Life is for service

Sometimes I look back on the past few years and wonder how we got to where we are today. I know that it is all from God because we are in a great place and it is clear that this is where God wants us to be and we are doing what he wants us to be doing right now. But several years ago while I was in Bible college I thought I was so sure of where I was supposed to be headed, but I wasn't really. A public library didn't sound like something you train for in Bible college, although I always liked going to the library and I even worked in the college library. It's clear to see that everything I did was preparing me for where I am right now, and everything I'm doing right now is preparing me for whatever God has for me next.

So how was my time at Bible college preparing me to be a librarian? The motto at Appalachian Bible College is "... because life is for service." A librarian is a service position! Think about it: just about everything you get at the library is free--that's service! If I find a book for someone in Jesus' name, I have found a book for Jesus.

When you don't watch TV

I'm taking an online class this month called Libraries, Literature, & Young Adults, and I'm learning some valuable stuff! Actually, the only online part of the class is that our syllabus and assignment sheet were posted online, and we have to post our thoughts on a discussion board to share with the class. Other than that we just have our textbook to read from and some assignments, which include a 4-page critical response to a book of our choice from a list, two 2-page reviews of articles from VOYA magazine, and annotations of 24 YA books that we have read. Aside from actually going to class, this seems like a normal amount of work for a 3-credit-hour course, but instead of it being spread out over 3 months, we have 1 month to do it! All this reading seems like a lot, but I'm finding that I'm able to do it. It's amazing how much reading you can get done when you cut down on the TV viewing. I feel a lot better as a person after reading a book than after watching TV, too!

Don't get me wrong, I still like watching TV sometimes, but it's good to take note of how you spend your time each day so that it is not wasted. (That applies to time spent on the internet, too...)

Riding a bike again

I rode my bike approximately 11 miles today, and it felt good to do that! I had to walk it up a steep hill in a couple places, but other than that I was able to keep a good pace. I've had this bike--a Cannondale--for a couple months, but this was the first time I rode it any good distance, and I'm glad to have it. The Raleigh bike I had in the summer of 2005 was a good bike, too, but it is no more...

Before today I hadn't ridden this far in about 7 years! I want to get back into it, but I still don't like riding up steep hills.

New Blog

Please take note of my new blog: Young Adult Book Reviews (link on the left of the screen). I'm trying to start something helpful for the teens at my public library that they could get involved with, but we'll see how it goes.

Progressive

http://www.austin360.com/tv/content/tv/stories/2008/10/1020progressive.html
It's good to see I'm not the only one! I have MetLife and I'm happy with it, but I do enjoy those Progressive insurance commercials!

Mysterious

I've never seen myself as a mysterious person. I'm different from a lot of other guys in that I don't really like guns or sports all that much, but I'm pretty sure people know who I am & what I'm all about. I think a lot of people are mysterious but don't realize how mysterious they are. That, or maybe there just isn't much too them...

In pursuing my Master's in Library Science, however, I think I've become more mysterious. Most people really don't know what librarians do! All most library patrons see is the person who checks out books to them & put books back on the shelves, but those people are usually not even librarians--they are usually library assistants or volunteers, although the librarians do that, too. Some of my family wonder, "What is Library Science? Why do you have to go to grad school to check out books?" Someone may ask, "So, did you put away a lot of books today?" I do spend a good amount of time putting away books, but that's not the main thing. Lately I've been doing a lot of cataloging of new books. Think about all the books, movies, etc. that are in the library. Most of the time we are able to find whatever you are looking for in a few minutes. How do you think that's possible? Until you have actually worked in a library, & sometimes even after that, you will probably not understand what Library Science entails, so I guess that makes me mysterious!

As long as people know what it means to me to be a Christian & what I believe about the Bible, I guess that's all they really need to understand.

I just read Batman: R.I.P., & it was a really good book (graphic novel). I had read comments online about Bruce Wayne dying in the comics, but either the people posting are trying to confuse people, they never actually read the whole thing, or they were confused by it themselves. It's a really complicated story because the bad guys are toying with Batman's mind in an effort to clone him, & the end it's hard to tell what actually happened & what were implanted memories. From what I can tell, though, Batman is not dead at the end, Thomas Wayne was not a sinister villain, & Bruce Wayne is still Batman.

In addition to keeping you glued to the page, it gives a great summary of all the important parts of the Batman storyline, including Richard Grayson becoming Robin & then Nightwing, Jason Todd becoming Robin & being killed by the Joker, Barbara Gordon being shot & paralyzed, and Tim Drake becoming Robin.