into the Dollar General and I bought a pair of black exercise pants just in case I couldn't find anything else. We asked about a thrift store, and the lady told us about the Manna Store. It's a really nice thrift store that had evidently just moved to a new location. So we went there and I found two pair of terrific black slacks that fit me really well! They were marked at $3 each, but one pair was half price!!! So that was really nice! :D

On my way to classes I stopped by the cafeteria to pick up my sack lunch since it was Friday and I was going to spend my hour break down at the honor's center. As I was going into the building where my first class was, I saw something weird on the wall...it almost looked like a little turtle! On closer examination it turned out not to be a turtle, but rather.......

a small bat!!!!!!!!!! He was hanging there, sound asleep, right at my eye level! He looks bigger in this picture than he really was...he was only about two inches long. I actually went to see if he was still there this morning, and he was...so it's pretty weird. He had moved a little bit though.
Anyways, my classes went pretty well. MMC was fun because we watched a video about the history of print media. With OTS we started talking about Genesis...interesting timing in light of my English class discussion... One of the guys who is in the same OTS and the same English class as I am asked the OTS professor about Genesis 1 at the end of class, and the professor said we would talk about it next time....so I will be very very interested to see what he says. Ate lunch and called Dad during my break since I didn't have any homework I needed to do for Monday. We had a pretty good discussion in Honors' Orientation about learning and how to encourage deeper learning rather than just surface learning to spit back out on a test for a grade. News Writing was my last class before the long weekend...we had a spelling "test" of sorts...thankfully it won't actually affect our class grade. The professor had put 50 words on the sheet of paper, some of which were spelled right and some of which were wrong......mostly it was confusing words...the difference between an s and a c, or between having a double l/f/m/s/etc or a single one. We were supposed to change the ones that were wrong to the correct spelling and leave the ones alone that were ok. I got 32 of the 50 correct....and a lot of the ones that I messed up on I had an inkling about, but I ran out of time. No one in the class got over 40 right...the professor said he would actually give a cash prize if anyone did.
Once I finished with classes I went to my room and got ready for the freshman honors picnic!!! We were supposed to go camping for the night, but rain was forecasted and so we just went for the evening. We left JBU about 5:00 and drove the 8 miles or so to Natural Falls State Park. It was very very VERY pretty!
After supper a BUNCH of us played the "signs" game...we all sat in a circle and each person came up with a sign for themselves, then showed everyone else (mine was a "butterfly"). One person had to stand in the middle, close their eyes, and count for 10 seconds. While they had their eyes closed, the "sign" was being passed by one person doing their own sign, then someone else's. That person then did their own sign to except it, then another person's to pass it again. Once the person in the middle opened their eyes, they tried to guess who had the sign...so the big trick was to try to pass the sign to someone behind the back of the person in the middle...and to keep track of where the sign was without giving away its location! An interesting game....kind of challenging too, but it was fun.
We also sang some praise and worship songs at the picnic pavilion before heading back to campus. I wish we had done it around the campfire, but it was a very very small campfire and we probably had about 50 people there, so that wouldn't have been practical. We were back at JBU by 8:30. Then I went with my room and suite mates to watch a movie ("The Emperor's New Groove") here on campus...it's definitely a comedy and a cartoon...the funniest part is that even though it is supposedly set way back in time, they keep making references to modern times.
Once we got back, I finished hanging up pictures on my closet door!!!! Then we were all on our laptops in our room doing Facebook...I put up some new pictures and stuff and stayed up too late (midnight!)



Saturday, September 5
So I slept in until 8:30 the next morning, then went to the honors' center on my bike to do laundry. It's nearly half a mile from my dorm to the center, but it's worth it because it is FREE! Once I finished, I ate lunch, then got online for a while. I went to work at the Cafeteria for the first time at 3:00. I thought I was doing a four hour shift, but since it was late in their work week and my first time, I did a five hour shift instead. I vaccuumed the whole dining room (which I estimate might be about the same square footage as my house!!!!), which took about two and a half hours....then I helped at the salad bar during the dinner hour, then all the workers ate, and then we spent the next hour or so cleaning up. I was really really tired by the time I finished. Talked to Dad and Mom awhile, then chatted with a couple friends on facebook, then to bed!

Sunday, September 6
This morning I got up in plenty of time, ate breakfast, then went to Sunday School at Siloam Springs Bible Church. The teacher is actually a professor here at JBU (of math!). He was just filling in for a couple weeks, so he's doing a two part series on Jude. Today he mostly focused on the Old Testament allusions in Jude...it's amazing how many there are in such a little book!
I liked the sermon a little better today. His emphasis seemed a little more on the Scripture and not so much on the topic, so that was good. Afterwards, the man who drives the shuttle van for JBU students and his wife took the four of us who rode with them out to lunch. We went to a Chinese buffet that was really good!
Once I got back and changed clothes, I called Nathan to hear all about his weekend. He had been at the national CAP conference where he officially received his promotion to full colonel! He also served as an aide to the CAP national commander! While I was talking with him I went on a walk....we talked and I walked for an hour and a half :D I walked about 3.75 miles in that time...it was fun. While I was doing so I saw a robin all spread out on a little hill of hay sunning himself, AND what I think was a badger or woodchuck or something along those lines.....life is never boring here!
Since then I have been on my computer and had dinner! We don't have The Gathering tonight because it's a holiday weekend. I have some reading I should probably do for Tuesday...I meant to do it Friday, but I ran errands instead; I meant to do it Saturday, but I worked on my computer instead...so I think I'd better do it today!