Alex O'Nan is My Rushmore

So, I have had a few requests from the members of Alex's fan club to get his stuff linked from my website. So, here are all things Alex O'Nan: his blog, his art, his band.

Emmylou and Transmission

Emmylou Harris is playing at the Double Decker Arts Festival in my hometown of Oxford, Mississippi. This time, I will meet her. She is my musical hero, and I will meet her! I will!
____________________________________________________________________

However, in order to meet Emmylou, I will first have to get my transmission fixed on my car. Yeah, it went out on Monday, and is currently in the hands of Danny at St. Matthew's Imports, getting a $2,000.00 repair.

A Compliment From Piper

I was just snooping around on John Piper's website and found something that made me really, really happy for my church and for Southern Seminary. Piper's church, Bethlehem Baptist, had their pastor's conference last week, and Dr. Bruce Ware was a speaker at the conference. Dr. Ware is an elder at my church, my Bible study teacher, and a professor at Southern Seminary. I also work in the School of Theology, where he is an associate dean, so my desk is just outside his office. Oh yeah, and his amazing wife, Jodi, is my mentor. This is what Piper said about Dr. Ware:

"So I have asked one of my favorite living theologians—a true see-er of Christ—to come and deliver his burden for The Trinitarian Relationships of Jesus Christ. Bruce Ware has a brilliant mind and a burning heart. I love the fact that he put the word “exulting” in his title: This is My Beloved Son: Exulting in the Trinitarian Relationships of Jesus Christ. That is what I expect to do. And it would make my joy more complete if you came and rejoiced with me over the treasure that we have in Christ."

Dr. Ware is one of Piper's favorite living theologians! This is a huge statement!

I know that Dr. Ware is certainly one of my favorite theologians. My first semester at Southern Seminary, I had him for Systematic Theology I, and I would tear up in almost every lecture. His passion for God, the Scriptures, and God's glory is amazingly contagious. He communicates the love of Christ so eloquently, and causes you to think deeply about the nature and character and attributes of God. The more I got to know Dr. Ware, through church and work, the more I came to see his humility, his greatness as a husband to Jodi and as a father to Rachel and Bethany. He is a man who visibly seeks the glory of God in all things. I have learned so much from Dr. Ware, and I praise God for having raised up a man like Dr. Ware to proclaim His truths, His character, and His glory!

God Bless My Brain

My brain has officially decided to stop working. I first noticed it last Thursday. I walked into my Greek class, where everyone seemed unusually quiet with noses in books or eyes on flashcards. It never occurred to me, however, that this could all be for a reason. So I just sat there, flipping through my new Paste magazine. Suddenly, a voice disturbed me from my magazine reading. "Okay, let's go ahead and take this vocab quiz, then we'll get started with class." Vocab quiz? You've got to be kidding me! I had completely forgotten, even though we have a vocab quiz in Greek class every single Thursday. Oh well, I thought. Drop grade.

As everyone was turning in their quizzes, I heard yet another surprising request. "Go ahead and turn in your selected passage from Philippians that you will be writing your three exegetical papers on." What? I mean, I remembered this having been mentioned, but it didn't seem like anything urgent. And now he wants it today? I quickly grabbed a Bibile and selected a passage - Philippians 3:12-4:1. Easy enough. Problem solved. No penalty.

The weekend was good, really good. I even got ahead in some school work, and was ready to roll for classes on Tuesday. However, at 11:10 a.m. I realized I had left all of my Greek homework at my apartment. My first class starts at 11:30 a.m. on Tuesdays, so I had time to make to my apartment and back. And that's what I did. As I pulled back into campus, I saw that I was going to get a superb parking spot. That made me happy, really happy.

Honestly, I was running about one minute late, so classes had already begun by the time I walked into the building. I rushed into the room where my Greek class meets but quickly realized that I recognized none of the students. And Dr. Plummer, who is not my Greek professor, was teaching the class.

"Uh, Laura Beth, you had this class last semester."

"Yes, yes I did."

"Are you confused?"

"Yes."

I exited the classroom, sure of one thing - my Greek class meets somewhere on this hall. I decided to look into all the classrooms to see if I recognized my class. But nothing looked familiar. I was so disoriented and displaced and absolutely confused. I could not, for the life of me, figure out where I was supposed to be at this moment in time. So I stood still in the hallway for about half a minute before it occurred to me - Greek class starts at 1:30 p.m., and it was then only 11:30 a.m. Ah! So then where was I supposed to be? It only took me about 10 more seconds to remember that I had Personal Counseling at 11:30 a.m. So I headed that way.

An Important Decision

Over the past month and a half, I have been praying a lot about possibly changing churches. This is a very difficult decision for me, but I now know - after some very wise council - that I must make this decision soon. I currently am a member at Clifton Baptist Church, and I absolutely love it. I have been at Clifton since I first moved to Louisville, and it has been a true source of growth, learning, service, community and fellowship. However, I have recently felt God leading me to Sojourn, which is a major change from Clifton.

I really wanted to pray through this semester and then make a decision. However, as I was talking this through with my mentor Jodi Ware, she advised me to make the decision earlier. She counciled me to pray about it this week, and then follow the Lord's guidance. I told her I didn't want to make a hasty decision, and she looked at me like I was crazy - "Laura Beth, you have been praying about this for over a month!" So the plan is to pray, pray, pray. Jodi is praying with me. My parents are praying with me. A few friends are praying with me. Tuesday, I will meet Jodi to talk again. And unless the Lord slams the door in my face between now and then, it looks like I will be heading to Sojourn. I am a little nervous and excited and anxious. But I know that the Lord will make this all very clear soon.