Graduate 172: Thanksgiving day break-down
That last post on worship ended up being longer and more unwieldy (and more in need of editing) than I anticipated. I said that I needed to blog more for the good of my soul--that was over a month ago. So what's happened in the intervening weeks? Many things.
One was the Halloween party I attended. I've attached a picture of the mask that I made for the occasion. It was so much fun for me to put that together. For better or worse it's also got me thinking about what sort of mask/head-dress/head-piece I could create for next year. (I have this crazy notion of creating a papier-mache chimera head. That would be quite the challenge.) It feels like the opportunities for me to exercise my more creative side are far to few and infrequent. Some of you may recognize this as a familiar complaint. I'll keep working on it in any case.
During the first week of November, I got to visit with a friend who is now on staff with Ravi Zacharias Ministries. He's going to start taking graduate courses in philosophy from the University of Georgia at Athens. In between catching up on life and sharing with other friends that I hadn't seen in a while, I got to talk a bit about my paper on intentional action, about ontology, epistemology, and modern empiricism.
During the second week of November, I finished new drafts of my Master's paper and Proposition. My advisor was starting to ask questions about what I would like to do my Dissertation on, which is sort of freaking me out. But the important thing is to keep moving through each step of the process.
I got to attend a Men's Retreat with my dad's church which was just a great time. We spent the weekend up at Oak Glen. Tom Kimber of Grace Evangelical Free Church was the speaker and did a phenomenal job bringing out the significance of the different facets of the gospel message. I enjoyed a number of very meaningful and moving conversations with some of the guys there. It was both a challenging and refreshing time.
On the 20th, I joined some of my friends from APU for Family Dinner (a tradition that goes back to my sophomore year of college--it actually may have begun right around Thanksgiving of that year--and has, thankfully, continued). It was great to spend time with so many friends whom I see but rarely since I don't regularly go out to L.A.
On the 21st, about thirty people from my church gathered for the 'second' Focusing Summit (that is the topic of my "Reflection for the Church" postings). Yesterday, I helped two friends move into their first house. Very exciting. And I'm pleased to report that my neck is continuing to do just fine since my injury--also about a month ago. I've been involved, lately, in a Bible study that is going through the book of Ephesians. I have really enjoyed that time and only hope that I can refrain from dominating the conversation completely just because I am so excited about the things that we are talking about.
Part of why I review all this is that it is yet another reminder to me of God's goodness and faithfulness and generosity. It is far too easy to forget just how good things are. Often one of the easiest blessings to overlook--only because it is also often a source of great stress to me--is my enrollment in UCR's graduate philosophy program. It often feels like I'm barely managing to hang on, but, through it all, I am also learning a lot and really am so grateful for all the faculty and graduate students here.
And this is just a list highlighting some of the big things that have come in the last month. There really are so many more things for which I am thankful. It would do no good to begin listing names because that list would just go on and on and on. So I'll wrap up this, sort of last-minute, Thanksgiving blog post by adding just one more thing to the list:
I'm thankful that my first experience of a car break-down (on my own), this morning, went as well as it did. That's right. I left my home in Riverside, driving on the 60 West, to visit my parents and some other relatives, and about a mile from the 15 freeway, my car started to lose power. So I exited the freeway and coasted into the parking lot of a nearby convenience store. Thankfully the highway was fairly clear on this Thanksgiving morning. Traffic was also light on the surface streets so I did not get stuck in the off-ramp or just on the side of the road. My cell phone was working and had plenty of charge. My dad is a Triple-A member. We know a good mechanic. My dad was able to pick me up and our plans for the day were not badly disrupted. The Triple-A tow truck came and did its business without any trouble. So many things to be thankful for. I bought my car, used, at a very low price and, prior to this, did not have any trouble with it for three years. Thankful, thankful, thankful.
It strikes me as amusing and, somehow, appropriate that I should begin Thanksgiving Day with such an inconvenience that actually drew my attention even more strongly to the multitude of things for which I can and should be and am thankful.
It's after 10:00 PM, when I'm posting this, but that's alright. The season of thanksgiving has not ended but is only just beginning, yet again. I wish you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving!
