To say that these last few months have been transitory would be to douse my emotions in a cerebral wash and to uncomplicate the matter. There have been great joys: getting married to my best friend and beginning the process of conquering life by twos, settling in to a wonderful liberalesqueartsy Mennonite Church (Lombard Mennonite Church), camping in !rural! Illinois, and getting to know people in the Wheaton graduate program. Yet, it has also been a time of great transition and some challenge: It has been difficult being away from our families and aways from the familiarity of Ohio, much more difficult than I anticipated. Also, it has been a bit more difficult to keep up the energy to keep plowing through the Academic Field.
Wheaton is unlike Malone in many ways, and I have found myself missing the relationships I had with faculty and students while I was there.
In a sense, I am still trying to get grounded here and develop a new community and a new purpose.
I am learning of my need to rely on God more, of the spiritual nature of the work I am entering into. I am wrestling with how to empathize with people's suffering in an authentic way, as Jesus would have us do. I am realizing my own weak points and my own brokenness as I have been able to examine myself before working with others who are in need of help.
These are many of the thoughts that are swirling around in my head, and I will touch on these themes in a more coherent manner as I proceed to blog more regularly (most likely once a week).
Anyhow, I hope all of my friends in the Cyber Diaspora are doing well, and that we can harness this ecommunication thing to foster community from a far.
I.
