Of Endings & Beginnings

Wow!

So much has happened this week.

This past weekend--Sunday, actually--there was a lot of focus for me on the upcoming school year. See, at the start of every school year Southern does a really nice thing by treating all its' employees and their families to a picnic at some fun Chattanooga area attraction. In past years we've gone to Rock City, the Tennessee Aquarium, or the Chattanooga Zoo. This year, Southern took us south of the (Georgia ;D) border to Lake Winnepesaukah Amusement Park in Rossville, Georgia.

It was a lot of fun! We've gone there a few times in years past, so we definitely rode on some old favorites such as the 1916 Carousel, the Antique Cars, plus Mom, Dad, and Alison did a little kiddie roller coaster called the "Wacky Worm". About the craziest thing we all did was ride the flying elephants (see picture)!

Haha, we have too much sense in our brains to ride on all the crazy roller coasters, etc. that whip you around and cause physical and mental injury....but we do have fun doing some of the more low-key stuff! A new thing for us this year was trying the paddle boats; I was quite anxious at first, but after I realized that I had been floating for more than 5 seconds and was still afloat I enjoyed myself quite a lot! Haha, that was so much fun that we actually did it again.

What I think that I enjoyed the most, however, was the picnic supper. It was just so good to see everyone again! Growing up in the "Southern family" for the past six years now, I've really gotten to some of the professors and other employees. Even more so now that I'm a student myself!

So that was a lot of fun. On Monday I had the opportunity to meet with one of my fall semester professors. It went really well, and I learned a lot of good things that will help me do well in his class. Right after that, Mom and I went over the Campus Shop to buy my books for fall, and that was a lot of fun too. It's so exciting all the new classes I'm taking, and it's just been a ton of fun in the past week or two to hang out and have fun with my friends. School year coming on = more social opportunities. Yay! ;)

One big thing for me this past Thursday and Friday was finishing up my PreCalc Algebra class. This past week was the last week of the class, and with me all excited for fall I really wanted to finish this class. (Not to say anything against my professor or the class; he was incredible and taught the class great! But I could tell that I was getting just a little tired and weary and ready to be done). Anyway, it was just real exciting to see the homework assignments dwindle as I completed them each day.

By Thursday, I only had one homework assignment left, and the final test on Friday. I've been getting A's and B's on my tests, but what concerned me was that before this test I was less than one percentage point away from the A/A- cut off. I had kept a hard-earned A the whole semester, and I knew getting a B on this last test would most likely knock me out of the A category! Ouch! So I really wanted to get an A on this test.

I studied the best that I could, and on Thursday got together with my friend Andy to do some studying together. That went really well; it 'twas very beneficial and I learned a ton from him. He really helped cement in my mind some concepts that hadn't been so known before. Combined with prayer, and the study that I did on my own, I felt like I was just about as ready to take this test as I ever would be.

Well, I get on the test and did my very best. My gut feeling coming out was that I had done very well. Both me and my mother were hoping that my internal inclinations were right! An hour or two later, I checked my grade online....and guess what folks. I had gotten an A on that test! A high A! Not only that, but this great test grade brought my overall class score up several points, so I earned a solid A in PreCalc Algebra.

PRAISE GOD!!!!

YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!! :D

So yes, I was and still am very happy about that. I'm glad that it's the weekend, and that I have a few days' break before school starts up again late next week. Lots of fun things are planned for break, and I'm super excited about this coming school year. I'll definitely tell you all about it....next week! ;)

Haha. See you then!

~Austin

The Unknown, Now Known (Eek!)

I can just imagine the problem:

2x+3=6

Solve for the unknown "x", which is what will happen to you in the next week.

OK, so algebraically we'd subtract three from both sides so you get the equation of 2x=3. Then dividing by two on both sides (to isolate x), you learn that x=1.5. Easy. What scares me is that unknown part, about what will happen to me in the next week! I don't think that I'd want to solve this problem!

Remember how last week my point was how Jesus is in the unknown, and how He's calling us to him (indirectly, to the unknown too)? Well, this week is a perfect example of why I am so glad that I don't know the future! Because if last week I knew what all what happen to me this week, well, er, I don't think I would want to go through this week!

OK, so first off my school is going really well. After two weeks of PreCalc Algebra I've really gotten in the groove, and have figured out what it takes to get good grades in this class. Going into the week, I thought that Tuesday would be the hard day as I had a doctor's appointment that would probably take up most all of the afternoon. AKA my prime time for completing loads of homework, which is due the next day.

