August 2006

Just over a month since my last update! Wow. Time flies when you're having fun!! Well, things continue to go well for us here in Oviedo. Hana is doing a great job teaching geography, and despite the fact that 7th graders can be a handful, she’s still enjoying her job. After school she spends a good amount of time working on some encyclopedia articles that she is co-authoring for Congressional Quarterly’s Encyclopedia of the First Amendment. She’s not a nerd, just a talented researcher.As for me, I’m in my second week of the fall semester. I’ve made some great friends and we often speak of how blessed and privileged we are to be here and to be learning from instructors who know the Bible so well. They all, however, humbly assert that they “are only slightly less confused by God’s Word” than we are. It is clear that the Lord has entrusted them with wisdom and understanding. I do not deserve to be here, to have this opportunity. But, God’s hands are not simply in this, they are all over it. Trusting in that alone, I will work my butt off with excitement. Man may fail, but God never does. Here’s something to think about. One of the things we learned about last week (and will continue to learn about for the next three years) is the Ortho-triangle. It is made up of: Orthodoxy, Orthopraxis, and Orthopathos. Orthodoxy is what we know (from what God has revealed in the Bible and in nature), Orthopraxis is what we do, and Orthopathos is what we feel. Did you know that whether you like it or not, you’re a theologian? Your ideas about who God is, what He does, and what He desires… is your theology. If you are a Christian, you believe the Bible to be God’s authoritative Word to man (and if you’re like me, you believe it to be without error). As Christians we need to ask ourselves, what is our theology built on. Is it based on what I know (from the Bible)? Is it based on what I do? Is it based on how I feel? I think you’ll find that if you really examine your image of God, you’ll find that there is an imbalance. You most likely focus on one or maybe two parts of the triangle. I know I have been. But that is going to change now. The Bible and nature show us that there needs to be a balance. If we all worked toward reaching a balance, would we have so much division in the church? God bless. MjR