Happy New Year… and stuff
Christmas is over. A new year has come. I am back at work. Classes start again tomorrow. I had hoped to get a lot more studying done over the break, but I got absolutely zero studying done. What I did do was sleep, read, watch TV and play World of Warcraft.
I finally got around to finishing The Da Vinci Code. I started reading it because I wanted to find out what all the fuss was about. Honestly? I didn’t think that it was all that great a book. Sure, it had a lot of sensational shock value due to its claims that there was this huge cover-up by the Roman Catholic Church to conceal the fact that Jesus Christ was not God but just a man and that he married and had children with Mary Magdalene. But the book was no page-turner, believe me.
I just started reading The Traveler: A Novel by John Twelve Hawks. I’m only a few pages into it, but being that classes begin again tomorrow, I doubt I’ll have time for much pleasure reading before the semester is over. I’m not sure what it’s about yet. I forget why I picked the paperback up. Perhaps it was the review on the back from Time magazine?
“The stuff that first-rate high-tech paranoid-schizophrenic thrillers are made of.”
Or this one from The New York Times?
“A cyber 1984… Page-turningly swift with a cliff-hanger ending.”
Personally, I had no idea “page-turningly” was a word, but if the Times says so, who am I to argue? Reminds me of the first “cyberpunk” novel I ever read, William Gibson’s Neuromancer. I enjoyed that quite a bit, so I’m looking forward to this. Perhaps if I read a few pages every day I’ll be done by May?
I’m taking three classes this semester, though two of them count as one, really. I’m continuing my crash course in Biblical Greek with Greek II and Exegesis. Greek II is one credit and Exegesis is three credits, where Greek I was 4 credits. Why they structure the course this way, I don’t know. In either case, I’m not looking forward to it. I was really wiped out at the end of Greek I and don’t really have any desire to continue. It’s kind of like a pregnant mother going through twenty hours of intense, painful labor only to be told, “It’s not over. You’re having twins!” Like the pregnant mother, I’ll do what I have to do and just suck up and deal. Perhaps, I’ll appreciate the effort later, but right now it’s just hard.
The other class I’m taking is Church and Ministry. I had originally registered for a modular I thought was being held at the Virginia Beach campus, but it turns out the class will be held at the Washington, DC campus instead so I had to drop it and register for this other class. I was really stoked about taking that modular, too. It was supposed to have been on “Signs and Wonders at Home and Abroad” and one of the texts was John Wimber’s Power Healing or Power Evangelism, I don’t remember which.
So I’ll be taking Church and Ministry and I’m getting excited because so far a few of the books on the required reading list are books that I already own and have on my “to read” list. Among them is The Shaping of Things to Come: Innovation and Mission for the 21 Century Church by Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch. I’ve been meaning to read that one for a while now, ever since it made the rounds of discussion on many emerging church blogs in the last couple of years.
At this rate, it will take me four years to graduate. Right now, I’m not so sure I have the stamina for it. My wife and I are supposed to stop at the YMCA tomorrow to check out their facilities. It’s right across the street from where we work, so we don’t really have any excuse for not working out a few times each week. My goal is to start nice and easy and go three times per week on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I’m getting older and it will only get harder to get and stay in shape as I age. I’m trying to take care of myself. I’m in this thing for the long haul.
Related posts:
Did you enjoy this post? Why not leave a comment below and continue the conversation, or subscribe to my feed and get articles like this delivered automatically to your feed reader.
Niiilllllllleeeeee!!! Dude! How are you, man!? It’s been WAY too long. I just finally googled your name and came up with this.
So, I’ll happily put you back in my blog roll.
Frost and Hirsch’s Shaping of Things to Come remains to be one of my favorites. Since then I have also read Frost’s latest book, Exiles and am reading Hirsch’s latest book Forgotten Ways right now. Both are excellent! I recommend them.
*nodding in agreement* I’m trying to fit increased physical activity into my life right now as well! My wife and I just joined the local community center. It has a jammin’ work out area with really up to date machines, track, etc. One significant barrier to that though is KIDS. Sadly, there is no baby sitting type service available at the community center. My 9 and 7 year old boys could potentially be left alone during a work time (in the adjoining play ground). But, that cannot apply to my 2 year old. Then again, in this evil age of child stealing, leaving even a 9 year old alone for an hour is really pretty irresponsible and stupid. Iow, this is a challenge for us. We’ll probably end up working out in shifts (watching the kids while the other works out and vice versa).
Well, I digress…blah, blah, blah…
Send me an e-mail…give the update on your life! Details…I want details!