August 27, 2000 6:14 pm

Ahhhhhh. Back at school again. It's been a good summer. Unfortunately, I didn't update all that much on Greg's page, but I'll point you to the times that I did.... They are here, June 12, and here, June 13. Just a little bit about how Lisa's visit went, and so forth. It was a lot of fun :-)

Overall, I had a wonderful summer. My job was great, SFC was great, catching up with Sam and Greg was great, as well as getting to know Sam Wu and Jay Ho better. There was a lot of good stuff going on. I got my med school applications out (at least the first parts of them), and just had a good time being home.

Well, I still gotta unpack and totally rearrange my room since Food and Housing here at Rice totally slacked and didn't do anything for us. :-( More to come later, I promise.

Just thoughts.

August 30, 2000 10:34 pm

Well, I think I've finally settled in some. The couch is up, the books are up. The computer, speakers, and printer are all up and running. Listening to FFH right now, actually. Lenny is settled in. The furniture is right. Things have finally finished up. The walls are bare, though. We'll have to work on that. I need to find some nails, I think.

We're going to be having an all-campus praise thing next Thursday, which I was really looking forward to, but for some reason, last night, at the meeting, I really didn't seem to care. I almost felt like I didn't want to be at the planning meeting. I'm not sure why, though.

I guess there's a lot of stuff going through my mind right now, especially about unity here at Rice, and how the different groups are reacting to it, and what not. For example, not to pick on BSM today, but at Noonpraise, I was sorta, well, not happy with the way they presented things. There were some underhanded jabs (intentional or not) at Bible studies that may not provide the same sense of "community" as a community group might have. And you could still feel the "freshmen feeding frenzy" attitude, sorta. At least I could, and that bugged me. It's always been my position that with Rice the way it is, and Rice students having demands on their time like they do, the attitude of freshmen workers should be that of helping the freshmen find the place on campus where God wants them. Not where we think they should be, but to honestly and earnestly help them find their place, whether it's in FCA, CCC, BSM, IV, or whatever. That's what I told my freshmen right off the bat last year, and I wish all the groups would do that. I think it would take a lot of pressure of the frosh, so that they don't feel as if they HAVE to pick or something like that.

I remember various people saying that Rice students have problems with pride, although sometimes it may be more subtle than other times. I think this is one of those times when it nails us Christians bad. We like to think that our group has more to offer than another. We like to think we do something better than another group. These things may or may not be true, but too often, I think, it gets in the way of our remembering the important thing - namely, that all our stuff is not about getting more people to come to our stuff, but to make sure that every freshmen who is looking for spiritual feeding, Christian or not, finds the right place. Not the group we think is right, but the one that truly meets their needs - the group that God wants for them.

I'm sorry if this entry sounds really bashing on anyone, but it's just a feeling I get, which may or may not be accurate, although I think that I'm pretty on the money. People may not be doing it intentionally, but it's there. Even the staff may be partially responsible for perpetuating parts of this attitude.

Just thoughts.

August 31, 2000 5:42 pm

For your enjoyment, in case you don't already know about this. Stinky Meat II

Just thoughts.

August 31, 2000 9:49 pm

Allow me to be brutally honest here. I'm not feeling so well, so I may come across a little stronger than I mean to. But I feel like I need to say this somewhere, and soon.

Crusade, IV, and BSM, are you guys DUMB OR WHAT??

The reason I say this is because tonight, there were all the initial meetings of Crusade Bible studies in the various colleges at 7 pm in the commons. There was also the Sid/Lovett/Will Rice/Baker InterVarsity small group. And then there was that BSM fresmen root beer float thing. Now, I want to make it clear I have nothing at all against the individuals planning this various things, or the leaders of the groups, on any personal level. What does make me a little upset is that after all the stuff various people have said that they want about presenting a united Body to the freshmen, we still make it impossible for them to check out a group without skipping out on other groups' activities. That's just poor planning on our (the 3 groups) part. Very poor. It is NOT that tough to communicate so that the freshmen have a chance to check out everything. I feel sorta removed from this, because I didn't help plan any of these dates. And I tried to help facilitate and encourage inter-group communication last year, with the calendars and stuff.

I mean, this all-campus praise thing seems REALLY hypocritical to me now, especially after the 3 conflicting activities of tonight. It makes no sense to me whatsoever. If our goals are what I spelled out in yesterday's entry, then y'know what? We should be making MORE of an effort to make sure all the groups are available, at least at first, to the freshmen. Schedule conflicts are inevitable. But does it have to start the 1st week with the 1st meetings?

However, what is done is done, and cannot be changed. Perhaps we can at least learn from this for next year, and the years to come. I do believe there will be a day when the Body of Christ at Rice will be able to present a united front to the freshmen, instead of this fragmented alliance of different groups.

Just thoughts.