My Wild Ride Home

I think I finally have the energy to fully relive my flight home in writing. Christmas was great and spending time with family was great, and I'm really glad I actually made it home to spend that time with family.

So let us start at the beginning. I left Princeton at 12:30 p.m. EST and got to the airport at 2:00. Before leaving I had upgraded the seat on the second leg of my flight, so I was looking forward to that. My flight was scheduled to leave at 5:25 and when I checked my luggage, my flight was still on time, though the agent warned me that that could change at any time. Bad omen. So I decide to get something to eat before going through security and waiting at the gate (Newark is weird in that you go through security when you want to get to your gate, not when you first enter the airport; doesn't sound safe or logical to me, but that's just me). So I go through security, which is rather painless, and arrive at my gate. Let the fun begin. At about 3:15, they announced that the flight leaving at 3:25 had been canceled. There was no announcement that the flight had even been delayed, it was simply canceled.

I went to the agent to see if any information was available on my flight. This agent was what made my time in Newark actually enjoyable. He said he wasn't sure what was going to happen to our flight because of the mismanagement happening at Milwaukee. It wasn't weather problems or computer glitches that were causing delays but poor management at the various airports. So we were basically stuck in the waiting game. Our plane was stuck in Milwaukee and was only doing a roundtrip flight between the two cities, so if it made it to Newark, it was going to head back to Milwaukee.

At this point I called up my friend Christine, who lives in the Milwaukee area. She told me that if I got stuck in Milwaukee to give her call, and since it was looking that way, I decided it was good idea to give her call. Thankfully the offer was still good so my goal became getting to Milwaukee. Meanwhile, I was checking with the agent to see what options I had and to continue to get information. He was letting me look at the screen where he was getting his information from. He called up Continental airlines to see if he could get me on a direct flight to LAX, which like everyone else was overbooked.

Finally at about 6:30, we found out that the flight in Milwaukee had pushed out from the gate, and was getting ready to head out to Newark. I had met another guy there who had been waiting at the airport for two days waiting for a flight to Milwaukee. We headed off to one of the sandwich places in the terminal (still inside security) to celebrate. We had a good conversation and I found out that he was a youth leader for a few years. He was also a new father of 7 months and his baby boy is very cute. It was a nice break in the mid of the craziness. A half hour before we were even certain that we were going to leave Newark.

Before the flight left, I had also talked to the agent about switching the second leg of the flight, so that I had a seat on a flight home. He booked me on the next flight out of Milwaukee for LAX that next morning at 8:00 and I was told I would have a guaranteed seat. So things seemed to be falling in place. Our flight finally got off the ground at about 8:30, over three hours delayed. I arrived in Milwaukee after a fairly peaceful flight, and Christine's family picked me up at the airport.

At her house, we called Midwest airlines again so that I could be sure that I had a guaranteed seat on the flight. The woman over the phone told me that yes, I did have a guaranteed seat, so I was able to sleep 2 hours fairly peacefully until I needed to be up again to go to the airport. I arrived in Milwaukee at about 10:30ish CST and got to bed about 3:00 CST.

We left for the airport in freezing temperatures with a pretty good snowfall going at 6:15 a.m. CST. When I arrived at the airport, I did curbside check-in, got everything checked in about 2 minutes and things were looking good. I was told again that I had guaranteed seat on the flight, so I was pretty relaxed. Christine and I got coffee in the airport before we got to security. After that, I went to the gate and waited for the LAX agent to arrive. I needed to redeem my flight coupon for a boarding pass at the gate.

The LAX agent arrived and I went to redeem my boarding pass ... and I'm told I don't have a guaranteed seat on the flight. I was very upset and it was looking like I was going to be stuck in Milwaukee another day (not a bad thing though; I just wanted to get home). I was first on standby, but the way things had been going with other passengers, I was not getting my hopes up.

Thankfully I managed to get a seat on the plane, but it was not an upgraded seat; quite the opposite, I was almost toward the complete rear of the plane. No matter really; I was just glad to be getting home.

The flight was delayed by 40 minutes before they started boarding. I got on the plane and waited for take off. After a half hour I was still waiting. An hour passed, and we were still at the gate. An hour and half, same story. Finally, after two and a half hours of sitting at the gate for various different reasons (getting passengers on board, waiting for a fuel truck, air controller delays, asking passengers to give up seats for three free round-trip tickets to let other passengers on board) we finally took off (at 12:00 CST). Everyone on the flight, including the pilot, was edgy (though the pilot was tactfully and discreetly so)

At about 1:50 p.m. PST we touched down at LAX. Everything after that was pretty smooth, surprisingly enough. We got out of LAX quickly, and I headed home.

So that was my exciting trip home. I'm just got off the phone with Midwest airlines and they're going to look into my flight and see what sort of compensation I'm going to get. Once that's finished, I can finally put this thing away and just relax and enjoy my time at home. Here's hoping getting back to Princeton is not anywhere near as hectic.

Wishing Everyone a Merry Christmas

I just want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. I realize I haven't updated in awhile, and I'm planning on posting about my latest travel adventures after Christmas. But I am thankful to be home among family and friends, and I hope that everyone enjoys time with their families and friends.

Christ the savior for the world is born!

Spring Semester Schedule

And now the moment some of you have been waiting for: my schedule for next semester. I'm only taking 13 units this semester. After having endured a 16 unit semester, I understand why the seminary is changing the curriculum so that we don't have to earn as many units; 16 units is a lot of carry. So here are my classes for next semester:

Speech Communication II w/ Luke Powery - Monday 1:30-2:20 pm
Hebrew II w/ Jeremy Hutton - Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 9:00-9:50 am
History of Christianity 102 w/ James Moorhead and James Deming - Tuesday and Thursday 8:00 - 8:50 am
The Radical Reformation Ch 350 w/ Ken Appold - Monday 10:40 - 12:30, Friday 11:40 - 12:30
Foundations of Missional Theology EC/TH 457 w/ John Flett - Thursday 2:30 - 4:20, Friday 2:30 - 3:20

The big advantages of this schedule:
- Less units
- No class Wednesday
- I'm done at 10:00 am on Tuesday
- With the exception of Ch 102, I'm taking with professors I'm somewhat familiar with

Hopefully those factors will make next semester a little more enjoyable. This semester has been a little less than that, so I trust that it will get better.

