12 credits is a full academic load

...and I'm not an academic! Ever wondered what the outside of the Tabernacle was made of, all those descriptions in Exodus and Leviticus? Well it is one of these... A sea-cow or dugong. The things you learn when you take it to the next level.

I'm just back from a lecture and subsequent debate on "The Cappadocian's and Trinitarian Theology." The stuff is good, but it requires a serious effort and expenditure of energy on my part to stay focused and follow the lecture and questions. 

My appetite to learn more has been whet by hints being dropped here and there at Regent on some of the Professors' understanding of what the Bible teaches about the relationship between creation, heaven and the Christian life. I'll not say anything other than it's stuff that seems to make a lot of sense and I feel a worshipful pleasure at being made in God's Image!

Last weekend was the Regent retreat. So unique, how often would your entire uni get up and go away together for the weekend!? This weekend I am tackling an academic writing course, oh my...

Currently reading for pleasure/not study:

The Shack - William P. Young

We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families - Philip Gourevitch

Listening to:

Earth - Thrice

The Atonement - Shai Linne

Week one down

So week one has been and gone, it went by in a flash!

The whole week has been pretty intense, starting classes, trying to find a routine, steep learning curves, still getting to know people, still sorting out aspects of life in Vancouver and coming to terms with the vast volume of reading required. It's intense, but I still remind myself of the amazing opportunity I have to come here, to learn and to grow. 

Challenge of the week: Jargon. Not having a decent background in theology has left me feeling like I'm standing still on a motorway. Or as one wise 2nd year said to me, it's like standing under a waterfall, trying to drink it all in with a teaspoon. So much to grasp in such a short space of time. Not to mention the crash course in film studies last Wednesday night, which I really loved! We get to watch a movie every Wednesday night for a course called Christian Thought and Culture, and pull the theology from it. Exegesis. Jargon.

Joy of the week: New friends. Suzanne and I have had a really great couple of evenings with new friends. It's been so much fun getting to know people, to hear their stories and to read all the different personalities. We are throwing off the shyness. Learning names. New friends.

Orientation

We are currently going through orientation, we are only half way through and I don't know how much more information I can digest! But it's been a great chance for both of us to mutually meet people, and for Suz to get a feel for what my life is going to consist of.

Today has served to cement what I already knew but had not given a lot of consideration to. I have no idea where God is taking us post-Regent. Nothing. I thought I used to know lots, but I now know nothing. That's not to say that I am no longer interested in anything, I absolutely am. But I think this a good place to be in, God's place to be in. So that he can shape and mold and work on me, not so that I am a product at the end of it all, but in fact someone who knows what it is to have God continually shaping and molding a life into the likeness of his Son's. 

I am thankful to God for the timing of this all. I observed something about myself today. I felt really shy. I haven't spoken out once, but for moments when required to. I used to want to be the centre of attention, to be the funny guy, to be known by people. But that isn't me now. It's just the strangest thing! But again, I am thankful for God's timing, waiting for me to be in the place he currently has me, before putting me in the place he currently has me. Amazing.