Quote

I heard this quote from my friend Brian Mavis. When he first told me, I thought, "how true it is." Even now, I am taken back by the reality of it.

"In the beginning the church was a fellowship of men and women centering on the living Christ. Then the church moved to Greece where it became a philosophy. Then it moved to Rome where it became an institution. Next, it moved to Europe, where it became a culture. And, finally, it moved to America where it became an enterprise."
Richard Halverson, former chaplain of the United States Senate
- Quoted in E. Glenn Wagner, Ph.D,
The Awesome Power of Shared Beliefs,
(Dallas: Word Publishing, 1995)

A Door Closed

Although I didn't want to get an MA at Biola, I was secretly willing to attend if it meant moving forward to the goal of an MA in Philosophy, regardless of it's reputation. However, the door closed yesterday, when I discovered that I was too late to apply for this fall. (Like every other university.) I'm actually relieved.

Second BA, here I come.

Double Punch

Thursday I received two letters; one from USC, the other from Loyola. Both started with the lovely phrase, "We regret to inform you..." That's all I needed to give a quick flick of the wrist, making the paper soar like a badly crafted airplane. It looks like the hopes of a fall semester have vanished. I've been working on this for over a year. Preparing, planning, taking tests and filling out forms now seems like wasted time. Who knows. I'm trying to hear the voice of Jesus in this. I emailed my professors about it, and they sent there condolences, except for Byron, he suggested I try the MA in Philo. of Religion & Ethics at Biola, and not do the second BA thing. I didn't want to do the religious institution thing, but I also want to move forward, and not back to a second BA. We'll see. I'm trying to keep my ears open.

Ouch...

I'm forcing myself to write this down. Mostly because I want to look back at it and laugh someday. But I didn't make it to USC's grad school. I haven't been officially notified by mail yet. However, I insisted on knowing, so I kept sending emails to the administrative person in the grad office. The last two went like this. Me: "So, being that you have notified all the applicants who were accepted, and I was not notified, I'm assuming that I did not make it. Is this correct?" Them: "That is correct."

Ouch.

I halfway want to know the numbers: how many applicants? how many made it? what was the cut-off criteria? and other useless info. But now I feel that it would only be pouring calculated salt into an old measured-and-found-lacking wound.

April Fool

We've been had!

On Friday, Joel called and said, "Hey, I'm in town, do you guys want to go out to dinner?" We thought, sure, lets go. But Joel had also called Matt & Jess, and Dave & Shari. We got to dinner but Joel wasn't there. He was still in Boston. April Fools! But we had an nice dinner anyway.