Truth

At the church I have been attending for most of the school year, the college age and young adult Sunday school class I've been going to has been watching a series of videos called "The Truth Project." In the first video, we focused on "What is truth?" And have been talking about different aspects of that in different areas including science, ethics, and history. It has been really interesting and I have noticed I pay more attention to what is and is not true. At the beginning of the semester in my elementary statistics class, I was reading one of the chapters and it made me think a lot. This was the quote.

"Have you ever wondered how we come to know truth? Most college students would agree that finding out what is true about the world, ourselves, and others constitutes a very important activity. A little reflection reveals that much of our time is spent in precisely this way. If we are studying geography, we want to know what is true about the geography of a particular region. Is the region mountainous or flat, agricultural or industrial? If our interest is in studying human beings, we want to know what is true about humans. Do we truly possess a spiritual nature, or are we truly reducible solely to atoms and molecules, as the reductionists Would have it? How do humans think? What happens in the body to produce a sensation or a movement? When I get angry is it true that there is a unique underlying physiological pattern? What is the pattern? Is my true purpose in life to become a teacher? Is it true that animals think? We could go on indefinitely with examples because so much of our lives is spent seeking and acquiring truth" (From the 8th edition of Understanding Statistics in the Behavioral Sciences by Robert R. Pagano).

I love the second half of the last sentence. "So much of our lives is spent seeking and acquiring truth."

I think it's funny that even in the secular world, people realize they need the truth, and it is something that is looked for with eagerness. I am thankful that Jesus is "The way, and the truth and the life" (John 14:6a) and that I have the opportunity to know what is True. I am thankful that everywhere I turn, there is another glimpse into what is True. When I look out my window and see the beauty of the trees, birds, sky, etc. I can't help but wonder how one could think that this world with all its complexities came from a single celled organism or anything else other than God's "big bang" Ya know, "God spoke and bang! It happened." When I spend time in my perception class, it boggles my mind the way our minds work and how incredibly efficient they are. How perfect they are. The way our mind works so well with the rest of our body and is perfect in so many aspects is astounding and I truly do not know how people can "Stand here with You and not be moved by You" (Lifehouse). What it comes down to, I think, is that we see what we want to see and I am so thankful that the One who created me wants to have an intimate relationship with me and has, in so so many ways, made Himself known to me and has shown me that He is the Truth.

Time away

Spring break. What a wonderful idea. I spent time with my family last weekend at a cabin in the mountains. It was really refreshing to slow down and live at a normal speed. I spent Wednesday and Thursday nights in Chattanooga with one of my friends. We left for no particular reason other than to get away and it was nice. Now that I'm home again I am faced to realize that it's almost time to head back to school but I am so thankful for the time I have had to breathe.

Even though I am not particularly excited about going to class next week, I am going to be thankful that I have the opportunity to go back to school next week. There is somebody somewhere who did not live through spring break. There is somebody somewhere who had to withdraw from school over spring break for some reason or another. So instead of being bummed about sitting in class every day, I am going to be thankful instead that I am alive and healthy and have been given the means to attend school and obtain an education.

Home schooled

I was home schooled as were all of my siblings. I didn't particularly enjoy or dislike being home schooled; it was what it was. However hindsight is 20/20, I guess because now I am ridiculously thankful I was. Something terrible happened today that it almost made me want to home school MY kids if I ever have any. I have always said I never would but the more people I run into, the better it sounds. For you to fully understand what pushed me into this reality, I need to tell a story.

I'm taking speech/debate this semester. I kind of hate it because I hate talking to people I don't know and I hate talking to groups of people and I really hate talking to groups of people I don't know. That fact that I dislike it is not important to the story though. Today was my day to debate in our parliamentary debates. Basically, it's an off the cuff thing, we get paired with somebody else and then argue against another group. The topic was "Pennies are useless forms of currency." When my partner and I were coming up with reasons why the penny is useless, she asked me who was on the penny. I told her I was pretty sure it was Abraham Lincoln. Her response? Brace yourself...

"What, was he like the first president or something?"

I do not kid. It was all I could do not to drop my jaw. I replied that no, he was the 16th president.

She then said, "Oh, I don't really do the history thing." Ya think!?