Bible 313: Biblical Hermeneutics

Final grades were posted yesterday and I think I am more relieved than I am excited. That was definitely a challenging class and it took quite a bit of work to get through it. Anyway, I ended up with an final grade of 94.30%.

Current tally:
Philosophy 101: Introduction to Philosophy - 96.6
Philosophy 351: Christian Apologetics - 97.85
Bible 313: Biblical Hermeneutics - 94.3

Just As I Am

What’s that on the ground?
It’s what’s left of my heart
Somebody named Jesus
Broke it to pieces
And planted the shards

And they’re coming up green
They’re coming in bloom
I can hardly believe
This is all coming true

Just as I am and just as I was
Just as I will be He loves me, He does
He showed me the day that He shed His own blood
He loves me, oh, He loves me, He does

All of my life
I’ve held on to this fear
Its thistles and vines
Ensnare and entwine
What flowers appeared

It’s the fear that I’ll fall
One too many times
It’s the fear that His love
Is no better than mine
(but He says that)

Just as I am and just as I was
Just as I will be He loves me, He does
He showed me the day that He shed His own blood
He loves me, oh, He loves me, He does
He loves me, oh, He loves me, He does

It’s time now to harvest
What little that grew
This man they call Jesus
Who planted the seeds
Has come for the fruit

And the best that I’ve got
Isn’t nearly enough
He’s glad for the crop
But it’s me that He loves

Just as I am and just as I was
Just as I will be He loves me, He does
The same as the day that He shed His own blood
He loves me, oh, He loves me, He does
Just as I am and just as I was
Just as I will be He loves me, He does
The same as the day that He shed His own blood
He loves me, oh, He loves me, He does
He loves me, oh, He loves me,
He loves me, He does
He loves me, He does

- Andrew Peterson, Love & Thunder (2003)

Whatcha doin’?

So the Trousered Ape has been fairly busy for the past couple of months and as a result I have not done a good job in keeping people up with what has been going on in the concrete jungle…

First, I have finished probably one of the more difficult classes I have taken at GCU. It was the Biblical Hermeneutics class. Final grades should be in on Sunday, July 8 and I really do not know what I will end up with for the final grade. Currently I have a 94.1%, but two papers and one online discussion need to be graded still so that could still swing me down to a B.

Second, work has been so busy. We hired a few new people and while that is good, it has been causing more work in the short-term because of the training that has to take place to get them up to speed. So the work hours have been a little hectic and with trying to balance that and school and marriage – oh boy…

Third, this week (Monday) I began my other two classes for this semester. They are Old Testament History and Introduction to Ethics and Morality. So I am guessing the next eight weeks are going to be a little crazy too. However, I’m anticipating these two classes to be less frustrating than the one I just finished in terms of being less subjective in how papers are graded.

On a more positive side of things we have been able to manage some well-needed and timely visits with friends from Canyon. Any type of break from the chaos into a welcomed, calming presence has had a great effect on our ability to persevere through the busy schedules and give us a restful oasis to spend a few hours outside the pressure cooker. The wife also started a new temp job, but it looks like it might be parlayed into something a bit more permanent which would be pretty cool.

These Soldiers Clothes

Here’s a light snow falling as I pass through town
That cold Carolina grey
She’s 30 miles down to the county seat
On my induction day

Where a crowd was gathered ’round an Army bus
Behind the court house square
As I hugged my mom, ol’ Vietnam
Was a million miles from there

Well I got out the car, picked up my bags
And went and shook some hands
Weren’t much of a send-off
No fan-fare or marching bands

Just a Baptist preacher who bowed our heads
And said, “Trust in the Lord”
Then the names rang out like church bells
And one by one we climbed aboard

I ain’t never gonna forget growing up in this little tobacco town
Where the folks ain’t more than poor white trash
And work their blood into the ground
They stand up when they’re called
And they don’t run and they don’t hide
So don’t you worry ’bout me I’m proud to be
In these soldiers clothes if I die

Well the Fort Bragg winter
hit us like bare knuckles across our skin
It broke my fears and left them there
Just like they’d never been

They shipped us off to places
With names that I could barely say
It’d be more like home than I had known
When I left town that day

‘Cause those choppers ran like horses
Pulled us along like plows
My gun fell like a farm hoe but it ain’t tobacco I’m cutting down
I sowed their blood into the ground
When they didn’t run and hide
So don’t you worry ’bout me I’m proud to be
In these soldiers clothes if I die

As the bullets fly, here I lie
Against this mane groove tree
And the grass is wet beneath me
Where my legs they used to be

No I ain’t scared of dieing
And it ain’t the living that I fear
But that I won’t lie beneath Carolina
A million miles from here

So I pray they don’t forget about me in that little tobacco town
And I was more than poor white trash
When I laid my body down
Though I can no longer stand up
And I can’t run and hide
Don’t you worry ’bout me I’m proud to be
In these soldiers clothes as I die

Don’t you worry ’bout me I’m proud to be
In these soldiers clothes as I die

- Billy Cerveny, AM Radio (2002)

For July 4th. In memory of all who have and who continue to serve.