Saying Farewell

This week is the last week of my junior year, and it brings many more goodbyes than in years past. I've been thinking a lot lately of how this year, this week, I will need to say goodbye to two of my professors (who are both of my advisors) as well as a number of my friends that are seniors.

Since December or so, I have tutored two middle school students. One is a space cadet, and the other can work fairly well on his own, but has a rough living situation. Really, I think that I have learned a little from them, and I hope that they of course have learned from me. Not only have I learned some more about teaching math, I have learned about students in general. No matter a child's living situation, no matter the circumstances, a child is still a child. A teen is still a teen. They have friends, interests, a family, and just aren't grown up yet. I can't expect them to think the way I do about math, or understand things right away. I trust that these two students have changed for the better after my work with them. I trust that Christ will be evident in me, and that everything will be for God's glory.

A family that I am very close to is moving very far away this summer, and who knows when I will see them again. They have been influential in my life both academically and personally. Through leadership in quizzing, I have learned skills often through "trial by fire", with little preparation. I have been able to share my organizational skills, as well as to encourage the youth when it seems like there is so much pressure. In classes, I have been challenged to work harder, because of knowing the professors outside of class. They have been willing to help me understand the material when it just isn't clicking or is completely over my head. Often I have been amused by observing their quirks as a family, especially that they both say "Ack!", and just who they are as people, as friends. I will definitely miss their 7 year old daughter, who loves American Girl, who is a lot of fun to be around. As we drew and wrote and played hangman on Sunday night, I thought about how that would be one of the last bits of quality time we would have together. I babysat her last fall, and we played in the sprinkler with the missionary kids, and I learned that I should be more careful about movie ratings and younger children, and how much activity and interaction with other kids is too much, and we went to the playground and the beach.

My friends that are seniors have been here the entire time I've been here, unlike the freshmen and sophomores that have come partway through my time at ENC. I don't know when I'll see many of them again, but there is always Homecoming, or Facebook, or visiting them in the area.

Everyone has to say goodbyes at some point: to people, to ideas, to dreams. We have pretty much said goodbye to the idea of gas for under $3, as troublesome as that is. We say goodbye to people as they move out of our lives, never to be seen again or rarely to be seen again. We say goodbye to dreams as new ones appear, as old ones are dashed, as old ones morph into new ones. Through it all, God is faithful and has a plan for our lives. God's plan brings together many elements, in a way that is beneficial to all, and in a way that is what God has in mind for creation.

Departures and separations are often no fun at all. But I hope that God uses changes in my life to help me grow, and to allow Him to work in my life and make me the woman He has called me to be.

Science & Religion class

The following is taken from an email that I sent my cousin, talking about my classes. This is what I wrote about Science & Religion. I'm essentially still trying to figure things out (if they CAN be figured out at all).

"It seeks to explore the science and religion debate over the years. I'm still working on figuring out what I believe about creation vs. evolution. Maybe it's NOT an either/or answer. Maybe it's both. Maybe God created the universe and got things going, and enabled creation to do what He did: create.

"Then again, maybe we will never know and it's one of those mysteries that requires us to simply say, "Wow, God made this, and there is a purpose in it that He has." Like some stories could simply be myths, and not in the sense they are fantasies, but they explain why things are the way they are. Genesis 1 could be a poem, that may not be intended to be read literally.

"(Before you decide to not go to ENC, and to call me a heretic, relax. It's not all ENC that has made me think about stuff.) Things are much broader than they seemed to me years ago (years ago meaning high school....gosh I feel old). One thing I am fairly sure of is that the Bible is not a science textbook. It gives us the essentials for following God, and basically we can figure other stuff out on our own."