Well, Tuesday didn't end up being that bad. What really hit me was when my Mom told me on Thursday morning that my grandpa had passed away during the night. Now he had been quite ill for some time; so I was half expecting him to die soon, but still that doesn't make going through the actual occurrence any easier. What is hard with this sort of thing--and I learned this last year when my grandmother died--is that while you try to put these emotional/family issues out of your mind and try to focus on college (which is what you need to do and demands all that you've got), well, still like it or not you can't bury these feelings.

So in addition to riding the emotional roller coaster that I was on, I also had school. Class went fine, and in our second period my professor even spent an awesome hour helping us review for our test, which was to be on Friday! I really appreciated that. After the review I realized that while I understood the test material pretty well, I still needed to do some substantial study.

Came home at lunch and started on my homework, which was about 40 problems sliced into two homework assignments of 20 problems each. The first homework took a while but I was able to get 100% on it (we submit our homework online) pretty easily; it was just figuring out compound interest. The second homework, however, was way more challenging for me. It was a bunch of story problems that required me to do a bunch of algebraic equation rearrangement (something I'm not perfect at), plus most every problem number had around four problems in it. So with each single problem (there's a lot of calculatory work!) taking 10-15 minutes each, times that by 4, times that by 20, well, I think you have the idea! I was just way swamped and overloaded as I endeavored my best to complete these assignments which were due on Friday (the next day) at 8am.

Not to mention that I hadn't even done any test study yet. When was I going to do that? My test grades are 80% of my overall class grade! And I really want to get a good grade in this class! Well, I did have about an hour and a half that I could study for my Friday test on Friday before the test would be administered at 10am. So that meant that I really needed to finish my homework on Thursday night...

I was way stressing out at this point. There was just way too much to do in way not enough time, even though I was doing my best and certainly not procrastinating. Once again, I prayed to God for wisdom, guidance and mathematical understanding. And I pressed on. Marvelously, by bedtime I had finished most all of the homework and gotten very good grades on both assignments. I was thrilled, and hit the sack in an instant!

Friday morning came and I did the best job I could to do test study, going over the practice test that my professor had generously made available to us students. By the time the test came, I felt like I had a good handle on the material and was just ready to take the test and get it over with. And what happened? For most all of the problems I felt very confident on. However, there were a few easy ones that my mind just totally drew a blank on...for the like of me I could not remember how to solve them (even though I had just practiced them an hour earlier). I never manged to figure out the answers, and as I finished the test and handed it in I really had no clue what grade I would get.

Not too long after I checked online to see if my professor had graded my test yet. He had! And I had earned a very respectable B+/A- (I'm not sure). That is seriously a miracle...I never expected that. It truly was one of God's miracles--a situation which I thought was possible to get good grades on both my homework and test in such a short amount of time (really, not enough time). I don't know how God did it, but I know He did. And that's what matters.

In conclusion, I'd like to make the point of how Jesus did know what was going to happen to me this week, and He still called me into it, promising to hold my hand the whole way. And He certainly held up His end of the bargain. In times like these I like to how God will never leave me or forsake me (Joshua 1:5) and that even though I don't understand everything now (like my grandpa's death) "in all things God works for the good of those who love him" (Romans 8:28).

Into the Realm of the Unknown

It's been a long time since I blogged.

Yeah, I know you knew that, but I just couldn't think of any better statement to start this article with. :)

This summer has been awesome--I have already completed two classes (Intro to Public Speaking and Health for Life), and am currently taking Precalc Algebra.

In July I had a lot of fun as I traveled the nation (well, California and Michigan, plus Ohio and Kentucky too!) and visited my grandparents. I had a lot of fun geocaching and visiting historical locations, such as the western terminus of the Pony Express and later the Transcontinental Railroad in Sacramento, California; the California State Capitol (also in Sacramento); or the Mary Todd Lincoln home in Lexington, Kentucky. Be sure to check out and subscribe to my YouTube channel so you don't miss any of the videos I shot at all of these and many more historical locations!

But that's what has already happened. Now is now, and "now" defined more clearly means returning to college at Southern Adventist University in Collegedale, Tennessee. Last year I had the privilege of being one of Southern's Freshman Bloggers. That is, I got paid to write weekly articles about life as a student at Southern (read them here). Can't beat that! :D I enjoyed that so much, I had serious thoughts about keeping that practice up--hence why I renamed this blog (which I've owned for years) "The Sophomore Blogger".

Well, as all can see the summer sped by and I didn't blog at all. But, the school year is start up 'bout now in these parts of Tennessee, and I think I shall make another attempt at blogging again! While I can't promise that every week I'll write an article (deadlines did help last year with Freshman Bloggers!), I will try to write regular semi-weekly updates. But you will have to understand, actually doing college take priority over blogging about college, so if anything has to go in order for me to get the grades I need, it'll be this blogging. HOWEVER, Sabbath afternoons I typically have free so then again I might be able to do weekly articles! We'll just have to see! :D

*     *     *

So what significant occurrences have transpired in the last two weeks, you ask? Well, let's see...