--
God is in this place,
And that reality, seen and understood by the grace of God in Christ Jesus through the work of the Holy Spirit, makes all the difference in the world.
One was the Halloween party I attended. I've attached a picture of the mask that I made for the occasion. It was so much fun for me to put that together. For better or worse it's also got me thinking about what sort of mask/head-dress/head-piece I could create for next year. (I have this crazy notion of creating a papier-mache chimera head. That would be quite the challenge.) It feels like the opportunities for me to exercise my more creative side are far to few and infrequent. Some of you may recognize this as a familiar complaint. I'll keep working on it in any case.During the first week of November, I got to visit with a friend who is now on staff with Ravi Zacharias Ministries. He's going to start taking graduate courses in philosophy from the University of Georgia at Athens. In between catching up on life and sharing with other friends that I hadn't seen in a while, I got to talk a bit about my paper on intentional action, about ontology, epistemology, and modern empiricism.
During the second week of November, I finished new drafts of my Master's paper and Proposition. My advisor was starting to ask questions about what I would like to do my Dissertation on, which is sort of freaking me out. But the important thing is to keep moving through each step of the process.
I got to attend a Men's Retreat with my dad's church which was just a great time. We spent the weekend up at Oak Glen. Tom Kimber of Grace Evangelical Free Church was the speaker and did a phenomenal job bringing out the significance of the different facets of the gospel message. I enjoyed a number of very meaningful and moving conversations with some of the guys there. It was both a challenging and refreshing time.
On the 20th, I joined some of my friends from APU for Family Dinner (a tradition that goes back to my sophomore year of college--it actually may have begun right around Thanksgiving of that year--and has, thankfully, continued). It was great to spend time with so many friends whom I see but rarely since I don't regularly go out to L.A.
On the 21st, about thirty people from my church gathered for the 'second' Focusing Summit (that is the topic of my "Reflection for the Church" postings). Yesterday, I helped two friends move into their first house. Very exciting. And I'm pleased to report that my neck is continuing to do just fine since my injury--also about a month ago. I've been involved, lately, in a Bible study that is going through the book of Ephesians. I have really enjoyed that time and only hope that I can refrain from dominating the conversation completely just because I am so excited about the things that we are talking about.
Part of why I review all this is that it is yet another reminder to me of God's goodness and faithfulness and generosity. It is far too easy to forget just how good things are. Often one of the easiest blessings to overlook--only because it is also often a source of great stress to me--is my enrollment in UCR's graduate philosophy program. It often feels like I'm barely managing to hang on, but, through it all, I am also learning a lot and really am so grateful for all the faculty and graduate students here.
And this is just a list highlighting some of the big things that have come in the last month. There really are so many more things for which I am thankful. It would do no good to begin listing names because that list would just go on and on and on. So I'll wrap up this, sort of last-minute, Thanksgiving blog post by adding just one more thing to the list:
I'm thankful that my first experience of a car break-down (on my own), this morning, went as well as it did. That's right. I left my home in Riverside, driving on the 60 West, to visit my parents and some other relatives, and about a mile from the 15 freeway, my car started to lose power. So I exited the freeway and coasted into the parking lot of a nearby convenience store. Thankfully the highway was fairly clear on this Thanksgiving morning. Traffic was also light on the surface streets so I did not get stuck in the off-ramp or just on the side of the road. My cell phone was working and had plenty of charge. My dad is a Triple-A member. We know a good mechanic. My dad was able to pick me up and our plans for the day were not badly disrupted. The Triple-A tow truck came and did its business without any trouble. So many things to be thankful for. I bought my car, used, at a very low price and, prior to this, did not have any trouble with it for three years. Thankful, thankful, thankful.
It strikes me as amusing and, somehow, appropriate that I should begin Thanksgiving Day with such an inconvenience that actually drew my attention even more strongly to the multitude of things for which I can and should be and am thankful.
It's after 10:00 PM, when I'm posting this, but that's alright. The season of thanksgiving has not ended but is only just beginning, yet again. I wish you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving!
--
God is in this place,
And that reality, seen and understood by the grace of God in Christ Jesus through the work of the Holy Spirit, makes all the difference in the world.
posted by Metaphysician_delta | 10:22 PM
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