Contressing Combolations

*sigh*
Today was a long day.

First I got up, did my regular routine, then headed on out to Calculus. The class went well. I really like the instructor and I am thinking about trying to hook up with him again next semester, if this semester goes well that is.

Afterwards was the Physics discussion time, where we were able to ask questions about the homework and then we took a quiz. The random question that came up was a relatively easy one so I spent quite a bit of time just trying to make it look neat. It had to do with what angle ducks would have to fly if their speed is 8 m/s and there is a crosswind blowing 6 m/s and they want to go directly south. Anyway.... I decided to figure out what their net speed (in a southerly direction) was, just for fun. I was second to last out of the room.

Then I had an hour break which I used to figure out that last Calculus problem I had (I just did a U substitution instead of trying to figure out what the natural log was right from the start) and then read some more in Hodge's Systematic Theology. It's very interesting, though right now he's just talking about different kinds of "Christianity" such as Mysticism, Rationalism, Gnosticism etc. and why they are wrong. I wanted to quote a passage here that I thought "Wow! Well said!"

"More than this, the Bible reveals truths of the highest order, not elsewhere made known. Truths which meet the most urgent necessities of our nature; which solve the problems which reason has never been able to solve. It recognizes and authenticates all the facts of consciousness, all the truths which our moral and religious nature involve, and which we recognize as true as soon as they are presented. It has the same adaptation to the soul that the atmosphere has to the lungs, or the solar influences to the earth on which we live. And what the earth would be without those influences, is, in point of fact, what the soul is without knowledge of the truths which we derive solely from the Bible."

I just found that rather refreshing and wanted to share. While I'm quoting people, let me quote a passage by Pink as well that I read the other day and found really true:

"Today it is true almost everywhere, that we are far more concerned about the results of the gospel than we are about the purity of it! We are more concerned in the blessing of man than we are about the glory of Christ! Is not that true? Is it not true that the first great question asked everywhere today is, What are the 'results'? What is the fruitage? How many people have been saved in your church the last year? I am not saying that the question has no importance, but I do say that, if that is the first question that is asked, it only shows what a low level we are living on! The first question we ought to ask is, How scripturally is the gospel being preached in your church? Is the preacher magnifying Christ? Is the preacher emphasizing the absolute sufficiency of his finished work? Does the preacher make it plain that God does not ask the sinner to do anything, that Christ has done it all for him? Ah, my friends, when the preachers today are tested by that, there are mighty few of them that will survive the test. How many there are today who tell the poor sinner that he has got to give his heart to God! Well, you say, isn't that right? Isn't that true? Must not the sinner give his heart to the Lord if he is going to be saved? Oh, the tragedy that such a question has to be asked! We talk about progress and advancing; why, we need indoctrinating in the ABC of Christianity, and the ABC of Christianity is the gospel! No, my friends, no sinner was ever saved by giving his heart to God. We are not saved by our giving, we are saved by God's giving. Well, but doesn't it say in Scripture, 'Son, give me thine heart'? Yes, it does, but that is not addressed to an unconverted sinner, that is addressed to a son! After God has saved you by grace alone, then your first duty is to dedicate yourself to his service, to give your heart to him, to be used by him as he wills and where he wills and when he wills, and to realize that you are no more your own but the purchased property of another........
A whole lot of our so-called Christian work today reminds me of little children when they first witness father or mother doing some gardening. The ground is prepared and then the seed is sown, and every day the child goes into the garden and he looks around to see if the seed is beginning to sprout, and if it doesn't show any signs and he wants to make sure that the seed is beginning to sprout, he just scratches around amongst the soil. He wants to see something. My friends, that is what a lot of us are doing in connection with so-called Christian work today! O we have so little confidence in the power and in the sufficiency of the Divine 'seed' to bring about the harvest that God has ordained it to do!"

Now this I thought was very well said as well. So many churches, by far the vast majority, fall under this sort of thing. If the people in charge are truly interested at all in the lives of the congregation, then they usually feel it is their responsibility to make sure that person is saved or remains saved or however they say it. We can do nothing! It is good to be faithful to God's Word and be there for that person, yes, but that means just that: being faithful to God's Word! Preaching all of it, not just "scratching amongst the soil." Trust God for the increase, you just do what you are called to do man.

Anyway, that was a long interlude..... but hopefully a profitable one. After reading a bit of Systematic Theology, it was time for class to start, we have been assigned a program which is due a little over a week from now so hopefully I should be able to get it done ahead of schedule but it may be a little difficult as well, we shall see. There was another hour break after that (which I took advantage of to read some more) and then the AutoCAD lab.

Now that was grueling. We started at 2:30 and I didn't finish up and leave (I was the last one there) until nearly 6:30, trying to finish up everything. I believe I have it all done satisfactorily but I'm going to go back and check with one of the TA's some time this week. I was VERY disgruntled and disappointed when I got my homework back from a couple weeks ago (all those beautiful drawings I'd worked so hard on) and there was red lines all over it (they apparently mark it off as they check each drawing) and then I was marked off 10 points total for some things that I was puzzled on. That means I only got 90/100 and I was very upset about it, of course they said they'd take 10 points off if it wasn't stapled, 20 points off for the different drawings not being numbered etc. so a lot of students were ever nmore distraught than I was, but still! I couldn't figure out what I had done wrong, I went and talked to one of the TA's (not the normal one) and he told me that I had not drawn them to the same scale. I had two different drawings of the same object in two different views and under I had said "1:3 scale" and on the other "1:2 scale" but he told me that I couldn't do that, I could have done one at 1:4 and the other at 1:2 but not one at 1:2 and the other at 1:4, they had to be multiples or something. That seems a little harsh to me because I was never told that. I'm hoping to ask the teacher about that because I SHOWED him all of my drawings before I submitted them and asked him for pointers. All he said to do was darken the lines up but everything else looked "really good." I don't know, perhaps strict is good but I'd rather know the rules before I submit them instead of finding out afterward.

Okay, there's my rant for today's schoolwork. I mean, I spent oh, probably four hours on those drawings, erasing, redrawing, darkening, checking all of the perspectives, double-checking, counting each of the lines to make sure I had everything just right and in the right scale. I even showed it to the TA when I was first drawing them and he said they were looking fine. I showed them to another guy who had taken the class before and he said he thought they looked excellent. Maybe I just got a TA who was feeling a bit nasty that day? There was some lines that I did miss (I didn't draw two hidden lines when I should have) and I got a point knocked off for that. Fine, I deserved it, but to get an additional 9 taken off for other things that no one ever corrected me on or told me about..... Okay, I'll stop now. Can you tell I don't like to lose those points? :)

I had had nothing to eat or drink all day from about 7:00 this morning until about 7:00 this night. Perhaps I should start taking a lunch Friday. I always did say I was a bit of a camel but after 12 hours even I start to feel a little parched. That and since the parking lot was packed even at 8:40 this morning I parked up on the other side of the track again, so it was a long trek back from the engineering building this evening.

Before I start wallowing in self-pity though *grin* ..... let me tell you that overall it was an enjoyable day, a busy but good week and I'm looking forward to next. I still have a few assignment to work on tomorrow, we'll see how much can be done! So until next time.... good night.