A Sense of Relief

I received word officially today that I will not be a part of the 2008-2009 international field education program. That means I won't be going to Scotland next year. Though that may sound disappointing, I'm actually really relieved. I think it would have been a great opportunity to go abroad, but at the same time it's a huge time commitment, and being able to spend a year here with my new friends and continuing to refine myself will be a better situation I think. Now I have to figure out where I will be doing my field education placement for the next academic year, but I'm not too worried about that. But I wanted to make sure everyone got that update.

Winter can be Very Nice

I woke up this morning and when I looked out the window I saw this. It was a beautiful morning.

My First Semester Injury

Well, I have my first battle wounds at Princeton. I was working the Princeton Basketball game on Wednesday for work. It's a very nice stadium: really big and then it goes five stories down. Anyway, in order to set up merchandise we have to bring up to eight foot tables from the fourth floor. So we were tearing down after we had finished and I was bringing the tables back down to the storage area. They were stacked on a lay-down dolly one on top of the other. So as I taking the first table off the dolly, I didn't pick it up well enough so that it jostled the second table. Sure enough, the other table fell off the dolly and directly onto my left big toe. Now, I was only wearing my converse sneakers, and due to the fact that I was holding the other table, I couldn't see the other table moving. So when it landed on my toe, there was very little absorbing the brunt of its weight aside from my foot, and I didn't brace myself for it. So after trying to walk it off, I kept going. After I got back to my dorm, I propped it up and tried to keep it elevated.

The next day it was a nice shade of purple. I was going to wait just a little bit before seeing a doctor to make sure that it wasn't just a bad bruise. Not much happened except that as I was walking down the sidewalk, there was a lip in the concrete and I caught it with my left foot. That didn't feel good.

It wasn't too swollen but it was growing increasingly purple so I decided to get it checked out this morning. And sure enough, it's probably broken. I still need to have it X-rayed to confirm that it is indeed broken, but either way, the only thing I can do for it is to have it bandaged up. Thankfully it's not very painful unless I put weight on it or do something stupid like kick a lip in the sidewalk or bump it on my bedpost. I just can't walk very well or very fast. So I'll probably be limping around campus for the final few weeks of school. But it's not too bad.

Back in Princeton and an Updated Itinerary for Xmas

Well, I'm safely back in Princeton after a much less eventful day of travel than my way to California. I only had one minor delay this time and it only put our flight back about 15 minutes in terms of when we arrived, so it worked out much better this time. I also met a couple more people at Princeton on the train ride back. One of them actually gave me a ride back to the Seminary which was very convenient. I was back on campus by about 9:00 last night. So now it's back to life at the Seminary for another four weeks before I head home again for Christmas. It's nice being able to break down the semester between breaks; makes the work a little more bearable and the schedule a little easier to manage.

Speaking of Christmas, my crisis is over in terms of getting back in time for my first final. It turns out that the flight that I originally had (a red-eye out of LAX) will be discontinued as of Jan. 7, so I rescheduled my flight so that I leave 12 hours earlier, meaning, barring any huge delays, I will be back in Princeton well before my final. So my new Christmas itinerary looks like this:

Departing Dec. 22, 2007:
Depart from Newark at 5:35 p.m.
Arrive at Milwaukee at 7:00 p.m.
Depart from Milwaukee at 8:00 p.m.
Arrive at LAX at 10:14 p.m.

Departing Jan 11, 2008:
Depart from LAX at 11:55 a.m.
Arrive at Milwaukee at 5:39 p.m.
Depart from Milwaukee at 7:35 p.m.
Arrive at Newark at 10:46 p.m.

I'll be getting in really late both times, which is kind of a bummer, but at least I will arrive in time to take my finals and with plenty of time to see family and friends while I'm here.

Safe at Home

I have made it safely home, though it took a lot more effort and energy that I would have liked or hoped. Here is the story in a nutshell.

I was leaving from Newark Airport and flying into LAX via Minneapolis. My train ride to the airport was painless; very easy and convenient, so I had arrived at the airport by 11:30 for a 1:15 flight. Plenty of time.

Or not. When I arrived at the airport, the one of the sets of gates - including the gate I was departing from - was closed. No one was allowed in and everyone was being evacuated from that section of the airport. When we asked the police officer, he very rudely informed us that the area simply wasn't safe and told us to wait. So we travelers have no idea what is going on. Is it a bomb threat? Is it an injured passenger? Is it something ridiculous?

Turns out it's a natural gas leak. Better yet, it is a natural gas leak that had happened the day before as well. But so far it hadn't become too frustrating because we were told that all the flights were going to be departing from different gates. Great, no problem, I had a two hour cushion to get to Minneapolis to get to my next flight. So I go through the new set of gates to get to my flight.

Now the way Newark sets up their security is that you go through security not when you initially enter the airport but when you enter your specific set of gates. So I go through security and wait to eventually get on my flight. When the Northwest people arrive, they start boarding a flight for Detroit. By this point it's about 1:00, and my parents have let me know that my flight has been delayed to leave at 2:00. Still no problem. So I ask the northwest people when the flight from Minneapolis is leaving. They tell me it's still leaving from it's original gate in the closed off section of the airport. After talking to security and them telling me that all northwest flights are leaving from the new set of gates, I go back to the northwest people who tell me that, no, it's still leaving from it's original gate.

So I go to the northwest check-in counters, where I am told that yes, the flight is leaving from the original gate. I set up a back up booking now, just in case I miss my next flight, because it's now 1:30, and that entire section if airport is still closed. So I am forced to wait for another hour before they finally open that section of the airport. I have to go through security, again, and then I board my flight.

