Questions (and answers)

I am going away for the weekend (not to a country north of us as I had planned at one point).  With time being short, I’ve been responding to a few emails and thought that a few questions I’ve been asked might be of more general interest. 

Are you still planning on moving to Dallas in August?  If you are down here in southern California for a while before you leave for Texas I would love to be able to get together even if it is just for coffee. 

We move to Dallas in July. We ‘ll be flying straight there. Hopefully I ‘ll make it out to California some time in the next year.

It’s a bit strange to hear that you’re just now interviewing with the DTS faculty, but I suppose I don’t know the half of it. 

The DTS interview is a normal part of the process.  I’m actually applying to start the PhD program in January, which gives me time to finish the ThM and do a number of other things (like pick a dissertation topic, start the Bible arguments, get moved into a new country).  I ‘ll have an oral exam in person after passing the written exam.   In the email notifying acceptance a few days ago, they made it clear that the oral exam had to be in person.  I told Kelli that that must be b/c they want to see you in person at least one time before they accept you.  And then I said, I’ve had 3-week examinations for many years now, so they should know what they ‘re getting! (if I’m not qualified to be their student, I’d have to wonder if I’m qualified to be their teacher!)

How is Luke doing? 

Well, it depends upon the day. Yesterday he smashed his (new) watch into pieces at school. It’s hard to understand him; that’s our problem. He just doesn’t make sense. He does things that he doesn’t like and that are bad for him and others. Not all the time, but too many times.

Have you been able to get all the traveling in you wanted to?  I mean of course there is always more places you want to go, but you mentioned a checklist of places you wanted to go before you leave, how many places do you have left? 

Yes, I still have the checklist and it’s actually growing longer, not shorter! For example, it’s Travel/Study Break now and I’m going with some students for 3 days to the Negev. I had about 5 places on my list. But in researching it some more, I found about 20 places I want to go. I ‘ll hit about 2-3 places that were originally on the list and 10 or so others. But the list will end up longer than before! Israel is just so full of stuff, it is amazing.

A friend (also a student; is it ok if a student is a friend?)  just emailed and told me to read point #4 on Gunner’s blog because it is fantastic. 

I agree.

What specifically makes you say that you’re doing what you were made to do?  Why a professor instead of a pastor or something else?

I wrote a long answer to this one, but I’d need to refine it a bit more before posting it.

Here’s a cute picture of Mark and Toby.