Protecting the Family

Making the Home Network Safer

Who can forget the iconic sound of a 56k modem as it completed its handshake protocol;  the virtual on-ramp to the digital superhighway known as the internet. It’s amazing to think how much the internet has changed our lives over the past two-plus decades.  But for all the wonderful advancements the internet provides us daily, it also has a dark and dangerous side.  Just under the surface of any search engine through the keystroke pitter-patter of search terms, a vast ocean of pornographic sites set their fishing lines; ready to snag its innocent, curious, naïve, addicted, or defiled victims.

As the father of four young boys racing full speed into or towards their teen years, I’ve struggled with how to protect my kids from this virtual cancer of depravity.  And if I’m being honest, how to protect myself from lure and temptation of an empty pleasure which only leaves me hurting in my shame and guilt; deceptively stealing away from me the joy and sufficiency of God’s grace.  Well, after many days, weeks, and months of trying different solutions, I’ve discovered a way to easily protect my family and my home from this evil and it’s something I feel is worth sharing so read on!

And This is Why We Audit

Epic Faceplant

Greek has been a fickle friend this semester.  Sometimes, I think, "I got this."  And then other times my brain breaks and starts leaking out of the bottom of my shoes.  I just wrapped up my sixth quiz of the semester and I'm still feeling the pain from the epic faceplant I just brilliantly executed.  I managed an impressive 27 out of 98 (although my final score will probably be in the neighborhood of 40).  It's times like this that I remind myself that this is exactly why I choose to audit this course.

I mentioned that I struggle to pick up languages in general, and this is true.  But with this course, I just feel like I'm about two weeks behind in my understanding.  I mean it takes about two weeks for the learning to settle into a firm-ish knowledge.  So while we're just wrapping up chapter 18 in Mounce's "Basics of Biblical Greek", I'm just getting comfortable with chapter 14.  And this is despite studying just about every day.

Point is, it's not so much that the language is difficult.  There is just so much to learn and remember that I find it takes a while to sear into my memory.

I Miss Being Sick

Being Reminded of the Important Things

Even though I’m only auditing a course this semester at DTS, I’m still required to attend chapel sessions.  It seems far too easy sometimes to simply treat this as another tick-in-the-box exercise that is common in academia.  But every now and then, I stumble upon a message that deeply moves me and reminds me of the purpose of my education, and more importantly, my life.  As the kids scampered off to their Saturday morning activities, I watched a service by Michael Easley that struck me in such a way.  But not in the way you might think, I actually reflected on the fact that I miss my pain.  

Getting My Greek On

Auditing Greek

Alright, we're a couple of weeks into this Fall semester where I'm auditing first-semester Greek.  Things are going fine so far but I've already experienced the normal ups and downs of studying a language.  After crushing my first quiz, I got a bit overconfident and was brutally humbled on my second quiz.  But a big exam later this week should really give me a sense of if I'm on the right track or not.

Needless to say, any language course requires a tremendous amount of time and discipline to stay on top of the learning.  So it's been a solid hour or two most days (especially after the second quiz).  Anyway, I'm starting to get a handle on things and I find Koine Greek to be very technical which is just AOK with me.  So I'm sure I'll have more to write next week but now it's time to get back to studying noun and adjective forms! 

ST104OL - Critical Review

ST104OL - Summer's Unfinished Business

 

It took a little while to get over my jetlag after a nice little family holiday in August, but now I'm home and getting back into the groove of a new school year for the kids.  I realized though, that I had a little unfinished business in posting a critical review of my ST104 summer class.  So with the kids tucked neatly into bed this evening, I've got a little time to share some of my thoughts on the course and how things went.

Hanging in There

Decision Update

Just a quick update today.  I've completed all my semester work for ST104OL Soteriology and I'm getting ready to head home for the first time in years to take a little time off.  Before heading out though, I thought I'd share that I've made a decision with the assistance of the kind staff at DTS.  Rather than withdrawing at this time, I'm going to audit a course this Fall to buy myself some time to see if I can make things work moving forward.  Still not sure what's on the horizon, but at least there's still hope.

What will I be auditing?  Well, I can't audit any course that I might end up taking as part of my degree.  So I've decided to go ahead and audit NT101OL New Testament Greek.  Basically, I'm terrible with languages, so I figure this will give me an opportunity to gain some skills I wish I had, without having to stress out over being - right, terrible with languages.  And in case you think I'm being overly hard on myself; I've been living in Poland for ten years now and I still hardly speak a lick of Polish...

Stay tuned, I'll be posting my ST104OL recap shortly after the final grades are posted.  Really couldn't say how I did in the course as much of the final grade rests on the last two assignments I submitted.  I did OK on the final exam with an 88 after answering 3 questions wrong.  I had a facepalm moment as one of the answers I got wrong was from a passage I actually taught on a few weeks back.  I think I mentioned how much I hate taking tests - yeah, it's the little details that getcha.  So look for that debrief in a week or so.

At A Crossroads

The Tough Decisions

As I approach the end of my summer semester in ST104 Soteriology I find myself at a crossroads and faced with a very difficult decision.  If you've followed at all the story of my seminary education at DTS, splotchy as my updates have been, you know that I've endured a lot over the past couple of years.  Life changes, health changes, work changes, and everything in between have made my pursuit of a seminary education challenging to say the least. And now it's time for me to make some difficult decisions.

