Welcome Back!

So, I have not been blogging as regularly as I would like, and that situation is ending now. I went on vacation (it was great, thanks for asking) and school started back up immediately after we got home.

My class schedule this semester is not as grueling as this summer, but it is tough. I am taking 5 classes on campus and doing an independent study... so 6 classes in total. 

One class, the professor herself (whom I've taken before) told me I could almost sleep through it and get an A (always nice to hear from your professor... but it is a required class for my minor so I'll suffer through an easy A). I am taking a class on Ancient Greece from a guy who studied at Oxford and is notoriously nit-picky. I am going to have to work hard in that one. Medieval Britain is a class that I think I will do well in but I am still trying to figure out the professor so I know how to write for her. My class on the Politics of Britain and Ireland (Murph I'm sure is proud that I am learning about his homeland) seems like it won't be difficult but it will be time consuming with readings and studying for the exams. Plus, the professor in that class is extremely strict and has the toughest grading scale I've ever experienced (96-100=A, 91-95=A-, 86-90=B, etc.). My class on Love and Romance in the Middle Ages is interesting and enjoyable... plus I have already read most of the books in other classes and the theological stuff is familiar to me as well. My independent study is with a professor that I've gotten to know as a friend. He is unbelievably intelligent (7 Master's Degrees and he will get his Doctorate this year despite going blind in the past 2 years), and he is also an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church. We agree on many things theologically (although we do differ on some things as well), and he has agreed to teach me Biblical Greek this semester and next.

The great thing about the independent study is that it will put me ahead when I head off to seminary next year. It will allow me to pursue further study in Greek while in seminary and to take more difficult classes in more specific areas as well. Plus we get to move at our own pace (which, thankfully, is faster than a typical class of 30 or 40 students).

Overall, this semester will be challenging but good. I see no reason I can't succeed in all of my classes, but one of the lessons I am beginning to grasp in my life is that I must always work as hard as possible. Why do something if you aren't going to do it the whole way?