the reason for the tardiness of this post is simply due to the necessarily long recovery process. writing term papers usually causes missed nights of sleep with a side of grumpiness sprinkled throughout. i do not envy those who surround me during the closing weeks of the semester. i’m sure my neighbors are convinced i’m going insane. insanity, however, is the best cure for writer’s block. but i digress.

all semester i avoided the dreaded research paper in my biblical backgrounds class. don’t get me wrong, the class topics were everything i had hoped for. no joke! i had been waiting to take a class on the formative texts for our canonical authors. i was born for this class! the subject matter was not at all the issue.

the issue was fear. starting as a first year student in intro to bible i was struck and captivated by the author of our text. the insight drew me into the field of biblical studies and has proved to be foundational for my subsequent studies. the author? you guessed it…my biblical backgrounds professor! since taking intro to bible, this professor has achieved legendary status in dan custer’s professor hall of fame. to actually take a class by him was…well…scary! i have the utmost respect for him and now looking back on this past semester find evidence for this. his teaching has encouraged me to reach higher and search harder in my studies.

you can understand my fear then. in my mind, writing a paper in this class would result in nothing more than inadequate words on a page. don’t get me wrong, he is a gracious professor…as is evidenced by my current grade (minus the final research paper…which i’ll find out about tomorrow). my fear was that i would finally prove to this distinguished professor that my work is inadequate. this fear kept me from writing my research paper alllll semester.

you can only avoid papers for so long though, right? with each click of the keys, the anxiety drained from my mind, into my fingers, and onto the screen in front of me. who knew writing could be therapeutic! the semester long research paper, reduced to a weekend of insanity, ended last thursday as i hesitantly slid my 10+ page paper on the comparison between the scriptural exegetical methods of the dead sea scroll and new testament communities under my professor’s door. all done. subsequently, if you’re interested in discussing the interpretive methodology of the dead sea scroll (at qumran) or the new testament communities, let me know!

oh, and i learned how to do footnotes…hence the website about footnotes in the background.

that’s right…i used hebrew in my paper!

that’s at 10 inches if you can’t see that close!

i apologize for the less than spectacular photography above…i took them at 2 am after i finished writing my paper.

HAPPY SUMMER!

beside the fact that queen was possibly the best musical group EVER, there is truth to their lyrics.

for the past month or so i’ve been living the vision of life defined by the queen song “bicycle race.” i must first admit that i am not a mosier (one who tends to mosey from class to class, store to store, life event to life event). at christmas, if i have to enter the mall, i know exactly what i want to get and where i need to go to get it. it’s quite simple. i don’t understand people who mosey from shop to shop. just get what you need and LEAVE!!! (not that i’m harboring any bitterness) same at high school. i knew where my classes where and i got there as quickly as possible. none of this “socializing” in between classes…we have more important things to do! moral of the story: i’m not a mosier (i don’t know if i spelled that right).

soooo…i walk fast. i walk really fast. in fact, in order to walk faster i lean forward to create a more aerodynamic mass. what i don’t understand is why we were created this way…it would be so much more efficient if we were more aerodynamically created. whatever. so i move fast.

recently, i’ve been noticing that i’ve maxed out my walking speed. bummer, right? not for the student who lives close by!! i postulated that if i were to somehow replace my legs with wheels, i could move at least double, if not triple the speed limit of legs.

my hypothesis was proven this morning as i made it to work from my room in 6 minutes, rather than the normal 10 minutes. granted, 6 minutes is 1 minute more than the desired half of 10, however there are other factors to be considered. i saw one of my friends (one of the messiah tennis starts who won the number 5 spot single’s championship this past sunday, woot, woot!) and biked (i biked, he walked) w/ him to his class, which is not in the direct path of work for me. with this in mind, it is not irresponsible to estimate that it would only take me, say, 1 or 2 minutes to get to work from my room. 1 or 2 is much less than half or 1/3 of 10…so barring further testing, my hypothesis has been proven.

so if you see a red blur pass you by on campus, chances are it’s me flirting with the sound barrier. i will leave you with the words of the famous philosopher Freddie Mercury,

i want to ride my bicycle
i want to ride my bike
i want to ride my bicycle
i want to ride it where i like

congrats to the messiah college men’s tennis team for yet another commonwealth conference championship! three years in a row is an accomplishment worth celebrating!

