a dose of encouragment . . .

. . . for all you moms out there:

http://www.gypsyink.com/2012/05/a-letter-to-kate/

http://rachelheldevans.com/leena-tankersley-fantasies-fog

Beautifully written, and so true.

Blessings!

Carmen

on being a ripe mom . . .

The kids all climbed in bed with us this morning and watched while I opened their carefully-wrapped gifts: a butterfly pin and a tiny clay pot from Emma (age 6), a rock painted to look like a lady bug and a hand print from Easton (age 4), a picture frame for the kids' artwork from Danny, and a card full of coupons from Eliana (age 11). Eliana's coupons had me in stitches. Does she know her mom or what?

• I'll bake you brownies for your study carrel.
• You can force me to help you with your dissertation.
• I will clean up your desk (presumably after I eat the brownies).
• I'll give you a free lecture.
• You can force me to read your "thesus".
• I'll write you a commentary for free! (This, she figured, would be cheaper than buying me one.)

I'm eager to think of a way that Eliana can help with my dissertation. Perhaps helping me pack and move my books into my larger study carrel will be just the thing. I'll get an upgrade later this summer with more shelf and desk space. But meanwhile, my kids are bringing lots of joy to the journey.

Emma wrote an acrostic poem using the letters of my name in honor of Mother's Day.

Creative
Artistic
Ripe (Emma tells me this is much better than being rotten. 
         I trust she does not mean ripe as in "ripe old age" . . .)
Mousy (And this, apparently, means I slowly tell my kids what to do,
             which seems very unlikely, but it does, in fact, start with the letter "m,"
             which is the main thing.)
Encourager
Nice

Another of her "pomes" goes like this:

roses are red
vilot are blue
evreyone loves you
lu! lu! lu!

I'm such a ripe mom, in fact, that this week I took the kids on a spontaneous field trip to Blanchard Hall with Flat Stanley, who was mailed to Emma by a friend in North Carolina.  

 We ate snack together and the kids did their homework, and then we explored all the fun staircases, round rooms, and odd windows in the 140-year-old building that houses Wheaton's top administrators and is named after the school's founder.

I showed them the room where I had my proposal defense last month, and we peeked out of a round window in the main tower to get a view of the Billy Graham Center, where my classes are held. As you can see, we took lots of pictures along the way to document Flat Stanley's historic visit to Blanchard Hall. We'll send pictures back to Emma's friend, Logan.

It's great having places like this just a few steps from our front door, and having children to explore them with me! I am a happy mother indeed.

how to eat an elephant

divide and conquer . . . one bite at a time

(Confession time) I'm hyperventilating in my study carrel, looking at all that must be done this summer to stay on track in my doctoral program. You may not be a doctoral student, but I wager you have too much to do and not enough time, just like me. And if not, you  might be glad just to know that I get stressed, too. A dear friend just sent me this note:

I hate to say it, but I'm glad to hear you struggle with getting stressed too :) You usually seem so calm to me and like things are very under control. So it's good to know you are normal :) But I hope you can relax and know that everything will get done somehow, and know the Lord is sovereign over everything, including your time! I am trying to learn this myself.

A great reminder. If God called me here (and he did!), then he will see me through.

I've spent the whole morning taking stock of what I need to do, prioritizing, counting days, and dividing it all out. Winging it is not going to work very well. I need to know exactly what I must do today so that I can fit it all in. Knowing what I have to do will also (theoretically) keep me from being stressed about how much more there is to do. Better to let tomorrow worry about itself.

What, you ask, could be so daunting?

• learning to read French (and read 80 pages of French articles for my dissertation)
• reading 240 pages in German (for my dissertation)
• reading 2755 pages (for a fall seminar and from the comprehensive reading list)
• skimming 24 other books from the comprehensive reading list
• researching and writing one full chapter of my dissertation and part of another (about 60 pages total)
• taking a 3-week class at Notre Dame (I don't have a syllabus yet, so I don't know how much more work that will add)
• reading through the entire Bible, finding relevant texts for my dissertation

Too much for one summer? I'm inclined to agree with you, but all I can do is try.