While my spirit is willing to continue to make the necessary sacrifices to see my studies through, my pockets are empty.  I've just run out of the green needed to pay the bills.  I'm having some conversations to consider my options and I've not given up hope yet, but the truth is, it doesn't look good.  That said, whether I find the means to pay for school and continue or not, I know this effort will not have been in vain.

What I've learned in the short time I've been at DTS has already had a profound impact on my life.  I know this is by God's design and according to His will.  And what I've learned I've also shared, and will continue to do so with those around me; in my church, in my community, and at my work.  While the journey may look different for me soon, it will by no means be over.  I'm sure I'll have more to write on this soon as the picture becomes more clear.

But for now I'll continue to grind through the final weeks of my current course.  You know I was really looking forward to taking this class, and I can tell you that I have not been disappointed.  In the shorter summer schedule it's been a little more challenging, but it's been great and I look forward to sharing a lot more about what I've learned very soon.

This Is My Story

Evangelistic Testimony

I am generally opposed to sharing my work for my classes on this blog.  It's not in any way that I'm ashamed or that I'm trying to hide what I'm doing.  But I do so for two primary reasons; First, many of my assignments have a specific context within my classes which is important to the actual learning.  If I were to post my work, it might somehow spoil the experience of a student and detract from their learning.  Second, obviously, there is always the concern surrounding the temptation of plagiarism.  However, my story is unique to me, so I don't see the harm in sharing it.  With a few minor edits, this is my submission for my PM102OL assignment to write my evangelistic testimony.

 

PM101OL - Critical Review

PM101OL - Highlights and Lowlights

The final grade was posted a couple days ago for PM101OL which means it's time to reflect on how things went in the course.  So I'll offer a critical review of the class and my performance throughout.  As with any endeavor, there were things that were done well, and things that could have been done better.  Without pulling any punches, here are my highlights and lowlights.

PM102OL - Critical Review

PM102OL - Highlights and Lowlights

The final grade was posted a couple days ago for PM102OL which means it's time to reflect on how things went in the course.  So I'll offer a critical review of the class and my performance throughout.  As with any endeavor, there were things that were done well, and things that could have been done better.  Without pulling any punches, here are my highlights and lowlights.

All Over but the Cryin'

Another Semester in the Books

Well, it was a hard sprint to the end of the semester and plenty of Coke Zero was consumed over a number of sleepless nights.  But all projects and papers have been turned in and it's all over by the cryin'.  Right now I'm just waiting on my final grades and then I'll post my course reviews.  This was a tough semester, but I'm generally pleased how everything went.  Stay tuned as I'll be posting more in the coming days.  Now I'm gonna get back to bed...

Controlled Chaos

Too Busy is a Real Thing

With a little more than a month remaining in the semester, I thought it would be good to post an update on how things are going.  The best way I can describe how things are at the moment is controlled chaos.  Between changes at work, family needs, church commitments, and school, I've been crazy busy and I'm learning that there is such a thing as being too busy.  There are battles raging for my time and admittedly, I'm not doing as well on these fronts as I could - but you already know this as this is my first post in over a month.  Today I'll share a bit about this and how I plan to get things back on track in my crazy life!

The Pernicious Road to Wrath

 Evidence of God's Wrath in Society Today

I'm still struggling a little bit with the mechanics of my Spiritual Life class (palm meet forehead), but the course material and lessons are really good.  As I was viewing the course video "The Results of Sin" I was really struck by a point Dr. Anderson made while arguing for the case that one result of sin is that we live under the wrath of God.  What really slapped me in the face was his interpretation of the evidence of this in society today.  I had my first, ohhhhhhh, moment of the semester yesterday.  I'm calling it the pernicious road to wrath and I think it might be interesting to continue to reflect on this today.

Spiritual Life and Evangelism

A Tale of Two Classes

I'm a little over a week into the Spring semester and I thought I'd post a little update on what I'm up to.  This semester I'm taking PM101OL Spiritual Life and PM102OL Evangelism.  What is surprising to me right out of the gate is how differently these courses are structured and it is obvious to me that this semester will very much be a tale of two classes.

How Did I Ever Manage without This?

Zotero: The Bibliographic Lifesaver

One of the biggest benefits of taking RS101OL was a small little piece of advice that was given to us during one of the video lectures: that was about using bibliographic software.  I wasn't really up to learning how to use a new software tool this semester but I decided to give Zotero a try.  After using it for a couple of days I honestly had to ask myself, "How did I ever manage without this?"  Zotero was not only easy to use, for me it was a bibliographic lifesaver.

RS101OL - Critical Review

RS101OL - Highlights and Lowlights

The final grade was posted a couple days ago for RS101OL which means it's time to reflect on how things went in the course.  So I'll offer a critical review of the class and my performance throughout.  As with any endeavor, there were things that were done well, and things that could have been done better.  Without pulling any punches, here are my highlights and lowlights.

ST101OL - Critical Review

ST101OL - Highlights and Lowlights

The final grade was posted a couple days ago for ST101OL which means it's time to reflect on how things went in the course.  So I'll offer a critical review of the class and my performance throughout.  As with any endeavor, there were things that were done well, and things that could have been done better.  Without pulling any punches, here are my highlights and lowlights.