The Muddled Middle  by Grace Downing

So, we’re technically not in the exact middle of our senior semester, but mentally, I feel like I’m in the thick of it. If you wonder what we’re feeling like in school right now, here’s a little glimpse into the middle of it all. There is so much reading (The Bible Handbook to Revelation, The Pastoral Epistles, The Believer’s Payday,  and Green Letters) that my brain can’t remember if I was in Revelation or 2 Thessalonians–oh wait, that was last block, we’re in the Pastoral Epistles now. See, all this intake is making me loopy. There’s so much information to sift through (4-6 hours per day). Payton and I take theological ideas out and ruminate for a while. Then it usually gets tossed around the dinner table, and then on toward the yellow-lined notebook–I tore through an entire one in the past 3 weeks. Then, more rummaging through the Bible and lexicons until it comes full circle. Sometimes we’re wrong, sometimes we’re seemingly right, and sometimes it goes on the shelf for future consideration. There is a lot of stuff on my shelf right now.

But, don’t get me wrong it’s good stuff. It’s absolutely necessary if Payton or I presume to one day take the Scriptures to an unreached people group and translate! My Hermeneutics Practicum has probably been the most beneficial of all the courses so far in that it enables me to approach any book of the Bible with a literal, grammatical, and historical interpretation and understand it from the original audience/author’s point of view. We are taking apart the book of James right now. The students do all of the grunt work outside of class and the class time is used for discussion. We have outlined one chapter of James each week. The practice of outlining has already shown fruits in that making book charts for 1 and 2 Thessalonians were much easier. Pray for good sleep so that we can be alert in class, and pray for wisdom as we approach the Word of God daily.

In case you were worried, we don’t always keep our noses in the books. Payton played in a Ping-Pong tournament fundraiser a few weeks ago. I’ve been enjoying futsol and getting plenty of bruises and sometimes even a goal. I sewed a rip-off of my mom’s chiropractor pillow. Payton got sold for the school’s Senior Servant Auction (a fundraiser). We actually took a trip to Chicago with our friends the Cizdziel’s (pronounced “cheese-gel”) for a concert! They had friends in the area, and we were hosted for a few days of music, board games and good food. I put up a few pictures on the blog if you care to have a look.

Blessings,
The Downings!

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