So, for the month of May I will attempt to . . .

• write the partial chapter of my dissertation (10 pages)
• do 2 lessons a day from my French book
• read 33 pages a day from my current Comps book
• read 15 chapters a day from the Bible
• translate 3 pages a day of German
• skim 6 books
• and do as much reading as possible for Notre Dame (when I find out what it is)

That almost sounds relaxing.

After all, no one could eat an elephant in one sitting. But if it's cut into chunks and eaten one bite at a time, it might even be nourishing!

May you have a nourishing summer. Don't try to do it all at once. It'll kill you! (It almost did me.)

divide and conquer . . . one bite at a time

Oh . . . and if anyone wants to join me on the Bible read-through this summer, click here for the checklist I'm using to pace myself. Let me know if you're on board!

do you have highlights?

At a recent family meeting, Danny tried something new. "In a minute," he told us. "I'm going to ask each of you to share the highlight and lowlight of your week. So be thinking about what you want to share with the rest of us." (Stay tuned and I'll share mine.)

But Easton (almost 4) couldn't wait a minute. He needed to share right now. "I have a high light!" he exclaimed. We all waited to hear what he had to say. "I can reach it if I climb up on Emma's ladder, and then my room's not dark anymore!" As we all giggled he added, "I have another high light in my closet, but I can reach it if I stand on my bed."

My highlight yesterday was watching Easton check out the latest addition to our family library, the Zondervan Illustrated Bible Background Commentary on the Old Testament, edited by John Walton. A beautiful set! Even Easton thought it was cool. He pointed to every map, asking, "Is this where we live?" Then he found lots of other pictures and kept asking, "Is this from 'Prince of Egypt'?" (My answer was yes.) He did eventually go back to his Thomas the Tank Engine catalog, which is even cooler. But I was delighted to see how much he liked these commentaries!

Commercial break: Check out this fun promo video Dr. Walton sent me yesterday. If you come to ETS or SBL this November you'll be able to buy a set at 50% off (which is what I did at the regional ETS meeting last month). The set takes you through the entire Old Testament, offering insights into the cultural and historical background that can help you understand each chapter.


My highlight today was finishing the last of my 5000+ pages of required reading for the semester. Yahoo!
One more paper to write and I will officially be done with my first year of doctoral study. {brief pause to celebrate} Then I can dive into my summer projects (you guessed it ... read, read, read, and learn French, take a class at Notre Dame, read through the whole Bible, and write my first chapter).

All this reading is giving me highlights of another kind ... long gray ones. They must be a sign of my increasing wisdom (the gray matter is leaking out, right?). I can tell I'm getting smarter because every day that passes I feel like I know less than I did the day before. With every new thing I learn I realize how much more there is to know. Very. Humbling.

So how about you? Do you have any highlights?

a rescue of Titanic proportions

All three of our kids are fascinated by the story of the Titanic.

Exactly 100 years ago today, in the wee hours of the morning, a few hundred people huddled together in a handful of lifeboats, shivering from the cold, lost at sea. The massive monument to human pride and modern progress sank fathoms beneath them and settled on the ocean floor, a giant tomb for those unable to escape. Hope of survival faded with each passing hour.

But rescue came. As dawn broke the Carpathia sliced through the icy waters toward the desperate travelers, and all at once hope was reborn. When the ship caught sight of the bobbing lifeboats there was no question that every single person in the lifeboats would be saved. But the process of lifting each one to safety took hours. One by one they were hoisted by ropes to the deck of the Carpathia where they could be fed and clothed and given a place to rest. When all were aboard, the ship turned back and brought the travelers to terra firma. I can only imagine the joy and relief and sorrow that ensued.