follow the men’s tennis team at this website.

good luck this weekend with your individual matches…and the upcoming national championship!!

what is it about the human mind that causes us to become paralyzed in the face of large tasks? it’s that time of the semester when everything is piling up and i just don’t care to do anything anymore. don’t get me wrong, i care enough to stress out and have stomach aches. but i just don’t care enough to actually do something about it.

in hebrew class, basically all semester, we had daunting homework assignments that were basically endless. so what has consistently been my answer? i just don’t do any of it!

same with at work. i have a huge stack of things to sort through and file. what’s my solution? i find a small task that can be immediately completed and ignore the stack of processed trees on my desk.

my room is in similar disarray. how do i calm myself about this disorganization in my living quarters? i shove piles of papers and books to areas of the floor that have somehow escaped my creative filing system.

it’s this consistent stream that has me curious. i think it is partly because of the human desire for instant gratification. if i can’t finish a task within the given time slot, then i’ll move to a task that can be done immediately. it’s my desire to cross something…anything…off my to do list that drives my actions. eventually a day will come when there aren’t any small tasks to be done. what happens then?!

so how many weeks of classes left?

today’s the day the democratic presidential candidates come to messiah college!!!! i’m freakin’ out here!!!! messiah is a happenin’ place right now!

check out the site that messiah college’s very own scott trobaugh and matt brandt designed and implemented:

http://www.messiah.edu/compassion_forum/

check out the photos here (a few of which i took):

http://www.messiah.edu/compassion_forum/photos/saturday/

so what are you doing at 8 pm tonight? the correct answer is watching the compassion forum on cnn. don’t have cable tv? you can stream it off the cnn website (i think). or…you can try sneaking on campus and going to the watch party in the union…or on the campus tv station. so basically if you can find a tv on campus you’re in. bottom line…you have no excuse!!!

my hebrew professor here at messiah college brings little nuggets of humor to class every day. in order to understand where i’m going w/ this, i’ll have to teach you a little hebrew (very little…in fact i don’t know how to type hebrew, so it’s going to get confusing).

there are many words for god in the hebrew bible. the name that is considered most holy, however is god’s name. because any good jew would never utter the name of god, only the consonants are known (not to get into the whole issue that the original hebrew bible had no vowels…but that’s another issue). in “americanized” order, it would be spelled YHWH (for the bible savvy out there, this is also known as the tetragrammaton). this is where it gets interesting. because no jew uttered the name of god and only the consonants were written, we can only speculate as to the pronunciation of god’s name. cool, hun?

traditionally, we (being those who aren’t reverent enough to refrain from speaking god’s name) have simply added a few vowels and named god YAHWEH (which is not technically biblical). in order for this to be funny, i need to explain another thing about hebrew. the “w” that we see there, really isn’t a “w” in hebrew. it can also function as a “v” or as the vowel letters “o” or “u”. so if you play around w/ god’s name (it’s not any more sacrilegious than assigning “a” and “e” to his name), you can come up w/ YOHOOH. so god’s name could be pronounced like the now famous chocolate drink yoohoo. now you’re informed. let’s continue.

all this to say that i got a yoohoo last night at the c-store. it was wonderful, but i couldn’t help but notice a few things by reflecting on the chocolaty goodness that stood proudly before me.

first of all, i need to learn to take breaks and “play.” this world is too stressful to deny myself the freedom to return to my childhood. in a world that demands perfection and production, we need to pause for a minute and take a sip from our yoohoos. sorry mr. research paper. you’re going to have to wait.

secondly, we’re almost done. once the sad reality hit me that my final sip of yoohoo had come, it struck me that in less than 5 weeks, i will be done w/ the semester. this is an unusual positive note as i am generally a “glass half empty” guy. it occurred to me, however, that just as my yoohoo was completely bone dry, so will my junior year in a few weeks. much to celebrate about this! may the YOHOOH above grant this yahoo at the computer wisdom in these last few weeks!

so wherever you are and whatever you’re doing, it might serve you well to stop, drop, and drink a yoohoo (which can be conveniently found on campus at the c-store). enjoy!

here are some photos from the spring break backpacking trip…long overdue. they’re courtesy of a friend’s website posting…so i guess i’m stealing them for the purposes of blogging. it happens.

the freakin’ awesome leadership group!

me…drinking something warm!

