Classes

I would say that, in many ways, this past summer was the best of my life. I had periods of intense focus and workload. I had periods of rest and relaxation... which look a lot like laziness when you see me in non-action. Regardless, I had fun. I took two summer intensives which yielded nine academic credits. Add that to the 14 that I took in my first semester in seminary, and I'm coming along nicely, with good grades.

The intense period was a six week class studying two semesters' worth of Biblical Greek. It was crazy, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone with a history of heart failure, women who may be pregnant, anyone under the age of 23, anyone over the age of 49, or anyone with a shred of dignity and common sense. However, I survived the aptly nicknamed "suicide Greek" and passed it comfortably, en route to Greek Exegesis in the fall. More on exegesis later.

For the first time in probably 16 years, I played in some kind of a competive sport. Now, first of all, it was softball. It was not the baseball or football of my childhood dreams. If my childhood dreams were coming to fruition at this time, I'd be playing major league baseball or NFL football, but since my dreams that come true always have a nutty twist, I'd be on the disabled list as a veteran third basemen or middle linebacker of a team way out of playoff contention with a severed pinky toe stemming from an unfortunate incident involving a garden hose, a laborador retriever, and a revolving door that leads into a hotel lobby. I dunno either.

Anyway, it also was a church softball league. My seminary is affiliated with the Evangelical Covenant Church, and about 15 other covenant churches or organizations field a team and we played about a dozen games, plus playoffs. It can be fairly competitive, depending on the team you play. Some teams were skilled and they argued a lot with the umpires. Other teams were still trying to figure out which end of the bat you hold it from. We also had the obligation to umpire several other teams' games, and I got to umpire the plate about four times. It was kind of interesting when I would make a call and one of the players would bark at me. I generally barked back, then the player would realize that I was the bigger dog and he would remain silent the rest of the game... and I would praise God for providing me with a nice gym to work out at.

But the softball was fun because it was a chance for me to get to know people, challenge myself athletically, showcase my sub-superhuman strength, and hit the ball semi-impressive distances. It was a nice distraction from my Greek class, and it was generally enjoyable. I'll do it again next summer, Lord willing.

And I met many interesting people, and strengthen some friendships that were just slowly starting to form at the end of the spring semester. Summer in the city can be a lot of fun, and I was thoroughly disappointed that this 6-week, summer intensive, two semesters' worth of Biblical Greek crammed into four hours a day, five days a week, resulting in the knowledge of 80% of the Koine Greek language was not the cakewalk I was hoping it to be. Maybe I should have written out that last sentence before class started, and my expectations of summer fun would have been a bit more realistic. Regardless, I had limited time to forge new relationships and settle into on-campus seminary life.

And now, fall classes begin for everyone in about ten and a half hours. My schedule is kind of slick, although it by no means will be simple. I am taking the following:

Christian Heritage; T, Th 8-9:20am
Greek Exegesis; T, Th 9:30-10:50am
Parables of Jesus; W 6:30-9:30pm
Christian Theology... online

So that leaves me with lots of out of class work, but in class, I have no Monday classes, no Friday or weekend obligations, no class until the evening on Wednesdays, and I'm done with classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays by 11am. And I just moved on-campus, so I'm a short walk away from the seminary building. I'll probably be in the library or the gym, or about 50 miles northwest of of the seminary (I'll explain that in another post) most of the rest of the time. But at least I'm running life at my own pace, and I only have myself to blame if I start to slip.

And so, the next phase of my life, which now is running on a semester schedule apparently, begins. I'll miss summer, but I think I'll file this one in a very favorable section of my memories.