Out Of The Starting Gate

We have successfully made it to our second week of school, the students noses are deeply in the Bible and everything is going well! The staff is really excited because the community has bonded quickly and it looks like we are going to have a great year. This past Saturday we took a break from our studies to go on the ESBS Annual Blueberry Picking Trip. The great part was that the weather was beautiful and we got to hike up on a mountain. The bad part was that there weren’t really that many blueberries to be found! We had come a little too late and everyone had snatched them all up.

We have already gone through the books of Philemon, Philippians and we are in the middle of Titus. There have already been some good truths that have been learned about God and about how we have been called to live. Its exciting for me because after last year and going through the program its allowing me to go more in depth with the text.

Next Monday the 29^th, I have my first big lecture on the Background to the New Testament. During the lecture I am going to hopefully be helping the students get into the mind of the people living in the Roman empire in the first century. I am really excited to be teaching this lecture because it was one of my favorites last year!

(Action shot on the mountain)

(Group Shot)

My Summer Roommate

So the summer has come and gone and its finally time for the ESBS to start. I am excited to get this ESBS party started, but it does come with some sadness. I have to part ways with my 3 year old roommate, Anna. I had the pleasure of living with the ESBS director, Tom and his wife Julia for the summer. And I can honestly say that it was a summer that I will never forget!

This past year I felt like I hadn’t done enough playing. I mean I was confined to a room and a computer screen for the most part of 10 months. However, I never thought that this complaint of mine would have been answered by being asked to play from the moment I woke up, until the moment that Anna went to bed. It was an exciting summer of playtime that involved games like “I’m gonna get you!” or “Bear” or anything else that her little mind could come up with. My personal favorite was a game I created which was called “Meditation.” In this game we sat still for a while (and by a while I mean 3-5 seconds). It was nice because I convinced her to play it over and over again.

We even had our own nighttime ritual where we would take some photos on my computer (I have attached them below) and then we would watch Rebecca Black’s “Friday”. This was my favorite part of the summer not only because some of our pictures are amazing, but mostly because she knows every word to Friday. We were just partying, partying YEAHHH!

There were some things that I learned about myself while I hung out with Anna. I realized that my appetite and that of a 3 year old are the same. We both prefer Mac N Cheese and Hotdogs for dinner. (I mean we are just trying as best we can to eat healthy!) We also love playing with bath toys! (Not at the same time though … that’s weird) It was fun to share a bathroom with Anna because I never knew what I was going to find in there. Some days it was an alligator or shark in the shower or a big number 2 left in the toilet for me!

But the biggest thing that I have learned about myself through being with Anna this summer is that at times I lose my childlike faith. That is one of the things that I absolutely love about Anna is that she has that kind of childlike faith in Christ. She already understands the concept that Jesus loves her now and that he always will. (Her prayers at dinner were always the best) She loves reading her Bible stories and she has some that she can tell you by just looking at the pictures. Its amazing to see how God is already working in her life. She really showed me and taught me that I am to have that kind of faith and that I am not going to be able to understand or explain everything about God and to be ok with that. Because in those moments I am to still believe and trust and remain faithful to Christ.

This truly is a summer that I am never going to forget and I am thankful for Tom, Julia, Anna and Luke allowing me to be apart of their family!

Nighttime Photo Shoots:

(^^^ This one is my favorite)

(Thats Julia, my roommate from last year Daniel, and Baby Luke in the back)