Last week in Joshua we had preview students! These are students who are interested in coming to Joshua that come, stay, and get to see first hand the program that they are applying for. There were about 15 of them and it was so fun to get to know them and hear about their excitement for the program. It was also really strange to think about the fact that a lot of them will end up being next years class after we’ve graduated. Despite that weird realization was so great to see them excited about what we do here.
Last week we had Fred Blackburn for our speaker. He challenged our class in so many ways but most specifically he questioned people about their beliefs and encouraged everyone to think outside of the box when it came to our faiths. Fred talked about different world views, and ethical arguments. He also gave us an analogy about a ladder and how so often our spiritual lives look like us climbing up a ladder to reach God by doing works or gaining knowledge. By the end of this analogy we realized that according to John 17 God is in us and we are in God and so there is no need to climb the spiritual ladder anymore to reach Him because He is already here.
Often times at Joshua, a normal day flies by. Today was not one of those days. However, that was not a bad thing. It was filled with getting to know people throughout the building, enjoying two different talks given by our speaker, Fred Blackburn, and late-night talks with roommates. Joshua has just gotten back into gear with all of the chaos from family camp settling down and a normal routine being put back in place. My roommate, Casey and I, usually stay up until all hours of the night, contemplating life and working out our days together. It usually starts with a dad-joke or two, then moves into something like what makes a human a human. And if the entire mind of a human can be downloaded and placed into something else, does the soul go with it? Then by one or four we decide we should probably get to bed, turn off our lights, close our eyes, and proceed to talk for another hour. Times are good here at Joshua, and I’m glad to do them with Casey.
Written by Kyle and Casey
