Back in Ole Virginny

I'm finally connected to the internet, so I can post about miscellaneous facts of interest in my recent past. I'm also back in the home state of Washington, Jefferson, Lee, and many other famous people. Some people say Virginia history is really where it's at, that it had much more influence in the shaping of the U.S. than those Puritans in New England. Whether that's true or not is for another time, but either way it is a great place to study history. And that's what I'm involved in once again. No, I'm not back to continue graduate studies. Instead, I'm working as the Head Residential Program Assistant for a pre-collegiate program in American history. Basically, there are over sixty high school students from all over the country here to take a history course for college credit. Very cool stuff. (And some rather hilarious stories will follow about the students here. So stay alert!) Anyway, my first stop before moving into the dorm was an overnight stay with a grad school classmate and her husband in Virginia. I discovered Nancy to be a kindred spirit in grad school, as she was a dedicated Christian. I found this out even before I moved to VA, after several of us entering the master's program at our school started emailing each other. She let everyone know in one of her first emails that she was a Christian. How cool was that! Later conversations with her revealed an intriguing fact about her: she never really had a conversion experience. This only became apparent to me months after I was satisfied with her genuine Christianity. I gave her the campus crusade diagnostic test on IM one time shortly after my first email contact with her, which she passed with flying colors. (If you were to die tonight and God were to ask you why He should let you into heaven, what would you say?) A long time later I heard more about her experience. She had grown up a Methodist thinking she was religous enough for heaven, but only gradually came to realize in college that being good is not enough to make it. Anyway, she blows out of the water any theory that says you must have a specific one-time experience to claim salvation, even though I think having that experience is something helpful to look back to if you should ever have any doubts. Anyway, I digress. Nancy became engaged to a dedicated Christian during our year of grad school together, and it was nice meeting and spending a little time with him. I attended their wedding down in Lancaster, PA, on New Years Day 2005. She had offered to have me stay with them anytime. In need of a place to park overnight, I took her up on the offer.
While with them we had some great conversations about history and God. I also attended a men's Bible Study with Dan, and almost lost the lower half of my jaw to the floor when he started making comments like "I've been reading the Bible recently, and feel like as Christians we need to do more to celebrate. Why aren't we keeping all of the feasts that are in the Old Testament? I want to talk to my pastor about this. I think maybe we should be keeping them. People have to be attracted to Christianity, and if they can see the joy involved in our celebrations, that is one way to draw people." Later, I had the chance to talk with him and share how my church had been led to celebrate the feasts under the gospel, and how it was also a way to look ahead to what God will do. I was also brought up short a bit when I realized that I don't think I have the celebratory attitude that God intends us to have each time we attend a Feast. If that's the case, shame on me. So let's prepare to rock the House come September!