2 Weeks Have Passed-6 and 7

I apologize for any confusion or mistakes within my writing; my time is limited, so I try to write as fast as possible when I get a minute.

October 17^th, Monday

Dr. Williams began teaching us this morning about the importance of literature. These are some main points that I learned.

• In the fall, the mind was corrupted. We usually focus on the soul being redeemed, but the mind was redeemed as well. The renewing of the mind is just as important as renewing the soul.
• I am to study, write papers, and participate in class with all my might to the glory of God. Anything less would be sinning.
• Study-the deliberate, serious, and sustained application of the mind in dependence on the Holy Spirit, and in submission to the scripture to any given topic or problem for the purpose of attaining knowledge, understanding and wisdom.
• Deliberate: choose to do. Serious: requires mental attention. Sustained: devotes time on a regular basis. Topic: everything and anything. Intelligence: processing speed(mine is slow J). Knowledge: possession of facts. Understanding: Seeing how facts relate to each other. Wisdom: knowing how to use the knowledge and understanding effectively in creative and constructive ways to advance God’s kingdom.
• “God has room for people with very little sense, but he expects us to use all the sense we have.” C.S. Lewis
• We, as humans, find out who we are by telling stories. Why? Because we are created in the image of God, and He is the greatest Story teller.
• We were made in the image of God. We were created by an articulate and creative God: He said, and it was made. Adam showed his creativeness and articulateness by beginning to talk and name the animals.
• Basic plot of the Bible: There’s a Hero(Jesus), a villain(Satan), a damsel in distress(mankind), a dungeon(the world), rescuing by a great, personal sacrifice(Jesus’ death), and a happy ending(eternity with Christ). The majority of stories follow this plot, whether they’re fairy tales or fiction. Everyone loves this plot. It’s the plot of the gospel. All stories follow the plot of the gospel. I think this is awesome!
• “Every time a person opens his mouth, he shows that he was created in the image of God.”

I’m already in love with this English Literature Class, and this amazing professor. Thankfully, I have four more days with him! The time in class goes by so quickly while my brain and papers are absorbing everything he I feeding to me. Oh, and by the way, my reading list is growing longer every single day.

October 18^th, Tuesday

Three more hours of English Lit occurred today. Here are some various thoughts regarding the issues we talked about today.

Humanism: Renaissance vs. Secular

• The need for people outside of the church who could read and write was great. Dictatores then came onto the scene. They dictated what the government officials needed to have written down. Later on, they became known as secretaries.
• Greco-Roman Classics were preserved, but not read. No one in the west knew Greek; therefore, when the Byzantine Empire collapsed, refugees who spoke Greek came from the east to the west.
• Renaissance can be known as the rebirth of interest in old, classic works.
• People began using the Grammatico-Historical Exegesis method which asked questions about what was being read: what does the grammar\history say? Why was it written for this certain audience? Who wrote it? This was a new way of reading, finding the original meaning. This saying was introduced: Ad fontes which meant back to the sources.
• Nature of early humanism was not an ideology(lots of Christians, such as Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, were humanists); it was an educational reform movement; it was not putting man in the center but putting humanities in the center; and it involved anyone who wanted to read the ancient books using the grammatico\historical exegesis.
• Ad fontes + the question of religious authority= sola scriptura
• People then began wanting to apply Ad Fontes to the Bible which introduced the Reformation. The Reformation flows directly out of the Renaissance.
• Erasmus edited\published the Greek New Testament in 1516. Through this, Luther posted his 95 theses.
• What went wrong then? 1) Some failed to read the Greeks through the lens of Scripture, 2) Greeks didn’t understand the fall. They believed that evil came from ignorance, 3) They thought human nature was good or neutral.
• Thus began secular humanism. Their response to evil was education or enlightenment.
• If human nature is good, evil comes from ignorance. Salvation lies in eucation. Education becomes a false messiah or idol. This is what went wrong. Anything good that is idolized becomes evil.

Besides learning about secular humanism, most of the students and staff went to Pagosa hot springs in the evening. It was wonderful, warm(ok, hot. one pool was 111 degrees.), and relaxing. It was a great change of the same schedule too, so I liked that mucho.

