Mailbox Memories

My IWU campus mailbox, #825, will for the next two years be a reminder that God answers prayers.

Around three weeks ago, my mailbox began to act up. It was being rebellious. It took forever to unlock, since the lock seemed jammed, or dirty, or whatever. It was very jerky to open. About a week after this began to happen, I came to my mailbox with the currently expected frustration. However this time, instead of fretting, I prayed that the Lord would help me open my mailbox. I tried, but it was still jammed. I tried again to no avail. Then I sanctified it with the sign of the cross, but it was still jammed. I thought, "Patience is a virtue, and God does not work on our schedules" (I know, it sounds cheesy, but that's what I thought). After waiting about 5 more seconds it opened as smoothly as ever, and I rejoiced.

Just to be sure that it was no fluke, though, after closing it I tried opening it again, and sure enough, it opened without resistance! God had healed my mailbox!

And so, as I said before, my mailbox will forever (until I graduate from IWU) be a reminder to me that God cares about all of my cares, even the smallest of them, and according to his will he promises to answer our cries for help.

Blessed be God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, unto ages of ages! Amen.

Hey!!! . . . is it the new "hi"?

My Dad told me the other day, "You know, Son, people used to say 'hi' instead of 'hello'; now they're saying 'hey.' It's the goofiest thing I've ever heard."

Perhaps it is true. I feel much more comfortable greeting all my peers with a hey as opposed to a hi. In fact, since my dad's comment I've tried using hi instead of hey, and I have realized how awkward it feels. I must be a product of my generation, and my generation must be into saying hey.

So the question is, what is the nature of hey, and how is it used? Well, obviously, the main usage we are discussing here is that of a greeting. I have a sense that, to most of us who use it, it feels more laid-back than hi, and sounds less pretentious. In a way we feel that hi is somewhat formal, and and requires a certain amount of social readiness on the part of the greeter. So if you say, "hi," you must mean to greet someone whom you haven't seen for a while, and even if you don't say, "hello! how are you doing?" you still communicate a similar sentiment of courtesy by it.

Hey, not necessarily unlike any other gretting, does permit the greeter to be more or less concerned or distracted with whomever is being greeted. While hi is courteous, hey can be less courteous, and can communicate more recognition than actual greeting. So I think when my father says that people saying, "hey!" sounds ridiculous, I believe I see where he is coming from. It is less courteous in that while it certainly gives recognition to someone, it can sometimes do little more, and can even seem disrespectful to some people.

Hey is most useful when greeting friends. When using it, it is socially acceptable to give a voice inflection of choice to communicate one's sentiment for the other person. For a while I wondered if hey allowed for more inflection than did hi, but after much consideration, I cannot imagine that this is so. Alas, hey just so happens to be in vogue, and so it is used more often.

So I'm not exactly sure what it is, but 'hey' sounds cooler than 'hi.' My dad is right in a way: it's the goofiest thing--language, that is. It's always changing. That's why not one country in the world has Latin as its official language. Well, maybe we are more inconsiderate for using hey. Perhaps our generation will turn the next into incivilized good-for-nothings. I hope not. And I will not cease to use 'hey,' because I like it.

*above photo by Nika Vee*

Of Bob and Michelangelo, all joking aside (maybe)

Over my spring break this past week I had the opportunity to spend time with one of my good friends from Kalamazoo, Bob Stewart. We hung out on two occasions, the first time at Fourth Coast Café, and the second at Rocket Star Café.

While Bob and I sat at Fourth Coast, we discussed how quirky and unamusing it would be to recount to others what took place there that night. So, for the sake of insignificance, this pretty much sums it up:

We got there, Bob ordered coffee, and I lemonade (which Bob kindly bought me—thank you, Bob). After going upstairs to avoid second-hand smoke, we took our seats at a table cornered into a brick wall (i.e., two sides of the table were set against the wall, and there were only two chairs facing the other sides; so Bob and I sat not across from one another, but adjacent to each other). We then discussed the ordeal of my wisdom teeth extraction. Next we talked a little bit about what each of us was planning for school in coming terms. After that we read a few poems by Seamus Heaney, an Irish poet. Since he is Catholic, and some of his poems have religious overtones, we began to discuss baptism, and soon infant baptism. After that we began to talk about our cell phones, and we played with them for a while. Then we put lotion on our hands. Yes, we did.

