Tidbits...

• This has been a crazy week. Two papers and an exam down, I don't know how many more assignments to go before the semester is done - I'm afraid to even look ahead too far. I know that this week I have one huge assignment due in Bible Study Tools where we have to catalogue all of the occurrences of the word "lamb" in the Hebrew, Greek, and English Bibles and then write a 1000-3000 word essay about what we've found. I think there's something like 190 verses in the English translations that have the word "lamb." Next week I have four papers due and I need to have all my materials ready to petition for admittance to the M.Div. program. AAAAAAHHHH..... I keep telling myself: One thing at a time.
• After the craziness of last week and the anticipated craziness of the next two weeks, I decided to take Friday evening off. Carrie and I went to Mishawaka to go shopping. Carrie had some things to pick up so we quickly did those things and then we decided to stop by the mall and just wander. Stepping into that mall felt like stepping into another world and I realized that it has been 8 months since I had been in a real mall! On the one hand I felt incredibly out of touch with that world, but on the other hand it didn't really bother me. Lots could be said about this but I won't get into it now.
• Spring has arrived and the mood on campus has definitely changed. People have pulled out their summer clothes from storage and the Ultimate season has begun. It's amazing to see how people come out of hiding in spring. Spring is a turning point, a season of transition from the cool, dark months of winter to the long anticipated warm days of summer. Though the weather has shifted, not everything felt so fresh and alive this week on campus. We started off the week with another faculty resignation, the 5th person to announce that they are leaving at the end of this academic year. This is a small school and it seems to have been hit hard with 2 faculty retirements, 2 faculty resignations, and the resignation of our president, all in the last six months. We are trying to talk about hope and the opportunities that these types of changes bring, but I can tell that people are starting to get weary. On top of that, it seems as though we have received announcement after announcement this week of major health concerns of students' and faculty's family members. Now, more than ever, we need to be a community of prayer.
  
• On a more positive note, we are heading into reading days the first three days of this week and then the first full week of April is our spring break. Carrie and I are planning on heading up to Manitoba on our break in April and I'm really looking forward to a little time away.