October 19^th, Wednesday

As I am sitting here during solitude time(this probably doesn’t count as solitude time, but I needed to write it down before I forgot it), my mind goes back to the night Mary Kate and I were driving home from Summit(where I got the idea of Summit Semester)in May. We were traveling through Wyoming at about 8pm, which then stretched to 9pm, 10pm, 11pm as we drove 25-30 mph instead of the regular 75-80 mph. A terrible snow storm had come upon us. Kate was driving anxiously while I was tensely gripping anything I could and praying whenever I remembered to do so. I was so terrified. Whenever she tried to switch lanes to avoid some slush or semis entering the highway, the car’s tires or semi’s tires would cause snow to cover our windshield, blinding us. It took us around 4 or 5 hours to get from Evanston to our house; I think it usually takes like 2 or 3. Even now as I think back to it, I tense up and remember how scared I was. But as I think about it, I realize that we could have been killed easily, either by semis running us off the road, driving off the road due to slush, or something else. And I remember that we had just finished two weeks of intensive learning and training which would affect our worldviews and lifestyles. The enemy could have used that stormy night to perhaps end or ruin our lives. But instead, I think God kept us safe from any possible danger, because he had great plans in store for us. For me, part of this great plan of his includes Summit Semester. It gives me shivers to think of none of this ever happening due to a car accident. And it causes me to thank God for his protective and guiding hand. I’m not trying to say that my life is majorly important and God kept me safe because I’m awesome. I’m just trying to say that he had a plan that not even the devil could ruin. God wanted to teach me so many things over the summer and here at Summit Semester that I will use every day from now on. He is teaching me so that he can use me to teach others by being an example. It’s so hard to explain this, but that’s the best that I can do. God didn’t want Mary Kate’s life and my life to end in May; He wanted it to go on for a purpose. And I believe Summit Semester is part of the reason why. I don’t know about you, but that makes me feel incredibly loved by the Creator of the world and incredibly thankful to Him for his protection and care for me.

October 20^th, Thursday

Last night was pretty amazing, I must say. I went to a public speaking class(something very necessary for my health) taught by a mentor, Marcie. I didn’t think that by going to a public speaking class I would have to speak in public…hehe. One exercise we did was to write an outline of a speech within a small group. Terrified and shaking, I gave the outline in front of thousands of people(more like fifteenJ). But it still scared me. Oh well. I need to get over my fears. 95% of Americans list public speaking as their worst fear. So they’d rather be in the casket at the funeral than be giving the eulogy. Marcie stressed the importance of Christians needing to get over their fear of public speaking because we have the most important speech to give-the gospel. So I now know that it is important that I get over this fear and learn how to speak in public. I can’t use the excuse that I’m not a natural public speaker and that God didn’t create me with public speaking skills. Therefore, I need to get past my shakiness and fear and begin to speak in public more often.

Right after the class, I was able to practice this “skill” of public speaking by reading parts of Romeo and Juliet in a study group of about ten people. It was a hilarious study time. At one point, my friend Maggie was Romeo and a guy named Cliff was Juliet and it just happened to be the kissing scene. It was extremely awkward, but oh so funny. Reading it all out loud really helped me understand the play’s language better.

October 21^st, Friday

Although I didn’t come here to learn directly about youth ministry, I was expecting to learn a few things or be presented with a few ideas about how to affect teenagers effectively. And today during English Literature class, I was given a few. Dr. Williams was speaking about how poorly the Evangelical church is doing, how no one reads anything, and art is not in the church. Therefore, I am hoping to change this in at least a small way at my church(if I’m allowed, hehe). I was thinking a long the lines of an art group, probably among the youth. Many of the youth at my church are incredibly talented in dancing, singing, playing an instrument, and probably more talents that I have not even seen yet. I really want to teach them that God gave them these talents for a reason, and to use them to glorify him. I don’t know how exactly this would work; perhaps by talent shows or teaching other people their talents. I’m not sure yet. But it sounds like it’d be pretty cool! I also really really want to teach the youth at my church how to appreciate reading more . Most of them are not interested in reading at all, and I don’t think they realize how important reading is. It causes us to learn from past mistakes, experiences, etc. It enlarges our being. It helps us to see with eyes that are not just our own. Honestly, before I went to Summit in May, I didn’t realize how important reading was. So I want to pass this new knowledge onto the teens of my church, and hopefully to everyone I come into contact with. Hurrah!

Oh, today is the six week anniversary! It is now half over.:( sad day.