We're supposed to take off at 2:45, 3:15 at the latest. That's still enough time for me to reach my next flight. But there's still another problem: baggage was never loaded, so we're forced to wait another hour hour before we finally take off. It's about 3:45 at this point. My next flight is supposed to leave at 5:15.

Needless to say, I missed my flight. No big deal, I still can get home on my other flight, but I'm going to miss dinner with my family and friends, which I was really disappointed about. So I arrive at my next gate for the flight. It's on time, so that's good. I go to get a quick bite to eat because I haven't had much to eat at this point. I return to my gate to find that my flight has been delayed by 15 minutes. No big deal, after a two and a half hour delay, this is fine. So we finally board the flight ... and once again we're stuck sitting at the gate. Turns out there are some customs problems with some of the crew for our flight who are coming in from Canada, so our flight is delayed by yet another 20 minutes. So we finally take off. Smooth flight.

I arrive at LAX and my parents pick me up. Getting picked up from LAX is a nightmare in itself, but this time is was not too bad. So we're on our way home. I'm eating my fish tacos from Rubios. We get to the 605 and our exit, ready to go home. Until we find that the exit is blocked. A big rig stalled out and it left the entire exit blocked. So we have to drive over a island separating the exit from the freeway, get back on the freeway, and exit on the 210. It wasn't a huge delay, but it capped off a day of travel characterized by delay.

But the good news is I'm safe at home. I'm probably going to call up Northwest and find out how I am going to be compensated for this mess. I realize but it wasn't completely their fault, but the fact that they were able to get one of their flights to leave from a different gate means they could have done it for others as well. It's just a matter of whether I really want to take the time or not. Anyway, that's my story.

Good News, Bad News

I just received my final exam schedule this morning for the Fall Semester. And with it came some good news and bad news.

The good news is that my final exams will all be done by Tuesday Jan 15. I only have three finals that I have to sit down and do as an exam, one at 9 a.m. on Monday the 14th and 9 a.m. on Tuesday the 15th with one paper being due that Tuesday afternoon. So I will only have a few days where I actually have to stress about finals.

The bad news is about the third sit-down final exam: it's on Saturday the 12th at 9 a.m. With my current flight home, I won't be back to Princeton in time to take it. Not really a big deal, but it means I'm going to have to spend money to get it changed most likely. It also means my visit home will be cut short, and I'm none too happy about that. Also a bummer is that I only need to be in Princeton for four days in order to complete all of my final exams, so it's a bit of an inconvenience when I feel like I could be spending more time with friends and family at home. Alas, I will have to make do. I am contemplating coming home again after I finish my exams, but we'll see if it's financially a) logical and b) possible. But at least I know what I'm dealing with now.

Quick Request

Tomorrow morning at 10:30 (7:30 a.m. PST) I'm going to be interviewing for a possible placement in Northern Ireland for the next academic year. It was my third choice on my application, so the field department thought it would be a good idea to interview sinec the pastor is only here this week. If you could pray for me for tomorrow, it would be appreciated.

Updates

It has been quite a busy week with many new developments and changes. It's a rough but expected time, and I'm wrestling through it the best I can.

This week was my week of midterms, so I have been reading and writing like mad. Two midterms are finished, two more are about to be done, due on Monday and Tuesday (they're take-home essays). Once those are finished, life will calm down quite a bit. I'll still have a lot of work, but it will be less stressful and more manageable.

I'm still working on finding my place, my niche at the seminary. Though my feet are starting to feel the ground a bit, I still feel somewhat suspended, not quite sure where I'm landing. It is teaching me how to rely on God's faithfulness rather than my efforts. If there's one thing that I'm learning at this school is that I certainly cannot do this on my own. The power of prayer and time of devotion is certainly more tangible than it has been in quite some time.

More updates will come once I have finished up with midterms on Tuesday. At that point my life should become much more sane.

I'm Coming Home for Thanksgiving!

So it's official: I will be home for Thanksgiving! I found a very affordable ticket through Northwest airlines, so I'll be flying back on Nov 18 and coming back Nov 23. I'm looking forward to seeing everybody!

Coming Home for Thanksgiving?

I have been ruling out coming home for Thanksgiving up to this point for financial reasons, but for kicks I decided to check out some airlines to see if anything would potentially work. Amazingly enough, I actually found tickets to come to California for only $310 after taxes. That's still quite a bit of money (much more than it cost to initially come out here) but all the same that's a very good price. I, of course, would have to factor in the cost for train tickets to get to and from the airport in either Newark or New York, but what I thought was not doable may actually be possible. It would be from a Sunday to a Friday, so I'd have some solid time to spend with family and friends. A lot of my classes are being cancelled that week due to SBL meetings at the seminary and professors being unavailable, so I wouldn't miss too much in terms of classes. But that's still quiet a bit of money, and I'm not sure it's worth the money to come home. I also don't have the money now to afford it. But we'll see; if the prices remain the way they are, perhaps it will be possible. We will see.

Some Fall Pictures

I just added some new pictures of the fall colors. You can follow the link below to see them.

Pictures

Guess Who I Met

So today as I was working my shift at the Princeton University store, an elderly looking man approached me. He was holding two umbrellas in his hand, one looking like his own, one looking new. He looked familiar, having a somewhat long face, short white hair, and a somewhat peculiar demeanor. His behavior seemed slightly off, but I couldn't put my finger on what it was. He wanted to know about exchanging his umbrellas, and my manager proceeded to help him.

Turns out that this interesting old man was John Nash. In case you don't remember who John Nash is, he was the man portrayed by Russell Crowe in A Beautiful Mind, and he won the Nobel Prize. I was basically standing next to one of the most amazing people of the 20th century as far as academics are concerned.

I feel just a bit smarter for standing in his presence.

A Time of Rest

This week has been quite a busy week. I was spending some intimate time with Augustine's Confessions, Stanley Hauerwas in numerous articles, and John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion. Some light reading. ;-) On top of that, I've been translating the Epistle to the Hebrews, and writing a response to Augustine. It has been a tough week.