sweet pancakes on our rest day courtesy of rachel (left), ryan (middle), rita (not pictured), and andy (the hand in the left corner)!

the ladies

the gents

well…not the devil…but 3 groups of messiah college students eager to experience the woods.

i am happy to report that after a 5 day hiatus in the backcountry (aka-the woods) all 40 messiah college students (both leaders and participants) are safely home. the spring break backpacking trip signaled the end of a semester and a half long logistical and programmatic nightmare! 3 trips went to georgia and 1 stayed in pa. all 4 came back safely.

the title “the devil went down to georgia” isn’t completely erroneous. while we were hiking we endured what i would consider to be some of the most intense weather conditions i have ever encountered in the backcountry. on the first day, for example, we experienced a tornado. that’s right. in what was surely god’s smiting hand, tornadoes touched down in the area we just happened to be near. then as if on cue to complete the “inclusio” and mildly ironic nature of our trip, on the last day georgia finally picked itself out of the drought it was in. in other words, it rained cats and dogs! i have never been as wet as i was at the end of that day. god, if you’re listening, that wasn’t funny!

despite the less than perfect weather and the rather lackluster map and compass skills displayed by the leaders (yours truly being the leader of that pack), i am thankful for the time i spent in georgia. whether the devil was in georgia or not i am unsure of. what i am sure of is that there was a group of 10 messiah college students that hiked along the chattooga river trail (aka-revive tribe) that i am grateful for.

so if you see an adventure ed major on campus this week, be sure to congratulate them on a job well done (and be kind to them if they seem tired…it’s been a long road)!

dust mites?

i am NOT allergic to peanut butter…which is very good news! apparently i’m allergic to dust mites…not the actual mite but their dead carcass. i don’t really know…all i care about is that i’m not allergic to peanut butter. i seriously considered celebrating by bringing my big jar of peanut butter to class w/ a spoon. i decided against that for health reasons (my heart appreciated it).

so we’re in the final push before spring break. everything is being kicked into high gear in a feeble attempt to achieve that which is expected of me before spring not-so-much-of-a-break (as i have come to call it).

i’m not sure i’ve posted about this, but as a part of one of my adventure ed classes, i’m co-leading a spring break backpacking trip down to nc/sc/ga. our trip theme is around the sabbath and rest (which is becoming more ironic and comical as the hours and days of frantic packing and planning wear by). i must be honest (and to those who are on my trip-if you’re reading this, take heart in knowing that all 4 of your leaders are competent) that there is an inner battle within between the cynic/realist and the optimist. the cynic (which i like to refer to as the realist) screams within telling me that there aren’t enough hours in the few remaining days to pull together the remaining pieces to actually make this trip happen. the optimist in me is starting to see the light and whispers in my ears telling me that everything is going to be ok. i have been trained, certified, and undergone extensive preparations for this brief moment in my life…and i am ready. i actually laughed in class yesterday…that hasn’t happened since last semester.

as the days slip by and the hours become minutes, i am hopeful that the “wilderness education association certified outdoor leader” in me emerges and lingers for at least a week. my prayer is that god goes before us and prepares the trail for us…and prepares us for the trail. i cannot guarantee anything…that’s sort of a catch phrase in adventure education. my hope is that god accepts my feeble attempts at leading in the backcountry as pleasing (or at the very least amusing). my hope is that the optimist in me wins out…if for only this one week in my college career.

in the words of the famous philosopher willy wonka, “so much time and so little to do. wait a minute. strike that. reverse it.”

it’s been awhile…a long while!

to set the record straight let me start by giving you the events of early/mid february:

week of feb 10th-had a cold…felt increasingly like crap
feb 13th-started taking dayquill to stop feeling like crap
feb 14th-crazy allergic reaction-eye/face swelling-i might be allergic to either peanut butter or dayquill
feb 15th-found out i had pneumonia-enter drug induced coma!
feb 16th-felt even more like crap, found out i had a mild form of pleurisy (infection of the pleural sac around the lungs) in addition to the pneumonia
feb 18-22-constant back and forth battle w/ trying to go to class and feeling like crap (by friday i was forbidden to go to my hebrew class)
feb 22-sinus pressure drives me insane on the eve of my first bio lab practical
mar 6 (tomorrow)-go to doctor for allergy testing to find out exactly what i’m allergic to

there ya go. now you’re up to date with everything.

what have ya’ll been up to?