100 years later, we are in a similar predicament. Spiritually, the human race is lost at sea, unable to make it to safety on our own. Our lifeboats are ill-suited for ocean travel. Human pride has failed us, and we depend completely on a rescue from outside ourselves. But hope is not lost! A rescue has been sent. Jesus Christ was sent to lift each one of us to safety. To refuse that rescue is utter foolishness, but the choice is up to us. Will we climb aboard the good ship grace?

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast." Ephesians 2:8–9


Faith is admitting that we can never make it ashore on own own, grabbing hold of the ropes that are being lowered to us, and allowing Jesus to lift us to safety. I hope that you can say along with the author of Hebrews,

"We do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved." Hebrews 10:39

a milestone

Blanchard Hall from the Billy Graham Center

Yesterday afternoon was a significant milestone in our time at Wheaton. I took my place at the head of a looooong table on the fourth floor of Blanchard Hall (a civil-war era castle), flanked by seasoned professors and fellow PhD students, 21 in all. We were gathered to discuss the dissertation proposal I submitted last week. First I had a few minutes to tell why I had chosen this topic, then the faculty questioned me for about 30 minutes. I anticipated some of their questions, but some took me by surprise. Thankfully, the professors were gracious. When it was all over there was no blood on the floor. The faculty asked us to leave while they discussed my proposal among themselves. When we returned to the room Dr. Treier shook my hand and offered his congratulations. My proposal was accepted with only a few (very) minor revisions! Immediately following my defense, my colleague Austin took my place at the head of the table and successfully defended his proposal. Now both of us are cleared to begin the biggest research and writing project of our lives – some 300 pages spanning the next 2 or 3 years.

Danny and I are grateful to have this hurdle behind us. While I still have another year of classes, an increasing amount of my time will now be spent on this research and writing project. We have three hurdles remaining: finishing coursework, finishing comprehensive reading of the field, and defending the dissertation. We trust that God's grace will sustain us through each of these challenges. His faithfulness has already been so evident, and we're marveling at his rich blessings towards us.

Ironically the defense of my masters thesis at Gordon-Conwell took place exactly one year ago, on April 11, 2011. Will I be able to defend my dissertation two years from now on April 11, 2014? Only time will tell.

is the Bible just like any other book?

Or are there distinctively Christian ways of reading Scripture?

Todd Billings thinks so. His book is a great introduction to the theological interpretation of Scripture. According to Billings, "Something much bigger is going on in receiving, understanding, and believing the word of God than human linguistic understanding" (3). Later he explains, "Through Scripture, the Spirit addresses all of God's people, not just the original hearers" (61). Not only are we addressed, but we are invited to participate in the drama of God's action in the world. The process of interpreting Scripture is not complete until we are changed. He says, "Revelation brings not only knowledge of God but fellowship in and with the triune God, a saving fellowship that transforms believers ever deeper into Christ's image as Christ's body" (198). This fellowship extends not just vertically (with God), but also horizontally, as we are formed into a community of God-followers. This community transcends space and time, as we join those who have read Scripture in the centuries before us and in cultures around the world. Together we are transformed.

In answer to our opening question, Billings concludes, "While there are important practices of reading that apply to nonbiblical books as well as to Scripture, ultimately we should not read Scripture as we read other books. We should read it in prayer, memorize it, speak and sing it with the congregation in worship—worship that delights in telling and tasting the story of God's saving work in Christ, accessed through Scripture. We should come to Scripture, as we do to worship, with an expectation of meeting the mysterious triune God, with the prayer that we would grow in our love of God and our neighbor—becoming more like Jesus Christ" (224, emphasis mine).

Billings was here on Wheaton's campus in December serving as the outside reader for the dissertation defense of a fellow student. I'm glad to have had an opportunity to read his book. His vision of the promise of theological interpretation is coherent, compelling, and accessible to a wide range of readers. If you've been wondering what it should look like when Christians read the Bible, this book is for you!