On top of that, I was continuing to wrestle over International Field Education and whether I wanted to pursue that opportunity. Yesterday, I submitted my application to the Field Education office, and so it is, for the time being, out of my hands. We will see how things progress, and it is possible that I will not hear anything for some time. But I will continue to pray about it and struggle with it. We'll see what happens.

Though the past couple week have been tough, next week is Reading Week. It is a week with no classes designed to give us time to catch up with our reading, but also to have a time of rest and regain our strength as we head into midterms and the end of the semester.

I can't believe that I am already almost halfway through the semester. There is only a month and a half of the semester left, and I feel like I have hardly settled in. But it is quite an adventure, and I am enjoying ride ... and the upcoming week of rest. =)

For All the Naysayers

I will probably not have a post like this again, but I think this is one of those issues that overwhelmed me before I was leaving to come here and I feel that perhaps this morning's experience may best be able to address it.

Around Princeton, it is almost an running inside joke that many of us that before we came to this institution, were told that we were going to lose our faith at Princeton, all of our professors were going to attempt to break down our faith, and we need to hold firm to orthodoxy lest our classes steal it away from us. During orientation, one of the incoming professors made reference to it and we laughed about it. When talking to students, we expressed our common experience that it was one of the things we were told to be weary of.

This morning in chapel - which I might add is daily, though not required - one of my professors spoke the service's message. Though he wasn't specifically answering this question, I think it was very pertinent. His name is Dr. Darrell Guder and he is in the doctrinal theology department with a specialty in missions. In the middle of his sermon, he told us a story about the first seminary he taught at (not Princeton). I will try to paraphrase what he said:

"On one of my first day on campus, I went to the chapel service. In that service, there were more people who were leading the service than actually participating in it. And so I went to my first class right after chapel and saw how many students there were, I decided that I would bring this to their attention. I talked about how it was a privilege to be a part of a worshiping community and that the students should take advantage of that opportunity to worship in the midst of study, and I was really pouring it on. And as I was speaking, one of the students spoke up and, 'Professor Guder, we're here for the academics; faith has nothing to do with why we are here.'"

I think what has shocked me most since I've been here - since the first time I visited the campus - is that my professors and classmates have the attitude that faith is vital to our life here at the seminary. I think in almost every single one of my classes, at some point the professors have said explicitly that we are going to be pastors and ministers and that everything we do must been seen in light of that. And that story this morning in chapel struck me as another example of what my professors think about their role here: they are not here simply to be academics and show us how faith is infantile. On the contrary, they are very concerned about what our education means later when we are ministers in congregations, chaplain in hospitals, or teachers in colleges of seminaries.

Now, I realize that this doesn't mean there aren't those professors who are not in that same vein. Some professors who may have other agendas. I have yet to meet one here, but I know other students have had professors that did not have that philosophy in mind. However, that seems to be more of the minority rather than the majority.

Just thought I would share that. I'll write another update soon.

Some Tough Decisions

Another week has begun. School is starting to get to that point where I have to push myself to keep going. We've settled into our classes and routines, and the work is starting to pile on. I am getting used to being in that routine again and trying to remind myself to stay on top of my work. In two weeks we have a reading week to help us catch up with our work and prepare (or write in some cases) for midterms. Everything has certainly moved by fast.

Some of you may already know this; for others this may be news. When I first visited Princeton and began to seriously look into the school, I knew I would have the opportunity to do one of the required field education placements abroad.. I wanted to take advantage of that during a summer, perhaps traveling to Scotland or another country in the UK. On Thursday night last week, there was an informational meeting about those placements. With it came good news and difficult news. The good news was that Scotland is an available option for field placement and that international field placements are very doable. The difficult news is that Scotland placements can only be done during an academic year; I would only be able to do that placement from September to May/June. The only summer placements available are in Africa and the Yucatan Penisula, placements I am already very aware that I would not be able to handle.

I have been weighing the pros and cons, and just by the lists, the pros by far outweigh the cons. Princeton covers many of the expenses: airfare, room, board, transportation, and immunizations (if necessary) up to $900. I also receive a stipend, so I'm essentially being paid to live abroad. I also do not take any classes while I'm there. As much as possible, I would become a Scottish resident. And everyone who I have talked to who has done the year long placement has come back thoroughly enjoying their experience. But the cons are weighing on my heart. I would be away from family and friends for a year. I might have the opportunity to come home once, but that would be about it. I would also push my education back by a year. What has made this most difficult though is the fact that I would not graduate with many of the friends I have already made. I don't know how to put that into words more effectively, but meeting these people, connecting with them, leaving them for a year, and then seeing them graduate while I have a year left could be painful for me. This is perhaps a dilemma that many other graduate students have to go through, but it is a concern.

There is more to wrestle over, but this is what has been sticking out the most. And in all truth, this is simply hypothetical. I must first be accepted into the international placement program, then I must interview with the site supervisors before I am finalized at any site. So nothing is for sure even if I decide to pursue this actively. At this point, I plan on submitting an application while still wrestling with this in and discussing it with other people.

I know that this is an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It's not very often anyone has the opportunity to travel abroad almost for free, or to live in a country for a year and immerse oneself into a different culture. And for me personally, the family history in Scotland is hard to resist. But I have to determine if it is worth leaving these relationships I developed for a year.

Any feedback is appreciated. I could really use prayer as I struggle with this opportunity.

A Quick Update

My arms are very tired from working out this morning show this update will be short.

Things are going well. I have my first day of work today, which I am excited about. This should be a good job that will last throughout this year and hopefully beyond.

The weekend with my uncle John was a lot of fun. We spent most of our time in Philadelphia where we visited a civil war museum and Independence Historical Park where Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell are, among many other sites. We also got to hear in Philladelphia the Phillies clinch the NL East. That was pretty exciting too.

I'll update more when I can actually lift my arms.

EDIT

Here is a small picture album to show how I've settled in.

http://apu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2041239&l=0f6ac&id=56901254

Some Changes of Plan and Tentative Flight Information

On Friday I met with my adviser for Field Education. In case I haven't explained yet, as part of the Masters of Divinity program students are required to do a minimum of two field education experiences: either two year long placements or one year long placement and one summer placement, and one of those placements must be in a church. During my meeting with my Field Ed adviser, I discussed my options for my placements, and during that meeting my plans may have changed a bit.