As I previously stated, I'm taking Precalc Algebra. I must confess, I stepped into class that first day (July 29) with a little trepidation. Math and I have never exactly been best friends before! Not that I have anything against math; it's just that it's really hard for me to understand, even when I apply myself with everything I've got.

This class has been a breath of fresh air.

My professor is absolutely awesome! I just love how he explains the mathematical concepts, for me the way he does it in is so easy (and fun!) to understand. He's also super nice and friendly, will answer homework questions, and I really appreciate the College Faith devotionals that he reads to us each and every morning. It's a new--and fun--experience to actually understand math, but one that I really like!!

What I find more of a challenge, however, is the pace at which we are going. Being a summer class, that means that in one month we cover what in the school year is covered in like four months. We have two lectures a day, five days a week, rather than three lectures a week (i.e., a Monday-Wednesday-Friday sort of thing). There's around 20 homework problems per lecture, so I end up doing around 40 problems a day. Class is in the morning, I do homework in the afternoon, and if I have actually finished homework by supper time (yay! But that doesn't always happen...) I study for my weekly tests. I did really well on my first test, and I think I did pretty good on my second test, which was this past Friday.

As you can imagine, this class is most definitely a full-time job!

Yet even with how hard this class is, just as much God has been helping me through. Last school year one thing that really stood out to me was how much God helped me--yes, me!--through all my trials, tribulations, and challenges of college. Usually that translated into having way not enough time to study for tests that were always way too close at hand, but somehow, someway, He always helped me through. I did my best, and God did the rest. He always helped me through. Ellen White had a great way of saying this in her book Messages to Young People, on p. 309:

"We shall individually be held responsible for doing one jot less than we have ability to do...But when we give ourselves wholly to God, and in our work follow His directions, He makes Himself responsible for its accomplishment. He would not have us conjecture as to the success of our honest endeavors. Not once should we even think of failure. We are to cooperate with One who knows no failure."

I have seen this first-hand in my own life.

Anyway, to get on with my main point, what I meant to say was that I really saw this God-working-in-my-life thing big time last school year. And just like that, when I started Precalc Algebra two weeks ago, God started His miracle-working business for me again! Not like He ever stopped...but really being back to college now has brought back all the challenges that college brings. And it is just so incredible, and fun, and satisfying, and...comforting, really, to see God helping me in the same yet again. There have been days now that it seems that it's in the eleventh hour that I finally, barely, pull ahead and feel like my head is above water in regard to this class. But God helps me to understand the homework problems, or get help on them, and I get 100% on the assignment (our homework is submitted online; we get five tries to get every problem correct) right before the deadline.

Even though this is "just" a summer class, I truly do feel like I am back to college. All the joys, sorrows, stress, excitement and fun....it's back! And I love it! And with God, I know that I can not just survive, but thrive.

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One song that I have been listening a lot to lately is Casting Crown's Voice of Truth. It was just the other night when some of the lyrics' meaning really hit me for the first time--here, I'll share part of them with you:

"Oh what I would do to have /
The kind of faith it takes to climb out of this boat I'm in /
onto the crashing waves.

To step out of my comfort zone /
to the realm of the unknown where Jesus is /
And He's holding out His hand"

The song continues--watch the whole thing here--but it was the above lyrics that really hit me. The singer is in the position of Peter, who asks Jesus if he, Peter, can please walk on the water just like Jesus is currently is. As the story goes, Jesus says "yes" and Peter does walk on the water until he takes his eyes off Jesus. Peter starts to drown, but Jesus is by his side in an instant and takes Peter back to the safety of the boat.

With the song, the singer is debating what thoughts might have been running through Peter's head. There's Peter's wish to walk on the water, and Jesus saying he can, but there's also the scary waves out there. Etc. etc.

Anyway, I was doing my homework late one night when the proverbial light bulb went on in my head and I had my revelation:

Jesus is in the unknown.

Peter is in the safety of the boat, in his comfort zone, but Jesus has called him into the realm of the unknown. And despite the waves (which in the song remind Peter of all the times that he's tried and failed), Jesus is holding out His hand. He's promising Peter that He will be with him, no matter the circumstances or surroundings.

I quickly made the connection from there. College is most definitely "the realm of the unknown"! There is so much new and potentially scary stuff at college. But at the same time, Jesus is in the unknown--figuratively speaking, at college. He is calling me to the unknown--to Southern--and reminding me of His promise to hold my hand, help me, and be with me the whole way.

Then, I have no reason to fear the waves of stress or tests or study or whatever may come in this realm of the unknown called college. Jesus has called me to another year at Southern, and "He's holding out his hand"!