Rockin' the Suburbs of St. Louie

This past weekend, a delegation from OURUF [consisting of myself, Anna, Thomas, Michael and Wes] journeyed from the familiarity of Norman-town to the unknown reaches of St. Louis, Missouri. You may ask, "What on earth would warrant such a trip?" Well, allow me to relay the details of our adventure to you now.

Our purpose was to visit Covenant Theological Seminary, a graduate learning establishment serving the Presbyterian Church in America. Each of us are considering Covenant as an option for some point in the future, either for a M.Div [Michael, Wes, Thomas] or Masters of Counseling [Anna, Myself, Michael] or both [Wes].

We gathered at the Fleetwood house Thursday afternoon immediately following classes, and quickly loaded the big white van, loaned to us courtesy of Daniel [to whom we are eternally thankful, as he saved us from 16hrs of very cramped travel]. While we did manage to set off the car alarm at the gas station before leaving town, we eventually made it to the interstate and settled in for the long drive.

Our fearless leader

Thomas, in a familiar pose

We made it to STL around 11pm, and pretty immediately retired to our respective rooms. Covenant's admissions office had set up a schedule for our day on Friday, which began with breakfast at 8am. For our 8:30 class, the potential pre-M.Divs and pre-Ma.Cs separated: Boys to Systematic Theology: Christ and Salvation and Girls to Practical Theology: Crisis in Transition. I really appreciate people who are thoughtful with their words and Dan Zink, Anna and I's professor, certainly did this in a way I respected and enjoyed. After class was chapel, and as soon as I entered I saw a familiar face across the room--John Ranheim, who had been a speaker and director of the summer camp I attended in high school. This was great.
Chapel was moving. I am often moved by music, and this morning of music was no exception. Brian Moss led worship. Refreshing.

[You know those moments of assurance when you finally feel at peace over things your mind has been concentrated on? The moment of confirmation when you know you are where you are supposed to be? I remember having this moment while walking on the South Oval at the OU campus during the spring of my junior year of high school. A feeling of comfort like you feel when you finally come home--and I knew this was where I was supposed to spend the next four years. I felt something similar. That's all I know and all you need to know, I suppose.]

Our next class was our Outreach class with Jerram Barrs. If you ever get a chance to learn our meet this man, you should. He studied with Francis Schaeffer at L'Abri.

The five of us, now accompanied by Dan and Brittany, got to have lunch with the President of the seminary, Bryan Chappell. This was great also, and we got to ask many of our questions, and had good conversation with him and the Smiths.

In the afternoon we had our final class, Covenant Theology II. By this time, we were all pretty drained and dazed, and having missed the preceding semester, it was more difficult to appreciate this class as much as I'm sure it deserved.

A very "seminary" shot, I think

Friday night was a lovely night of conversation, food, fellowship and games with the Smiths at their apartment. We made dinner together, and were able to talk to the experienced and ask all our many questions. Saturday, we thought we might go sight-seeing, but all opted to have lunch spend the day rather low-key...so we spent all afternoon reading in this room of our residence building:We had dinner again with the Smiths, which was again delightful, before running to a local church to catch the end of a show by Matthew Smith, one of the musician's for Indelible Grace. This was also great. He plays a left-handed guitar. This is pretty much the epitome of cool.

We didn't ever make it to the Arch. We drove very near to it twice. We did not cross the river into East St. Louis [apparently this is something everyone in the world knows not to do. Except, of course, the people who inhabit East St. Louis].

Sunday morning was church at Covenant PCA and then the 8 hour drive home [broken by a 2hr family meet-up in Tulsa. This was wonderful].
We discovered a St. Louis Bread, Co just down the street from the seminary. For those of you who are blanking on the significance of this, allow me to remind you that every Panera Bread used to be called St. Louis Bread until about 10 years ago. The only place that still has restaurants called St Louis Bread is the city of St Louis. This is the only place we ate out at during our entire stay. Go ahead, Sally, judge all you want. All in all, a worthwhile and enjoyable trip. My traveling buddies were fantastic. It was also interesting to consider that each of us was coming to Covenant with different expected paths for the future. I feel fairly certain I will attend seminary. That is what I wanted to take away from this weekend, and that is what I feel confident about. Woot.
I was born in St. Louis. My parents were attending Covenant. The hospital I was born at is just across the highway from the seminary. We quickly became very thankful for this landmark. Thanks, parents, for Life. Thanks, Jesus, for redeeming that life. http://www.missouribaptist.org/

J'ai lu, Janvier 2009

I didn't really make New Year's Resolutions this year, but one thing I determined is to read consistently and intentionally in 2009. I set my goal at 4 books a month (theoretically, 1 per week), but I finished 5 in January, so that's the new goal. You have the pleasure of reading my reviews, several of which I would highly recommend if you're in the market for literary greatness. Most of these belong to me and are available for loan if you're sincerely interested.

A Severe Mercy (Vanauken) – An absolutely outstanding biography of a young couple’s love, search for truth, and ultimate conversion. Letters between the author and C.S. Lewis throughout adds to its power and appeal. Mentally and spiritually stimulating and emotionally moving. A must. (10)



Sex. God. (Bell) – I read this for the second time. Bell does an excellent job of presenting his thoughts on love, sex, marriage and their relation to spirituality. I especially appreciate his knowledge of Jewish tradition and culture and the ways he is able to show its significance in Christianity. (9)


The Tales of Beedle the Bard (Rowling) – A short collection of “wizarding” fairy tales inspired by the Harry Potter series. A cute and fun read for anyone who has read and enjoyed Rowling’s other masterpieces. (8)



Searching for God Knows What (Miller) – An apologetic of sorts seeking to define Christianity on a “relational” level rather than a formulaic list of bullet points. Entertaining and colorful, and certainly plenty of opportunities for discussion, but not my favorite apologetic or my favorite work by Miller. (7)

Sex, Drugs, & Cocoa Puffs (Klosterman) – A fairly cynical critique of American postmodern society and pop culture phenomena. Klosterman’s sarcasm is entertaining, at least, and his perspectives will be amusing to anyone born pre-1990. (7)

I am loving this. I am also accepting recommendations. Sally, I am willing to read books in English by Russian authors, but not books in Russian...by any author. Just a disclaimer. Stayin ahead of the game.