Originally, I was planning on doing a summer church placement and then doing a year long placement at a university involved in some sort of teaching position as a teaching assistant or something similar. I was not planning on doing a CPE (clinical pastoral experience). After my meeting, I will probably end up doing a CPE. Though I'm not in the ordination process, I am trying to fulfill ordination requirements as much as possible, and the CPE is one of the big requirements. So I am planning to apply to the Arcadia Methodist Hospital CPE program; I contacted one of the supervisors during the weekend to find out more information. When I have a little more time I will give some more details on the field education placements I am hoping to do.

I also have tentative flight plans. I haven't ordered tickets yet, but I have them on hold and most likely will be purchasing them in the next 24 hours. Here are the details:

Midwest Airlines
12/22
Depart from Newark 5:45 p.m. to Milwaukee 7:00 p.m.
Depart from Milwaukee 8:00 p.m. to LAX 10:14 p.m.

01/11
Depart from LAX 11:15 p.m. to Milwaukee 4:44 a.m.
Depart from Milwaukee 7:35 a.m. to Newark 10:45 a.m.

I was able to find that for under $400, and that's about all that's left under $400 so I think that will ultimately be my flight information, but I will keep everyone updated.

Life is Good For Now

Today I successfully interviewed for a job at the Princeton University Store, and I will be starting my new job as a customer service representative on Wednesday! That eases much of the stress that was weighing on my mind, and I'm glad that I need not worry about it any longer.

It should be a good job. It's basically a standard retail job: stocking shelves, making the store look presentable, working the cash register, and assisting students and customers when they need help. It'll be about 15-17 hours a week, so it will be fairly light; anymore would probably be bad for me, so 15 should be plenty. It's $8.50 an hour, so that will be good as well; similar to what I was earning when I was a manager at IMT at Azusa Pacific. It is very encouraging, and I feel much more settled as I continue this semester.

Closing out the First Week

The first full week of class has almost come to a close. I have three more classes today and two classes tomorrow. So far I am enjoying all of my classes. My "Church as 'Public'" class looks as though it will be an immense challenge but well worth the effort that I will put into it. The professor is quite intense during lectures and those lecture periods are two hours long. Thankfully, we only have lecture once a week and small group discussions for an hour later in the week. As an example of the intensity of the class, on Tuesday we spent the entire two hour period trying to define the word "public" and how it is being used when referring to the church, theology, politics, ethics, in relation to private, worship, service, etc. I think my brain was slowly seeping out my ears with the consistency of Jello by the time class was dismissed. But I am enjoying the class and I think in the end I will end up getting quite a bit out of struggling through the material.

I am taking Hebrew as a pass/fail course, at least for this semester. Though I'm somewhat nervous about doing that, overall I think it will be good to know that I can learn Hebrew without the pressure of feeling that if I don't do well it will hurt my overall GPA. Pass/fail basically means that if I get a 70% or higher on the classwork, I pass the class; no letter grade. So hopefully that will prove not to be an issue in the future. And should it become an issue, at least I know that if I do need a grade for the class, I can always take a summer intensive and know that generally I'll be able to breeze through it.

I am currently still jobless, but I have an interview tomorrow at 11AM at the Princeton University Store. Hopefully that will work out and I can stop stressing about how I will eventually make it home for Christmas or how I will afford my books for this semester. So that is encouraging and I'm praying that I will be able to take on some hours.

Other than that, things are going well. I have a core group of guys who I spend time with on a regular basis and typically share meals together with. We have started a weekly group for five us, eating dinner together and sharing our struggles with one another to support each other. It's a good safety net, and I think they will be a good support through this first semester and beyond.

And finally, I am going to be doing some cardio kickboxing on Monday nights to get into shape. The first session was Monday night, and it went well, though I found out how out of shape I am. But it will be good exercise for the week and a chance to take a break from my studies during the week. One of the guys in that core group I mentioned, Jarod, is the one who is leading the sessions, and he is a good leader.

I hope everyone is doing well, and I'll post when I know how my interview went.

End of the First Week

It has been a good first week, though stressful. I have sat in all of my classes now except for my speech class, which meets once a week on Monday. All of the classes look like they are going to be very good. A couple (Systematic Theology II and Church as 'Public') look like they will be the most difficult of the bunch, but they also look like they will be some of the best classes I have this semester.

And, yes, there is a ton of reading. I probably have about 500 pages that I need to have read by Monday. That will probably be about normal. Maybe 300-500 pages per week. That maybe doesn't sound too bad, but it is all dense reading. Put on top of that time to work, eat, and generally stay sane, and it's a lot of reading. Thankfully, there are two weeks during the semester, one before mid-terms, some before finals, that are designated as "reading weeks." The are no classes during that week so that we can catch up on our reading. And though it may be tempting to do otherwise, I will probably take full advantage of that week to catch up on the reading that I won't be able to keep up with.

I'm still adjusting to life on the East coast, mostly in sleep pattern. I've already developed a pretty close group of friends that go to meals together often, so I feel I have that kind of a support group together. We'll see what the first full week is like, complete with a full class schedule and precepts. Tomorrow I plan on attending Nassau Presbyterian Church. I'm not expecting it to become my church home, but it's a place with a lot of history in Princeton and the Presbyterian church in general. So it seems like a place that I should check out at least once.

I'll update again soon.

Overwhelming

It is hard to fully describe what all I have experienced in the short time I've been here, but to say that it has been overwhelming in so many different ways is probably the only way I can describe it.

Today ended orientation, beginning with some small informational meetings, ending with the president's reception, dinner with the faculty, and convocation. I have met so many interesting people that I'm looking forward to getting to know.

