James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
To those interested who are dispersed abroad: Greetings.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
One of the great things about receiving my newsletter is that you get
whatever random fact I happen to have most recently discovered. In this
case, that the earth travels in its orbit around the sun at about
29.17km/s. So when the earth has travelled another fifteen and a half
million kilometers (that's not just a wild number I threw out by the way),
I will have completed my last exam. However, when I calculate that I
realise that there are some slightly bigger things at play than my exams.
So yes, I have written my first exam (yesterday) it was Philosophy and I
think it went alright. Philosophy has been one of the courses that I've
enjoyed the most over this last semester. Next week I have three more
exams: Monday brings Doctrine of Holy Spirit and Salvation; Wednesday,
African Church History and Friday, Jesus and the Gospels. Somehow I
managed to hand in all my assignments over the last month of craziness
though I wish I'd had more time to digest and engage in some of them we
were rushing towards exams (at 29.17km/s) though, so I think everyone was
just churning them out.
I feel like there is a war in my mind. Living there would be living in
occupied territory (though something new invades at the end of every
assignment or exam), when nothing is there it descends into civil war.
Rest is strictly rationed and the dregs of motivation can only be
scrounged from dodgy parts of town.
To keep myself sane I have done some reading (The Curious Incident of the
Dog in the Night-Time, The Great Divorce and a bit more of the Hobbit, The
Three Musketeers, Introduction to Covenant Theology and Exegetical
Fallacies). Writing that parenthesis, I feel I should just say that in the
last four, I've only read the first two - the others I'm working through
slowly and read when my brain rebels from taking in any more information.
Thank you very much for the prayers, as I've said; I handed everything in.
There has also been significant progress regarding next year's
accomodation; I'll be staying with one of the other guys doing honours
whose been in res with me since 1st year. We're moving into another
student's flat because he's graduating with us this year and moving to
Rondebosch. This takes off quite a bit of pressure.
I'm still dreading the coming exams though. Please have me in your prayers
for this last week. I can't believe it's graduation so soon, I didn't even
realise that it was our last day of college until it was nearly over.
Diligence, motivation and perseverance are what I need now to make it
through the last stretch. Considering the way I started this email though,
please also pray that if not while I'm writing, at the very least after
I'm finished, my perspective would be broadened from the present inward
looking assignment to assignment type survival thing that's going on right
now. I will leave you with a quote that I found while reading for my
Isaiah assignment (in the preface of Alec Motyer's IVP Isaiah commentary):
As I look back now, and particularly over the intensive activity of the
last three years, there rises unbidden the picture of a very small mouse
nibbling heroically at a very large cheese. Indeed it is no picture but a
reality, and now that all is at last done, like Reepicheep of Narnia
(though, please God, without his endearing bumptiousness), I too lay my
sword at the feet of him who alone is worthy of all praise, the Servant of
the Lord, the reigning King and the coming Anointed Conqueror, Jesus
Christ our Lord.
In Christ,
James Cuénod
--
James, a bondslave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.
http://www.rekindle.co.za
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