I was in DC last night at Capitol Hill Baptist Church. They held a special event honoring the life of Jonathan Edwards and the guest speaker was...John Piper! Probably about 20 or so PHC students went and it was wonderful. Dr. Piper gave a brief history of the life of Edwards and then expounded upon his own encounter with the God-glorifying vision in Edwards's theology. The conclusion was the central point in all of Piper's works: God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. He gave five points of application, and here is what I wrote down:

1. To spread the delight of God is our solumn duty. Truth from God produces right and full affections. Our spiritual appitites should not be bound, rather they should be enflamed. The object of our delight is infinitely greater than our longings.

2. It is hypocracy to make much of God only because He makes much of us.

3. The gospel is clarified: God is made able to be enjoyed by us. He is the treasure that we seek.

4. Christ died in order that we might come into God's presence to enjoy Him.

5. Love is doing whatever possible to enthrall people with the ultimate satisfaction of their souls, namely God.

6. Heaven is eternally enjoying God and that which displays God.

His presentation was compelling and inspiring. I especially appreciated two other points he made:

1. We should not hinder the pursuit of intellectual knowledge of God in order to maintain a level of mystery in our worship. Rather, diving into the depths of God's truth will enliven and enrich both our ability to and enjoyment of worship.

2. Seeking to find pleasure in God alone is an ongoing struggle. We must fight to make Him central to our affections.

Needless to say, I had a wonderful evening. It was the first time since I came to PHC that I went into DC and on the way to and from, I could see the Capitol building and some of the monuments. I was excited to realize how close I live to our nation's capital!

School has been great. I had my first Latin exam yesterday and I think I did well. This afternoon is the first Theology exam, so I'll be studying all morning. The sermon on Jonathan Edwards last night was very timely and not just because of Theology class. In US History, our next topic of study is the Great Awakening. Very apropos, wouldn't you say?

My old laptop was found in the San Diego airport lost & found department. My brother had borrowed it this summer to vacation in SD and apparently left it in the food court at the airport. It's been sitting in lost & found for something like 3 months, and they finally looked at the tag and called my house. Pretty weird.

This weekend I might be helping at the Bush/Cheney 2004 campaign and will probably start working on some of the papers that are due in the next month or so. I'm also looking forward to reading Right Behind and Supergeddon, parodies of the Left Behind series written by Nathan Wilson. They are apparently hilarious. Thanks for visiting and reading!

Last Monday night, I played ultimate frisbee with my wing against another wing. We lost, but it was a close game. I am really out of shape and after playing non-stop for about an hour I was really worn out. The next day I was fine, but Tuesday evening my body decided to rebel. Clogged sinuses, overall weakness, and a fever came over me which made the next few days miserable. My need for rest overrode my need to study, so I got a little behind. I'm still trying to catch up and still recovering.

Meanwhile, the September 11 anniversary rolled around and the college had a classy memorial service. It included a montage of news footage, speeches by a Congressman and a Pentagon official, patriotic somber music, and candlelight. I was moved to tears and reminded of that dark day two years ago. 

I got my Latin and Biology quiz results back and was happy with my work. I had a quiz in History on Friday that occupied much of my study time on Thursday. It went pretty well; I think I missed one or two questions. Yesterday I worked mainly on Biology, studying for the exam tomorrow. It it proported to be the hardest Bio exam of the semester, and I'm not surprised considering the amount of information we are required to know.

Friday and Saturday night, we watched the CleanFilms version of Gladiator. It was a great film, although the edited DVD was altered to the point that I could discern a loss in quality. I decided to buy the DVD set for the first season of 24, and it arrived late last week. I'm introducing my roommates to this awesome show and probably watching the first episode tonight. I can't wait until season three starts (Oct. 28), it will be a great birthday present I'm sure.

Church was good this afternoon. Pastor Butterfield preached on Joseph out of Genesis 37 and showed how he was a picture of Christ. The message was to forgive others and rejoice when we encounger suffering for righteousness. 

I should go get ready for AWANA this evening. I just realized that I forgot to read the required books for Research & Writing which is at 8am tomorrow morning. Ooops...I guess I'll have to get up early and skim.

School has been going very well. I have been learning a lot, especially in Latin and Biology. History has been good as well. Last night, I went over to the house of my advisor, Dr. Gruenke, with her other advisees for dinner. We had some good conversations. I went to church this afternoon at the Reformed Presbyterian church again. The message was on the importance of evangelism. It was encouraging as well as challenging. This evening I worked at AWANA with 8-9 year old boys. I'm looking forward to getting to know the guys better and helping them to grow.

I signed up for a free trial with CleanFilms.com, an online DVD subscription service which edits objectionable content out of films. I am looking forward to seeing some movies I've always wanted to see, but didn't because of a scene or two that I didn't want to see.

Now, I need to get to bed early because I have an 8:00 class tomorrow and a Biology quiz to study for in the morning. Good night. :)

Knowledge was pouring into me like a flood last week, but this weekend has been filled with much relaxing. Studies have kept me pretty busy although I recognize that the pace will gradually increase as the semester rolls along. I am enjoying my classes, especially Biology, Theology, and Logic. Latin has been a challenge and somewhat tedious but I think I'm beginning to understand its beauty and value a bit more. History is going to be very interesting as we take apart the origin and founding of America.

Life outside of school is wonderful also. The weather is nice and it rains quite often. My roommates and I are getting along fine and I'm slowly getting to know everyone else. Most of my free time is spent either discussing things with my roommates or watching movies. We just finished watching Star Trek IV, my first real exposure to Star Trek. It was pretty good. I have been taking a nap after lunch during school days and sleeping in on weekends, so I haven't experienced the infamous lack of sleep at PHC as of yet.

I went to a new church yesterday, called Purcellville Reformed Presbyterian. It is certainly different than what I'm used to, but was very good. The worship was simply psalms sung to hymn-like tunes without instrumental accompaniment. What I liked most was the solid expository preaching that delved deep into doctrine while highlighting life application. After the service at 12:30 pm, the attenders all ate lunch together and I got a chance to discuss reformed theology for a bit. Later, I went to the pastor's house where they started a dramatic reading of Pilgrim's Progress. I ate dinner there also. It was very enjoyable and I am thinking seriously of attending this church regularly.

Off to take a walk in the night and possibly in the rain...