Afterward I told Bob, “You know, I feel pretty good about putting on lotion here. Not in a haughty or prideful way, or in a physical way, as though it was sensually pleasing. Nope, it just didn’t feel that awkward, and I didn’t let any thoughts about the fact that it might have been out of place enter my mind. I pretty much just feel good—not prideful, not guilty, and not metrosexual—about putting lotion on my hands just now, sitting here in the coffee shop.”

A few days later, when we were at Rocket Star, we discussed, as my father would say, “the weightier matters of life”—like God and the universe, and our different views of such things. We found ourselves discussing varying concepts of God, and Bob was saying how he could not appreciate the thought of God as a bearded face outside of the universe, looking upon it. By some twist of fate (but it was not a far stretch from where we were) a certain section of Michelangelo’s ceiling painting in the Sistine Chapel came up, “The Creation of Adam.” Intending insult neither to God nor Michelangelo’s art, Bob captured the ridiculous nature of the artist’s depiction of such a monumental moment of beginnings with this comment: “It’s like, what are you pointing at, jack***?”

Now, as I said, Bob meant neither to blaspheme the Christian God, nor to insult the matchless artwork of a master painter. Nevertheless, I thought his comment was telling of the kind of anthropomorphic image for God this piece of artwork has perpetuated in the minds of many Christians since its first revealing. Indeed, as Christians we do not believe God the Father to have any body; he is both invisible and incorporeal. It is one thing to portray our Lord Jesus in religious art, for he was and is flesh and blood like the rest of the human race. But to what extent is it actually beneficial for us to depict God our Father, who truly is unseen?

What do you think ?

Hmmm . . .

Well, as time has shown I am no good at blogging consistently; which of course does not prevent me from doing so in the future. It only demonstrates my lack of determination thus far.

And why, you ask, is he so inconsistent at blogging? Well, to tell you the truth, it goes something like this. It's been so long since I've blogged; I should do that soon. In fact, I could do that now. But, alas! I have so many other things to do that are of immanent importance. How can I spend time blogging when I find myself not spending enough time in the other areas of my life for necessary sanity? For example, how can I blog when I really should do this homework assignment; or when I feel that I could be spending more time reading Scripture?

That's how the thinking goes.

So how has this post come into cyberspace? By means of the few extra precious hours afforded me during my Spring break. And so, as usual, I must apologize for my blogspot absence. However, this time I make no promises for future consistency, realizing this may gain me very little readership.

So I thought a life-update of sorts would be in order.
I am not sure if I have ever posted my schedule for this semester on my blog, but regardless, here it is: I'm taking Beginning Hebrew II, Intermediate Latin II (in which I am translating books I, II, and VI of Vergil's Aeneid [and for the sake of jucunditas, here I must explicate Vergil's full name, since I think it's so cool: Publius Vergilius Maro; just say it out loud a few times--I'm confident you'll begin to grow fond of it too]), Christian Theology I, Local Church Education, and Hebrews.

This semester has been really tough for me. I am still learning to balance my life. I have a certain amount of homework necessary to be done each week, and I have yet to accomplish that amount (I thank the Lord for spring break, as it is affording me the opportunity to catch up on things unfinished). Fortunately, I am probably doing better than last semester, but am still unsatisfied with my performance this semester.

I had my wisdom teeth surgically removed this Monday, and am currently recuperating. As I said, this week the plan is to catch up on homework, while taking things easy.

Next semester I plan to take the following courses: Christian Theology II: Salvation/Holiness, Ecclesiology, History of Christianity I, Evangelism and Global Outreach (with a one-hour practicum), an intermediate Hebrew course, and Grace in the Early Church.

This summer I plan to learn New Testament Greek, using J. Gresham Machen's New Testament Greek for Beginners. It was first published in 1923. My friend Dusty Fecht and I will be studying with Dr. Ken Schenck. I also plan to be doing some Latin translation of Commodianus with Dr. David Riggs.

Hopefully more later; but for now, farewell, and peace to you.