smarterthanhelooks's Xanga

Why My High School Is Awesome

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 01:46:13 GMT

It's probably unusual to feel a loyalty toward one's high school like many do toward their college, but I still love Freedom, which is why I volunteered to write the following article for the school's current "Freeing Freedom" capital campaign. I wish everyone had the opportunity to attend this kind of academy. They simply have a better model of education. Quote:

God regularly gives us tasks that would be impossible apart from His grace, and bringing up kids in the fear and admonition of the LORD must be one of the foremost among these. I remember – only two U.S. Presidents ago I was a kid making life difficult for my own parents. Four years at Freedom, however, have convinced me that this school is an extraordinarily helpful conduit of God's child-instructing grace. Freedom represents the confluence of excellent teachers, heavily-involved parents, classical educational philosophy, and unflinching commitment to the authority of Scripture. Finding all of these together in one institution is rare; how many schools build a good reputation based on only two or three such elements?

The quality of Freedom's teachers became increasingly apparent during my freshman year in college. Fellow Freedom alumnus Ryan Lang and I were in Chemistry for Engineers, one of Cedarville University's "weeder" classes. A weeder class is one which, intentionally or otherwise, would help about half of the incoming students in our major decide that perhaps engineering was not for them. Ryan and I found it easy; Mrs. Sharpe had taught us the material so thoroughly in 11th grade that we were able to excel where equally-intelligent classmates struggled. For several of our classes, including General Physics I, Speech, and especially Composition, we discovered that the academic standards of Freedom teachers were actually higher than those of our professors. The head start we enjoyed as Freedom alumni enabled us to provide leadership in the classroom and devote precious time out of the classroom to our other assignments. I should add that Freedom's teachers are incredible about getting to know their students personally. Attending athletic events, leading extracurricular projects, visiting graduation open houses, even inviting us to their own homes – Freedom faculty far surpass their job descriptions (and salary grades!) to invest in the lives of their students.

God places final responsibility for a child's education not on vocational teachers, but on parents, so another facet of the school's excellence is that it encourages and experiences a high level of parental involvement. The consequence of this involvement is that parents come to know the administrators and teachers very well, and can be confident that what their children are learning will align with their values and expectations.

Freedom may also even exceed their parents' expectations. As a school committed to the classical model of education, Freedom employs some of the same pedagogical practices as Oxford and other elite colleges of today, and nearly all great colleges of the past. For me, that meant training in formal logic, learning directly from the great works of western civilization, and much practice in synthesizing facts and reasoning to craft persuasive communications. Hopefully I have not conveyed the impression that the classical approach is for elite students while the "normal" approach is for normal students; the difference between them is one of worldview presuppositions rather than of targeted student categories. The "normal" approach in America is the one pioneered by John Dewey, an atheistic social Darwinist who denied the existence of knowable ultimate truth. Ideas have consequences, and Freedom's educational model is better for all kinds of students because it rests on better ideas.

Of course, the best ideas come from God Himself, and the last thing I love about my Freedom education is the extent to which Scripture permeated it. I do not refer only to the chapels, the Bible classes, the mission trips, the daily Bible studies, or the prayer meetings, though each of these was phenomenal – rather, the whole experience was Bible-centered. Originally, the word "university" alluded to "the universality of knowledge," the understanding that every field of study was just part of a larger, unified body of God's truth. Freedom maintains this tradition, even as most "universities" today offer a fragmented and disconnected education. The Bible was our foundation, our theater, our contact lens; a required textbook in classes ranging from Physical Science to Modern History. It became a part of our student culture – my class matured and bonded dramatically during our four years of high school, and many of us still keep regular contact. At the time of this writing, in fact, two other Class of '04 Freedom grads are spending the afternoon with me in my Chicago apartment.

