Seminary is like camping…intense. Get it?

As of today, Lisa and I have completed four out of ten sessions of our two-week intensive New Testament course here at Fuller Seminary in Pasadena. We have class every day from 8am until noon, and our professor is a spry and brilliant guy named Dr. Craig Evans, who also happens to be from CANADA…and he’s been on all kinds of documentaries and written all kinds of books and reads from a Greek Bible in class, translating as he goes. It’s refreshing to be with one of my academic peers.

Of course, what class wouldn’t be complete without the quintessential Annoying Scholar? Our A.S. sits in the very front row (of course), directly across from Dr. Evans. Literally, within arms reach. He often leans forward, just to make sure he catches every word of the lecture. He also asks at least four questions every day. And when I say “asks questions,” I mean “makes statements about ambiguous, unrelated theological ideas just to prove that he knows stuff.” There’s also this guy who does this annoying thing where, whenever he raises his hand to ask a question or make a comment, he holds his hand in the shape of a gun with his index and middle fingers pointed in the air, palm facing in. He only barely raises his hand in front of his face, and he tilts his head slightly to the side. It looks like some sort of weird dance move or gang symbol. Otherwise, the class has been a delight. We have a mid-term on Monday, and a final on Friday.

Intense. It’s true.

The non-academic high point of our California excursion has been the extraordinary hospitality we’ve received along the way. Each of our hosts on the way down to Pasadena opened their homes to us with such unencumbered generosity, offering delicious meals, comfortable guest beds, good conversations, cold brews, and warm apricot pie. Our friends Matt and Mishawn are even allowing us to stay in their home in Whittier while they vacation in Hawaii! Aloha, Trempers! We love you! We’ve tried on ALL your undies, and I just brushed my teeth with your toothbrush!.

We got to spend a few nights with them before they left on Tuesday morning. They’re the kind of friends who make you laugh until your face hurts…so real and normal and easy to be with. They insisted that we sleep in their bed while they slept on their couch and futon…which was weird and amazingly generous of them. Without knowing it, they are also trying to help Lisa and I break a serious addiction we’ve been fighting for quite some time. That’s right…they don’t have cable. You’d think the serious lack of good things to watch would cause us to do something else to relax, like read or knit or interact with one another. But no. So far this evening, we’ve watched “Reba” and “The Simpsons.” Doh!

As a side note, we saw a t-shirt today that read “The Girls in Whittier are Prettier.” We also spent a few hours at the local Starbucks, studying and people-watching.

Prettier than who?