I think what has been most surprising - and it was surprising during the preview weekend I was here also - is how much the spiritual and faith aspect of our education has been stressed this weekend. In almost every session, from professors across the different departments, from faculty and staff, the important of our education both being an academic endeavor and a spiritual experience has been heavily emphasized. It's refreshing, and it makes me glad that I am a part of a tradition (the reformed tradition) that emphasizes the importance of both spiritual and academic discipline. It has been surprising though.

I will give an update on how my first couple classes go tomorrow. I'm also adding professors' names to my classes in case anyone reading happens to know the professors here.

My Revised Fall Schedule

Here is my new, revised schedule for the Fall. I had to rearrange some of my classes and dropped another based on the advice on some of the seniors I talked to. I'm pretty excited with what I'm taking:

Hebrew I (Prof. Hutton)
Speech Communication I (TBA)
Church History I (Profs McVey and Rorem)
Systematic Theology II (Profs Guder and McCormack)
Church as "Public": the ecclesiologies of Lindbeck, Hauerwas, Hutter and Barth (Prof. Flett)
Exegesis of the Epistle of Hebrews (Prof. Wagner)

More Placement News

Today was another good day with more good results. I have successfully placed out of three of the four main introduction classes. I do not have to take the Old Testament, New Testament or the first have of Systematic Theology orientation courses. Which means that instead of taking OT101, I am now taking Systematic Theology II. Unfortunately it means my books are more expensive and I will have to return some of them, but overall, I'm glad that I can accelerate my education a bit. That doesn't mean I'll be cutting down my time here: advanced placement only means I can replace those credits with upper division credits. So I'll still be taking the same number of classes. It does mean, though, that I can start getting into the exegesis and other deeper classes sooner.

So that's the main news for today. I'm going to get a head start on my reading since I will be bogged down with plenty of it in the coming weeks.

Results of the Placement Exam and Orientation News

I was informed this evening that I have placed out of Greek! I do not have to take Greek at PTS. So phase 1 is complete. My next goal is to get advanced placement for at least the NT intro class. Then I can start taking exegesis classes as early as next semester. If I am able to also test out of my OT Intro class, then I can start taking an exegesis class this semester with a professor who I met at the seminar weekend I went to. So we'll see what happens. I'm praying that I can get out of both, and I feel fairly confident that I can get placed out of the NT intro class.

Orientation is going well. I have met many people from different backgrounds and experiences. It has been a fairly easy transition. I have felt right at home since the first night I arrived, and though things are moving perhaps more quickly than I would like, at the same time I am not feeling left behind or alone.

This morning I attended Hopewell Presbyterian Church. It was a good experience, it was very welcoming from the first moment I stepped in with another seminarian who gave me a ride. The service was good, and I met a couple of APU grads from Redlands, one of whom was teaching a Freshmen Writing Seminar my first year there. So that was encouraging; it could very become my home church out here.

I've been using TV as my outlet to relax, so I've been watching a lot of Discovery channel programming and baseball when it's available. It can be nice sometimes to turn off my mind for 30 minutes to let myself recoup and not have to think about what is weighing on me. And of course, I'm reading and doing my usual logic puzzles as well.

I'm excited for this week. Classes begin Wednesday, so that's when it all breaks loose I suppose. But I'm looking forward to it. It should be an interesting semester.

Greek Placement Test

I took my Greek placement test today. I felt that I did pretty well. The test was two hours, and I used almost every minute of it. It wasn't a tough test, but there are still a few places that gave me a small spot of trouble. I was given a fairly large passage from I Corinthians. It was 12:12-27, the passage about what it means to be the body of Christ. That was by far the more difficult of the two passages. A lot of syntatical elements to muddle through, a few participles here and there. A good overall passage to cover most of the basics of biblical Greek, and a good refresher for me.

The second passage, which I think I pretty much nailed, was a hybrid passage from John. Verses 52-54 and 67-70 were combined into one short paragraph. I know I completely messed up on one very short question in that passage (instead of saying, "where would we go," I said "where should we follow you?") but overall I felt comfortable with how I did. Hopefully I did well enough to pass out, so we'll see how everything goes. I find out on Sunday night or Monday morning, so here's hoping!

The Purpose of this Site!

So I have finally determined what I will be using this site for! This will be my site for occasional updates on my goings on at Princeton as I spend my time here. I'll still update my xanga with more personal stuff, but this will be used to let people know how things are going here. And the title still seems to fit, so we'll keep it. =) More to come later!

Bible Matters

Where does the Bible fall in terms of guiding day-to-day lifestyle? The Evangelical world has tagged the Bible as the all-purpose answer book for most every need. Not sure what to eat? How to deal with that ex-girlfriend? What shoe-sole works best for keeping blisters down? Just look it up in the Bible!

Ok, so I'm exaggerating, but not by much. How much does the Bible really have to say for daily living? A lot of Christians hold to the belief that the Bible should be the guide for living life to the most minute level, yet discerning that guidance is a daunting task that most people don't bother taking up anyway. The Bible, I'm sorry to say, seldom has a clear message simply based on the fact that it's a collection of ancient documents. Culture has changed significantly in the last 2000-3000 years. Our lives are not driven by finding food every day lest we starve, or searching for clean drinking water. Our lot in life is not set in stone. The businesses we work in and the people we work for differ greatly from the professions and businesses that existed then. Though similar in some respects, life is so drastically different from the time that Jesus walked the earth.

What's more, does the Bible even claim to be that guide for us? Controversial, I know, but look at who's writing. The Bible, on most accounts, is a story told about God's interaction with the world. From creation to incarnation to resurrection to the end, the documents in the Bible attest to God's action within the world. It doesn't claim to be a book of doctrines, and for the most part any advice for living is set in very specific contexts. Almost all the Pauline epistles are written in response to a specific problem or problems in particular churches. If not, Paul is writing concerning a specific issue that he deems requires some sort of intervention on his part. In other words, he does not have a general letter or writing in the Bible that says here is how Christians should act in general, here is how Christians should live in general. The closest there is to that is Romans, which most scholars agree is a fundraising letter, and even there, the advice is very brief and not thorough. The Biblical literature we have was compiled and is accepted as canon because it best explains and provides foundation for the doctrines of the church through the story it tells. It's purpose is to tell the story of God's interaction in the world and asks for a response.

