Through the semester, that is. Next week is the half-way mark, which means we may have a test or two. We won't in Old Testament, because we are all deep into the exegesis paper.
This has been both a good and a horrible week. It was "reading week", which means we didn't have to attend classes, with the idea that we will catch up with our reading, get prepared for tests, write the big paper, etc. I did all that, although I am not finished with the reading, nor is the paper ready to pass in yet. It isn't due until a week from Tuesday, and I want the many pages I have written to settle in before I tie it up. Sometimes, after a written piece has sat for a while, it either turns out to be missing important items, or is complete garbage. I certainly hope it is not the latter; I can deal with the former!
Actually, when all is said and done, I've really enjoyed this exegesis. Finding the sources was a pain, especially because I am not on campus all week. But once I found what I needed, reading them and taking notes was fun. I'm the kind of person who takes an hour looking up a word in the dictionary because I find all these other words that have to be learned about. I go from synonym to synonym, antonym to antonym, reading them all, and sometimes my eye catches a totally unrelated word, and I'm off to read about that.
Well, what do you know! That is what you are expected to do in researching for exegesis! I actually have a talent that is useful in this otherwise-very-difficult experience. Now, the rub is, I have to then organize all this information, related or not, cull out the garbage, and then WRITE ABOUT IT!
(Oh, the geese are going overhead. I love the sound of their chattering as they discuss their travel plans.)
The horrible part came because DB, who is in Mexico and should have been home on Friday night, called on Wednesday to say his trip was extended because the new Mexican foundry was having trouble meeting the specs on the castings. Now, it has nothing to do with the fact this foundry is in Mexico, it just is that the castings are very difficult to produce. When the Canadian foundry took them on, several years ago, DB spent a lot of time in Canada, too.
Today I preached my second sermon. I think it was better than the first, and I certainly wasn't as nervous. I think I will learn to be comfortable in the pulpit. I would like to become comfortable enough that I can preach extemporaneously. I may have been able to do that today with my topic, but I'm certainly not accomplished enough to try it yet. I preached on Jacob, my favorite knave and trickster. My exegesis is on an earlier part of his life, when he tricked his father to give him his brother's blessing. Great story!
The wind is picking up again. I'll stop before another T-storm moves through. So, he won't be home until very late this coming Wednesday night. I have not liked being alone this weekend. If I had known in the first place, it wouldn't have been so bad. But I was looking forward to having him home for the weekend, when I didn't have as much school work as usual.
The good news is that I probably got more done with the whole weekend alone.
Life has been lonely, but productive. Thanks be to God. Amen
5:45 PM
This will be a quick one. I uploaded a "Spiritual Journal" entry that I wrote a couple weeks ago, and I thought I better get a regular one in. This has been a spooky late afternoon, with high winds, thunderstorms, heavy rain, then sun. It is calm just now, but the sky is still threatening, so I'll make this fast.
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