Week One in Review

Well, I made it to the end of week one and i am not running for the hills yet.  I sat down to figure out exactly how much work I have to do, and it is a little overwhelming.  For the 17 semester hours that I am taking (the recommended number for someone who wants to finish the degree program in 3 years) I have 13 books to read, 29 papers to write [17 of them are 5 pages or less, but still..,] and 11 examinations to pass before December 15.  That along with coming up with meaningful lessons for Sunday school and Wednesday evening services at my church, and trying to keep my marriage together (which one class will actually give me credit for going on dates with my wife) and seeing my kids.  I guess the one thing that I am not going to do is have a life.  Oh well.

On Thursday's I have Principles of Spiritual formation, a class designed to make sure that all the Bible study in seminary doesn't become just head knowledge, and that we have an outlet to make it practical and applicable.  I was skeptical at first, like thinking that it will be a waste of time, but after the class, I was stoked.  As I alluded to before, this class requires married students to spend 3 hours a week "dating" their spouse.  It is called the Marriage Enrichment portion and it is 20% of our grades.  Other things that we have to do for the class include a 4 hour and 8 hour retreat of solitude to "be with" God.  I am not sure exactly what that means, but the instructor was adamant that we could not take anything with us, and we were to go somewhere that we wouldn't be distracted, and do nothing but sit, or stand, in the presence of God.

My longest class of the week is a 4 hour Old Testament Survey.  I was dreading this one too, but it turned out to be really cool.  It is another one of the ROBO-classroom classes where people from all over the country are joining in.  The professor, Dr. Josberger is really excited about the subject and her excitement makes what could be a very long, very boring class actually very interesting.  I am looking forward to diving into the word in that class.

One thing that I find interesting about Seminary is that while each class has required texts and the professors refer to the occasionally, most of them say that you don't even need to bring the text to class, just read, and in most cases write a paper proving that you have digested the information.  In only one class this whole week did a Professor say "Okay, now take out the book and turn to page......" and of course, that was the one book I was still waiting to get from Amazon.

I have so much work ahead of me, but I feel like this blog is an important way to decompress and share with others what I am learning.  I have written a lot this week, and I probably won't be able to keep up the pace, but I will make sure to check in regularly and I would covet the prayers of all of you while we are on this journey.

DAB 8-31-2012


I want to thank my wife Emily for all the support and hard work she is putting in.  Not only did she buy all my books for me online (not because I am incapable, but because she is great at finding deals online.)  She is also working part time, working hard to get our new apartment in order, and take care of the kids.  She is a real Proverbs 31 woman.  I love you!!!