Where the Bible does provide guidance, as I said before, it does not do so clearly. In one letter, one can find the encouragement to obey local authorities and governments, where in another one can find the call to oppose the government. In one writing, the wealthy are considered the favored of God where in another they are the bane of humanity's existence and every wealthy person is destined to rot in Hell. The only truly consistent message in the Bible concerning living is to help the poor as well as only worshiping only God.

And yet I think there is an expectation to live a certain way and conduct your life in a way pleasing to God. However, I don't think this is clearly spelled out in the Biblical documents, and I think that's purposeful. God didn't create us to be robots and life is not a mechanical thing. Different situations call for different actions and what is appropriate in one context is inappropriate in another. So where is the guidance? Perhaps that is where reliance on God outside of the Bible comes in. The Bible is an essential part of the Christian faith, don't get me wrong, but God wants more than a commitment to a book. He wants a commitment to Him, and though He is written about in a book, he himself is not the book. Perhaps that is where prayer is most important, but also engaging in life and asking for discernment in what is true and not. Appreciating life in facets other that "Christian" works but knowing where to draw the line. It's an interesting thought to ponder.

Purpose

I'm trying to figure out exactly what this blog is going to be. I feel it should be a little more sophisticated than my other blogs because it has a more sophisticated look - at least I think it does. Eventually this site will have more posts on it and different from xanga and myspace. I'm still determining its function.

Wayward Movements

I find it fascinating to look for trends in different facets of life. I develop my own theories on human behavior and cycles, development and things of that nature. One of the patterns that it seems many college students are interested in or at least seem to be aware of is the conservative-liberal continuum. Generally the conversations concerning that continuum have to do with what type of people tend to be conservative or liberal, is there a certain point in life when someone moves in one direction or another, does that change stick, etc. The one trend that I always noticed had to do with a person's stance based on intelligence. This is not to say that I thought all conservatives were stupid and all liberals were smart. I thought, mostly, that conservatives tend to be ill-informed and liberals tend to be overly informed. Conservatives tend to to embrace stubbornness while liberals tend to embrace ambiguity. Conservatives tend to not ask enough questions while liberals ask too many questions. Overall, I was always of the mind that conservatives were surface level, unwilling to dive deeper while liberals would dive down to depths so great that they'd never find their way out again.

Being more academically minded, I chose the liberal side more often; I'd rather not remain surface level, and though I run the risk of falling down the rabbit hole, I'll take my chances looking deeper. And for the most part, my observations proved to be true. The more practically minded/less academic department of theology on campus was much more conservative, very surface level, and overall frustrating to me in my pursuit of graduation. The biblical studies department, much more academically minded, was more liberal but almost seemed to have a better grasp on the world. The problem was that the Biblical studies department also left me very close to leaving Christianity. Theology, with an even tempered mix of practicality and academics, seemed to be middle of the road, but at that time I still thought it leaned a little to the liberal side. Not a bad thing, merely an observation. What I concluded from that experience and experiences in other classes is that the more academically minded, and perhaps more book-smart people were more liberal because they knew more from their studies.

What has surprised me is what I've noticed since graduation. Many of the professors who I thought to be liberal are actually either middle of the road leaning right or pretty much conservative, and the professors who are liberal are not looking at the facts as fully as they could be. Amazingly enough, Princeton's seminary helped me realize that a bit. I was surprised at how middle of the road many of the professors seem to be. I was expecting to see a lot of very liberal professors, or simply expecting all the professors to be liberal, and I was a bit shocked to find that wasn't the case.

Perhaps it is more an indication of my bias, but I'm noticing that the really respectable scholars, the ones who tend to lead their areas of study tend to be a little more on the conservative side. That's not to say they're super conservative; I think they're much more middle-of-the-road. And obviously I have a lot more to learn and need to expand my experience. But I find that trend interesting. At least, it's interesting to me.

What a Day

It has been a very fun-filled, informational day, and I can't tell you how great it is out here. Princeton is absolutely beautiful. As one person said, it looks the way a college should look. The buildings are amazing, the environment is wonderful; it's nice to see naturally-occuring trees as opposed to we-planted-this-so-this-campus-will-have-foliage trees. But I think most surprising of all is that I feel comfortable here. In fact (and if you know me well, you know this can change instantly), I really love it here. That is not to say that I don't miss my friends and family back home. It is hard not being able to talk to a friend and show you my excitement and the pictures. I still have a longing to be home. But I am comfortable here, and I am confident that I will be able to finda good group of friends here that I can connect with and create community with.

To my surprise, the school has quite a bit in common with APU. The faith aspect of the community is much more present than I would have ever imagined. There are chapel services! I was not expecting that. The professors are very concerned about how your education impacts your ministry and your career. There are dorms, right at the heart of campus! It is the differences that make me excited. To name a few:

- Chapel NOT required
- No touchy-feely-west-coast evangelicalism!!!
- Lots of pass-fail classes (70% grade = pass for class; doesn't affect GPA)
- A greater opportunity to ask difficult, controversial questions
- Princeton is right next door and I can take classes from the university

The opportunities are wonderful. I am still not decided on when I will begin, though I feel the urge even stronger to start this fall as opposed to waiting a year. Part of me is still hesitant, and I still have a lot of weekend left to explore the campus and get to know what's going on.

And there are some things that do leave me a little worried. For example, one of the posters for on campus events is for an event called "Integrity and Choice: Celebrating 34 years since the decision on Roe v. Wade." If you don't know what that is, look it up. But that is a trivial reason in my opinion to be serious concerned and is another opportunity to learn and converse and hopefully become a little wiser along the way.

Anyway, I imagine I won't have much computer time the next few days as tomorrow is jam-packed with meetings and forums and what-not, and Saturday I hope to be on the Princeton University campus looking around as well as getting to know the seminary a bit more. But I look forward to sharing stories with all of you! I am very excited!

Internal Questioning

Do I have the courage to go through with it or will I miss the opportunity simply for reasons of comfort?