October 25^th, Tuesday

Busy, busy, busy. Yesterday began our busiest week yet, We have double the lecture time: 28 hours instead of 15, plus all of our normal duties. Therefore, I don’t have a lot of time to blog. Or read the required reading. Or commune with God, Or sleep. L Anyway…We spent Saturday at the sand dunes. I guess it was the second highest sand dune in North America. It was pretty impressive. Someday I’ll have time to upload pictures of it onto Facebook. Pretty much, it looked like a bunch of sand was dumped in the middle of nowhere.

Dustin, the director of Semester, and the pastor at Grace church came up with the grand idea of having families from the church “adopt” Summit students and feed them(it sounds like we’re starving or something). So that’s what occurred on Sunday. Groups of students (who don’t normally hang out together, or so it seemed) went to different houses for lunch and possible internet. I went with three other students, Cliff, Peter, and Mary Faith, to an older couple’s house. We discussed what our lives would look like in ten years, small unknown facts about ourselves, church, Summit Semester, and a bunch of other random topics. I had a splendid time, especially getting to know the other students better and learning facts about them that I didn’t know before. We also drank beer and shot guns..hehe. Root beer and bb guns. I wasn’t even bothered that I didn’t get to use the internet; hence, that’s why this blog is doubled. J

John Stonestreet arrived yesterday afternoon to teach for a few days. So far we have had seven hours of lectures and discussion about culture. We’re learning about what culture is exactly and how we are too live within culture. I’m a bit overwhelmed at this point due to lots of information during class, many articles to be read, and realizing truth that I never knew before. Therefore, I won’t continue writing about culture until I can think more about it in depth. hehe..until then.

October 27^th, Thursday

Culture, culture, culture. That was our main discussion for the past three days. I really enjoyed learning about it, although, it was pretty depressing to see where the state of our country and world is. Here are some of my thoughts regarding the lectures.

A main point Stonestreet began with was Christians do a terrible job understanding culture, and culture does a terrible job understanding Christians. Christians react to culture by panic. For example, when something like Harry Potter becomes popular, Christians(conservative ones at least) will panic and shield their children from it without even knowing about the book or understanding the author.

Usually when I or most people think about culture, we think about specifics instead of generalities, such as cards, music, or dancing. The specifics are the fruit, not the root problem. Instead of reacting to the specifics, we need to find the root problem.

Culture is not the world, but what we do with our world. It’s not the structures of society, the institutions, but those who run the institutions. Culture comes from the word cultura, which means to plow or till, or to develop. At the core culture isn’t a bad thing, it’s how we develop it that makes it bad. It also comes from the word cult, to worship. At the root of a culture is religion. What we worship becomes culture. Stonestreet described culture as the flesh on the skeleton of religion.

What does culture do? It communicates visions of and for life and orients members of society around these visions.

In a nutshell, we, the human race as a whole, create culture, but then we get so used to the culture and it starts created us. We start conforming to the culture.

October 30^th, Sunday

I’m really relieved that this week has come to a close. The first three days were emotionally and spiritually draining. The next three were physically and mentally exhausting. However, through the struggles God taught me a few things about myself that led me to repentance.

Since I didn’t have time to blog throughout the week, here are a few highlights:

I read Romeo and Juliet for the first time, and I hated it. Ok, I hated the characters and their actions. I loved the discussions that I had with my classmates about it. We had to answer questions like, what is a good love, what is a good death, what good is love, and what good is death. Was the story based on fate or on flawed teens? Is love at first sight possible?(infatuation at first sight is).

Alumni from past years came for the weekend, so it was interesting to meet different students who have attended in the past six years.

Learning about the history of fundamentals and evangelicals was incredible. It’s so crazy how everything I participate in and see today within the wide Christian community is traced back so many years ago to various people and movements. Hopefully someday I’ll be able to blog about this topic more in depth. I’m really hoping to get a book about the history of Christianity in America. I’m so fascinated by it.

Once again, I’m amazed at how fast time goes by here, or in general. I only have five more weeks here. Of course, I’m excited to go home. But as I think about my future and what God has in store for me and how difficult it will be to get used to home life and living without my “bubble” here, it scares me. I think God is preparing me for it though. It’s going to be a major change. And I’m going to miss this place and the people here so much. Ok, I’m done thinking about that now.

Well those are my various thoughts for this week! Sorry so short, but you have to read through last week’s thoughts too. J If I could say one major thing I’ve learned this week, it would be this: relationships are two sided. You have to sacrifice for the other person, just as much as they have to sacrifice for you. And don’t give up even when it becomes difficult and it feels like you don’t connect with anyone, because maybe people connect with you and you just don’t know it. God is so faithful. J

Thanks for reading!