Another Post :: Bitter-Sweetness
================
A good rule of thumb for launching a new site:
“Make sure to have enough quality content.”
I am not sure if these entries are quality, but since I am deciding to launch my blog site during my finals week, two entries will do for now.
=================
As I am studying for my last final exam and writing an exegetical paper, I am finding myself with bittersweet emotions.
Did I tell you how much I dislike writing academic papers? Being a 1.5 generation Korean-American, I am bound to love math and science – that’s my way of saying I avoided writing papers. In undergrad at the U of I (majoring in Mechanical Engineering), I wrote a total of 4 papers – one in macro econ, one in micro econ, one in religious studies, and one in my engineering rhet class. Yeah, I realize that writing is not my thing. My proofreaders (Eric & Susan) can totally back me up on that. But even in my inadequacies, I am thankful that I can logically document and articulate all of the great truths that I am learning at Covenant.
This might sound strange to you, but I really don’t want my 1st MDiv year to be over. I don’t want it to end. Sure, I might be getting slightly nostalgic, because things are about to wrap up, but it really was that good.
I am pretty sure that I will dedicate one entry to the top lessons that I learned at Covenant.
Here’s a big one: the Bible comes to us in a narrative format.
God has not given us a book of systematic theology, but His revelations come to us in one big story.
The Bible is a redemptive drama with four parts:
Creation—when everything was as God meant it to be.
Fall—the tragic intrusion of sin and death, resulting in the pervasive brokenness of all people and everything God has made.
Redemption—God’s astonishing promise to redeem his fallen image-bearers and creation through the grace-full work of his Son, Jesus Christ.
Consummation—the magnificent fulfillment of God’s plan to gather and cherish a people forever, and to live with them in a more-than-restored world, called “the new heaven and new earth.”
It might sound too simple, but this redemptive/historical/narrative framework has given me the ability to properly fit all biblical truths I have learned over the years into its proper perspective.
In this Story of God, where Jesus is the main character, each of us is invited to participate in this grand narrative of hope.
What a privilege, what an honor, what a calling this is
So as I am wrapping up my studies, I am all the more thankful for my professors at Covenant Seminary. I really am. Yes, even the one who gave me a C on my term paper to ruin my run at straight A’s for the first semester.
Going off tangent here:
But did you know that the new ESV Study Bible has come out?
It looks pretty amazing. If you order it before May 15th, you can get 35% off. I just ordered one tonight.
Going back to talking about my profs at Covenant Seminary:
If you visit the ESV contributors page, you will recognize all of our wonderful profs: Collins, Chapman, Perry, Aucker, Bayer, Sklar.
But let’s not forget the profs that are not mentioned here: Chapell, Barrs, Agan, Bradley, Dalby, Douglass, Williams. Let’s just say that I wouldn’t trade the past year of education for any other years in my life.
Yeah, enough brown nosing.
Let’s get back to studying for finals. 
I can’t imagine what kind of pressures you will be under in your new position. I remember my favorite priest when I was a kid was one who wore cowboy boots and red socks under his robes. You could tell he was a real person. I guess all I’m saying is, to some young kid out there you could someday be the priest who isn’t afriad to drive a red car, even though you really didn’t want one in the first place.