I love it when God shows off!

I love those moments when God reminds me that he knows better than I do.
The other day I was lamenting/pondering that Christian music is so often cheesy/corny/poorly made/lacking musical talent/etc. I mean, if we have communion with the Creator of beauty and music, shouldn't the music in the Christian community be infinitely more beautiful than secular music? I concede that it is much easier to find beautiful, meaningful lyrics in Christian music, but the intrumentals...not so much. I mean, I love a number of Christian bands, but excellent Christian music is hard to come by, at least when it comes to more modern styles.


All that to say, this week was one of those times when God seemed to remind me that I have no idea about anything at all. This week I had the privilege of listening to Benjamin and Stephen Lynerd, Jazz musicians who use thier amazingness for the glory of God. Their songs (at least the few that I've heard) are fun to listen to, and amazingly several of them are Christian worship songs, not to mention the incredible talent of these brothers on the vibes and piano. A friend of mine said that the vibes seemed pretty lame when we saw them set up before the performance and I agreed. But after hearing and watching the Lynerds, I have a new respect for the vibes and a new hope in Christian music. It was absolutely amazing! The vibes just might be my new favorite instrument. I never thought the beauty of piano music could be improved but God proved me wrong yet again.

God: 2 billion 78 Me: 0

Finally Exempt

I'm definitely a person that builds things up in my mind, imagining that they are going to be a lot worse or better than they really are. Fortunately, it's usually the former and not the latter so I'm not disappointed too often. Unfortunately I do wimp out of things fairly easily because I'm sure they're going to be really difficult.
Example: At school we have to wear IDs. After 2 semesters on campus you get a sticker on your ID that lets the desk workers know that you are curfew exempt so that you don't have to sign in. I could have gotten a sticker last semester...but I heard that you had to provide proof that you'd been on campus 2 semesters and I didn't know what that proof would be. In my mind the conversations went something like this:

"Hi, I need a curfew exemption sticker."
"Do you have proof that you've been here for two or more semesters?"
"No..."
"Didn't you read the e-mail and the signs, Dummy?"
"Yeah but..."
"Well then why are you here without the papers?!"
"Uh..."
"Thanks for wasting my time. Come back when your brain's developed a little more."
"Ok. Thanks. Sorry. Bye."

People in my imagination are really mean.

Anyway, this uncertainty was enough to make me put it off...not a problem because I rarely need to stay out after curfew and when I did I just signed in (after all, what could they do to me? I can't run out of late minutes! I don't have any!) But then someone mentioned a limit to the number of times you can sign in and I started to panic a little every time I had to sign in.
Would this be it? Would I get sent to the dean? What would happen? Would the desk worker call me a Dummy too and revel in the thought of my stupid procrastination from getting a simple sticker?!? Now I had uncertainty on both ends!! What would I do?!?!

Well, I finally pulled up my bootstraps and decided I would risk the humiliation and try to go get a sticker. After a couple weeks and a boost in my confidence from a friend telling me that she just "walked in" without any proof and got a sticker, I finally went to the STUDENT DEVELOPMENT OFFICE (dah-nah-DAH-NAH!!!!)

But right outside the office door there was a sign addressed to students desiring a curfew exemption sticker. A sign that said

"Second Semester students:

Please provide a transcript as proof that you have attended MBI for two semesters."*

*Direct quote only from my brain...the actual sign sounded much more professional

Oh No! The friend I had talked to was a junior! Of course she didn't have to provide any proof!

I paused uncertainly outside the open office door.

Should I risk it?
Would I be a complete idiot to walk right past the sign and ask for a sticker without proof that I has been here for more than two semesters?
Would the man laugh at me?
Call me names?

WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN!?!?!

Fortunately, God sometimes allows me to use the curse of laziness to my own advantage.
"Well, I'm already here..."

I thought about having to go all the way back to my room for proof.

Nope. Too far. Too much trouble.

I walked through the door.

"Excuse me?"
"Yes?"
"I need a curfew exemption sticker."
"Can I see your ID?"
[I hold my ID out to him]
"You'll have to take it off."
"Oh. right. sorry"
[He flips through a binder as I hand my ID to him]
"Rebecca?"
"Yeah."
"This is your third smester?"
"Yep."
[Awkward pause as he starts rubbing some sort of liquid on my ID and I think, "Wait, I'm a sophomore and this is spring semester." I count to make sure.]
"Oh, actually this is my fourth semester."
"Fourth semester?"
"Yeah."
"ok"
[He searches a little for his stickers and sticks one on. ]
"Here you go."
"Thanks."

SO anti-climactic.

Philosophy on the Brain

Lately I've been studying a lot for my philosophy quiz and it has just totally absorbed my mind. So, I thought I would torture my few blog readers even more by telling you all about the complexities of Philosophy. Well, at least what I've learned so far. If you don't know philosophy, you can look it up to try to discover what I'm talking about or you can just sit back and enjoy the ride through this complicated thing called argument.

Apparently, it would seem that there are no valid arguments that are not fallacies. Now, considering this is an argument in and of itself, I am aware that someone at some point will probably be able to point out the fallacy in my logic, thus proving the validity of my point.

Anyway, there are all these different types of fallacies that make an argument unreliable. After studying these for a while I came to the conclusion that all arguments are fallacies and that one can only believe in absolute truth, it cannot be proven (which sounds heretical I know, but at least from what I've learned so far, it's true). Basically Philosophy teaches you that you can know nothing for certain except what you believe...and even belief isn't certain knowledge. Thus the complexity of it all.

I digress. Fallacies. Last year in speech class I learned how to make an argument by appealing to authority or the emotions, or a number of different options. This year in Philosophy I am learning that those were all fallacies. This is really complicated to explain so for the sake of our education I will most likely spend the next few days selecting one fallacy and explaining it. I'm sure you have much better things to do than argue about Philosophy, so I understand if you all stop reading my blog, but I'm finding it fascinating and would like to share the complexity of it all with you as I journey through it.

Feel free to point out the errors in my logic...that's the fun of it!

Stay tuned for more Philosophy fun!