I’m back in Lynchburg for another semester. It took me 9 hours to get down from Long Island last Saturday. It’s good to be back, but it’s going to be different this semester. 6 more students are gone, so we’re down to 39 out of the original 52 students. I need to make some new friends.

I also need to practice discipline. I need to study harder. My philosophy is to work hard (redeem the time) and play hard (rest and leisure are gifts from God)… and leave the rest to God.

I stumbled on this article about the search for mandarin-speaking-nannies while looking at drudgereport.com. Too bad I’m forgetting all my Chinese.

Two years ago, I attended New Attitude 2004, a conference for singles of all ages. That year, the topic happened to be relationships. Since then, I have shared those messages with many friends and have seen the fruit of the messages in my own life and in the lives of others. I decided to create a simple website featuring the conference audio… so I contacted Covenant Life church for permission to put their audio online. They were very willing to grant permission, even though the audio is still available for purchase on their website!

Here’s the link! NaRel.org

I’m really glad that I saw all you Groverz again. You guyz rock! Some times I get discouraged when I see people wasting their lives- pursuing pleasure, sex, or money… but then I think about many of you, and am greatly encouraged. Imagine us 10 years from now and how God will use us for his kindgom work.

Thanks Andy for praying for me over the last semester. Now I’m back home to get some good rest, reading, and work in before next semester starts.

I’ve survived my first semester of law school. I’m done with finals. I had five, 3-hour finals! It was really hard to be motivated to study for the next subject, after being brain-fried from the previous test. But Praise God, they are now over.

For Thanksgiving, Dr. Schultz and his family had me over for dinner. I am still full. =) During football at his house, I almost lost my two front teeth. They are upright but they wiggle a little bit if pressure is applied to them. Please pray that they will not fall out. Haha…what a reminder to me that this body is fading and that Christ in me is my hope of glory.

My parents will come down to visit me this weekend and stay until Sunday. They are bringing my piano keyboard. I hope to be able to play piano for church next semester.

December 17th, after my finals, I’m planning on coming up to visit you Groverz. Please pray for me to study hard until then. I am under intense pressure. (And I’m trying to remember the part of the verse in my post below about not being anxious.)

Well anyway, I made a list of some of my favorite hymns: (there are just too many)
- Crown Him with Many Crowns
- Fairest Lord Jesus
- All Hail the Power
- On Christ the Solid Rock
- Great is Thy Faithfulness
- How Great Thou Art
- Come Thou Fount
- When I Survey the Wondrous Cross
- Immortal, invisible….
- O Father, You are Sovereign
- Be Thou My Vision

I enjoy being hospitable. I love it when some of my law school buddies sit around my house just to chat. At Grove City College, the local churches served as my family when my parents were far away. They fed me, encouraged me, and brought my mind back to the real world.

My parents tell me that they used to have people over for dinner all the time. One year, they had people over 25 times. At $125 per session, that’s $3,125/year or maybe even $5,000 in today’s currency. There are so many good things do be done with money. I trust that God will provide me with the tools of hospitality (just enough money, a cozy house, a wife that can cook, social skills, wisdom to see people’s needs, etc…), if I seek His glory.

“So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” – Galations 6:10

I often lose my patience when professors assign the silliest assignments from the casebook. How can a two credit class have more reading than the average three credit class? They make it more painful than they have to. I can learn just as much by reading half as much. Is it proper to feel frustruated or am I simply missing the big picture?

In times like these, I need to remind myself:

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.
– Colossians 3:2

On Monday, our Torts mid-term grades were posted. It was a nice day for class, since people were very quiet from shock. (This in contrast to their normal routine of AOL instant messenger, facebook, and the surfing of clothing websites.) However, today, people seem to be back to their normal habbits.

In Property Class on Tuesday, Professor Osborn taught us that the kindom of God is a defeasible estate. (By which he means that it can be taken away.) He cited some passages about Israel’s land that could be taken away and some other passages… I beg to differ on his hermeneutical interpretations and selections. I’m passionate about speaking out against the the unorthodoxy of Arminianism since: 1) truth matters and 2) truth has practical implications. If you could lose your salvation today or tomorrow, you would have no real security as a Christian. The Arminian interpretation is simply wrong and not taught by scripture.

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. – John 10:27-28

They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. – 1 John 2:19-20