And the Fun Continues

So in planning my visit to Princeton, I didn't realize that Newark's airport, though it looks farther way, is in fact closer and provides many more ways to get to Princeton than Trenton. And since all the materials I received from Princeton tell me how to get there from Newark and only Newark, I find myself in a very interesting spot. Oh the joy of traveling.

Every time I speak to someone at the seminary, I do feel better about going out there and visiting. It's just a little stressful knowing that it could cost me a bit of money to get from the airport to Princeton, and when you're jobless, spending money is not an attractive option. But that is where my story lies.

Good quote

Thank you Ryan for letting me borrow this book.

"Is it possible, I wonder, to say that it is only when you hear the Gospel as a wild and marvelous joke that you really hear it at all? Heard as anything else, the Gospel is the church's thing, the preacher's thing, the lecturer's thing. Heard as a joke -- high and unbidden and ringing with laughter -- it can only be God's thing."

Frederick Buechner

Moved

It was simply a story about Abraham. It's been heard before, the story is no surprise. Abraham has the good life, God tells him to move to Canaan, he runs into problems all of his own doing, and then is told in his old age he will father a son. And yet somehow when Buechner writes this story with Abraham and Sarah's little suburban home with the two car garage and the color TV, and the appearance of the angel with Sarah's small giggles turning into full blown laughter and Abraham and the angel joining in, the narrative has so much more power. And the blow that got me was the part where God steps in with the expectation that Buechner's God is going to reprimand them for laughing. And it looks like that is what he's going to say. Then the surprise: God is laughing with them, or at least enjoys the fact that they laugh. "It is pretty ridiculous, isn't it," says God, "and yet I promised you that's what I'd do and I'm going to stick to that. And to help you remember, your son's name with be laughter, Isaac, so you will not forget that this is my blessing."

That's when the tears came, but not for anyone in the story. And if that weren't enough, the next two words were, "To weep..."

Perhaps God is an open God and his plan is open for change and free will and his creation loving him is more important to him than having everything set in stone, but I still believe that God has his appointed moments, the scheduled items written on his coffee-stained scheduler. And perhaps his computer alerted him of his scheduled appointment and he stepped away from his desk to sit by my bed while I read that section of Buechner's "Telling the Truth." Or perhaps it was simply a choice he had been hoping I would make and his secretary let him know that his meeting needed to be canceled because I did pick up that book. Whatever is was, God somehow became present in that moment, and it came at the right time.

"Laugh till you weep. Weep till there's nothing left but to laugh at your weeping. In the end it's all one." - Godric

Heading Out

So I'm heading for New Jersey on Jan 31 to see Princeton. It'll be a weekend trip to see the classes, meet some professors, meet some other prospective students, and make sure this is the place I want to be. I'm pretty excited about it. It should be a good trip.

...

There are some days when I forget the reason for why I've waken up.

Passing Comments

Just a few simple words that float by typically unnoticed at the time have a knack at sticking to one's mind. Walking between classes with a former professor, it managed to sneak in and I barely caught it at the time. This could be the last 8 months I ever spend this close to my family. It's a notion that had not crossed my thinking in the past week, and it was only a passing comment, but little things are just the right size to creep into the back of person's head and grow for awhile.

I wish I had the mettle to be more open and honest with those that I care about. I wish I had the strength to risk even when the odds are against me. And wishful thinking can lead to despair, but sometimes it's the catalyst to start change. Timing is also important; that is harder to discern. Part of me wants to risk it all while the rest isn't ready to give that up yet. Familiar territory being explored again.

Apparently

I try to be creative in the way that I write, using what little literary technique I know to attempt to make what I write not only interesting but thoughtful. But showing is much harder than telling, and I write the way I speak. But written words do not have the same effect as spoken words in my usage and what I end up writing either becomes too sappy, too cheesy, or simply uncreative. So I'm stuck writing what I ought to say, not what I feel, and that leaves what few readers I have unable to fully grasp what I'm feeling and what I want them to understand.

Last night I wanted so desperately to write about my feelings about Princeton, about my struggles, joys, worries about my acceptance, but each time I tried to start a paragraph I looked at it, rearranged a word here or there, looked down in disappointment, and erased it. I sit here again trying to do the same thing, this time just writing rather than editing.

I read Buechner or Billy Collins, Steinbeck or Fitzgerald, or even a certain Taylor I know, and I wish I could write like that. There is such a simplicity to the words and yet such a complexity that I don't know how to replicate. And when I read something, though it's difficult at times to understand or even be motivated to read it, I am invited into a realm where I can only sit like a child and stare at the images being drawn on the canvas. And I wish I could invite other people into that place rather than just show you what they've shown me. So I find myself stuck being blunt, telling rather than showing, and unable to say what I want to convey. They're simply words.


There were questions I thought would be answered when that packet arrived in the mail yesterday, and yet I'm stuck with those stupid questions sitting in my mind with so few answers being provided. Work isn't provided by knowing my future, financial problems haven't been solved, and as I have criticized so many in my mind for doing, I feel my departure is merely an escape from troubles I don't know how to solve here.

The truth is I'm not sure if I want to leave yet. I plan on leaving in the Fall and I don't anticipate that changing. But I'm not sure I want to go yet. Granted, what I want has very little to do with this. There are a lot of things I wanted and expected for myself by this point that simply haven't worked out. But even though we're told we can't always have what we want, it doesn't change the pain of not getting whatever it might be.

And there is only one reason I don't want to go though it is perhaps the reason I need to go. I'm risking my future on something that has no guarantee and is not set to be the best option for me. My mind and the world don't always synchronize, and chances are I'm fooling myself. But that 'what if' lingers. Holding off a year risks a wasted year, leaving in the fall risks a missed opportunity. But who knows if that opportunity even exists, or ever did? And so what if it turns out? What then? What does a year gain? Is it worth it?

First Post Here

So I'm going to try out blogspot, see what happens. A lot of people seemed to have switched over to this so I'll try it out. You can still check out my stuff at xanga.