The Last Lap

Disclaimer: The following thoughts are in almost no way related except inasmuch as they all relate to stuff that has been happening recently. If you receive some divine insight into a common thread herein, such a concept is completely unintended on my part.

I'm almost done with the semester, and by extension the entirety of my education as far as I can foresee. Praise God, it's almost over, and I survived just as He promised! I'm sure that I'll really miss college and all the cool stuff that's happened over the past few years, but for now it's great to just start sloughing off responsibility and finally get some rest. Ironically, I think I may have lost the ability to make effective use of free time; I feel like I should be doing something productive instead of relaxing. Curses.

I had a bit of an interesting experience yesterday. I subscribe to Popular Science and have for quite a while, so I've gotten into a habit of simply renewing my subscription when I'm told that it's about to expire. So when I received a call yesterday claiming that my subscription would soon expire and that they had a nice continuing readers deal for me, I thought that was just the cat's meow/pajamas. Then, like the cultural robot I am, when they asked for my credit card number etc., I provided it without much hesitation, hung up, and thought "huh, that could have been a bad thing." My dad, who listened to the whole thing, was quick to point out my stupidity with information drawn from my latest issue, noting that my subscription was still good for another 18 months, not exactly the imminent danger that I had been told of. To make a long story short, I was able to experience the joy of being a victim of identity theft. Woohoo. No worries though, as the credit card was canceled before anything bad happened.

On a slightly related note (I know, I promised not to have any of those), I am planning to go see the new Star Trek movie tonight with some of my Tech friends, but I can't pre-order my ticket online since the credit card is no longer valid. In fact, since I also don't really have money on me, there was a bit of a question of how I would actually be getting into the movie. I was at my brother's graduation open house today, though, and one of the families there gave me a graduation gift with cash inside. It's cool to see that God provides, even if it's for something I think of as silly like going to a movie.

I think I'm really starting to be dissatisfied with the way that churches work nowadays. I think my biggest complaint is with the Sunday School program. Yes, it is nice to have little arts and crafts and to tell some quaint little G-rated versions of stories like Samson or David and Goliath, but what is the point? Are we just trying to fill some kind of entertainment void for children while the adults sit in church and hear real messages with actual application? Not that kids don't get that in Sunday School ever, but seriously, the only lessons I can remember were that Jesus loves me or that we should pray for things we want. In the last lesson I saw of the Truth Project, Dr. Tackett showed a copy of the New England Primer, a small book designed to teach 1st graders in the 1800's how to read. It was not the same "see Spot run" junk that we teach nowadays in school. It taught words like "fornication" or "abomination". It taught the catechisms, so that children could answer questions like "What was the nature of Jesus?" How many adults do you know in the church today that could accurately or even adequately answer such questions? We have become complacent, and we are raising generations of spiritual dunces. Is it any wonder that people wonder how the church can be relevant in the modern world when all they grew up doing in church was coloring pictures and eating animal crackers?

I owe something of a debt of gratitude to my friend Marcus for recommending another blog to me: Stuff Christians Like. It's a really awesome site that talks about stuff that we have all seen in the church which is just a little rediculous. For instance, "#22. Mixing sign language and music." or "#80. Fixing things with mo' prayer or mo' bible." It's a hilarious look at some of the stuff that defines Christian culture in America, and while I don't always agree with everything the guy says, he's really great at showing how much we go out of our way to do things the "churchy" way. Whether or not you are a Christian, I highly recommend it. Seriously, read it. Like now.

Fundraising update: I'm almost there with the Kenya giving. Last count was at $4,070 of $4,725! I've also been working on my Case for the Internship, which is basically the little presentation I plan on giving to people who are thinking about supporting me for next year but want to know about what I'll actually be doing. So far I don't have any monthly contributions, but I have one-time gifts currently totalling $900. Very cool! Keep praying for me as I try to reach the support goals for both programs, and that I'll be ready for both experiences as the time for them approaches. Also, thanks everyone for your support, both money and prayers! I really appreciate it, and I'm sure God will bless you for them.