Therefore, because Freedom is such a rare and excellent school making such a tremendous impact on the lives of its students, I invite anyone reading this testimonial to join me in pledging to donate to Freedom, despite today's hard economic conditions. I also urge those with school-aged children to consider giving them the same educational opportunity I've enjoyed – and it might not require as much financial sacrifice as one would expect. My own family recovered about 85% of my high school tuition in the form of college scholarships, earned in large part through the knowledge and work ethic I picked up at Freedom. Even if it does require financial sacrifice, however, Freedom is exactly the kind of sacrifice which, in God's economy, starts to look a lot like a savvy investment.

"Chicago" verse 1

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 04:24:05 GMT

... and remember, normal blog reading habits don't work here. Poems must be read aloud.

Windows gape on rain-soaked street;
Earth's tumult and heaven's meet.
Siren yelps against the street:
Depravity! Captivity!

"And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies."

Broad is the Road

Fri, 26 Dec 2008 00:41:52 GMT

How can a small church become a mega-church?

The seeker-friendly/church-growth movement offers the fastest and easiest answer to this question, and has been immensely popular in America throughout the last few decades. By utilizing public opinion polls, smart marketing techniques, and dynamic CEO/pastors, these churches offer entertaining services and relevant, non-threatening messages in attractive, welcoming buildings. The movement has achieved phenomenal numerical success, but as the recent Reveal report from pioneer seeker-friendly church Willow Creek admits, it has not been as successful in bringing its many congregants to spiritual maturity or even to salvation.

Listening in on a recent conversation among enthusiastic members of churches following the church-growth philosophy reminded me that this trend is far from dead. It also suggested that I and they have directly opposing assumptions about the very nature of church.

> Does a church's identity and unity arise from its style of music, dress code, cultural background, and average age rather than its union with Christ?

> Are church services for unbelievers rather than believers?

> Should the church be man-directed and man-focused rather than God-directed and God-focused?

Answering "yes" to all of these questions would mean this is a great church (they have indoor slides for the kids! wow!); answering "no" will lead one to a church like this (at which I am the newest member).

Amazing difference between these two short pages.

Note that emerging churches implicitly answer the above questions exactly the same way, but for a different demographic.

2008 Desiring God National Conference

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 11:11:02 GMT

The Power of Words and the Wonder of God

A close friend and I just returned from Minneapolis last night - what a weekend of joy and accelerated sanctification. I even had the chance to talk to Paul Tripp in person, meet reps from Crossway Books and Sovereign Grace Music and Christian Heritage Publishers (from Grand Rapids!) and the Banner of Truth Trust, and have dinner with a student from the Bethlehem Institute.

And get books. I am inescapably out of shelf space once again.

The sessions this year were:

Sinclair Ferguson - “The Tongue, the Bridle, and the Blessing”
Driscoll, Ferguson, Piper - Friday Panel Discussion
Bob Kauflin - “Words of Wonder: What Happens When We Sing?”
Mark Driscoll - “How Sharp the Edge: Christ, Controversy, and Cutting Words”
Daniel Taylor - “The Life-Shaping Power of Story: God’s and Ours”
Kauflin, Piper, Taylor, Tripp - Saturday Panel Discussion
Paul Tripp - “War of Words: Getting to the Heart for God’s Sake”
John Piper - “Is There Christian Eloquence? Clear Words and the Wonder of the Cross”

Free mp3s and videos are available at:

http://theologica.blogspot.com/
http://www.desiringgod.org/Blog/

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 11:04:07 GMT

Still alive! I haven't set up internet in my new apartment yet, so xanga use has been limited. Maybe by autumn, but I rather enjoy spending the extra time I would normally waste online to READ. C.S. Lewis's Space Trilogy is fascinating, by the way, especially Perelandra.

I came across the following Martin Luther quote recently:

"I myself... owe my papists [Roman Catholic persecutors] many thanks for so beating, pressing, and frightening me through the devil’s raging that they have turned me into a fairly good theologian."

What men intend for evil, God intends for good. Always. It takes a long time, walking closely with God, before one's first response to suffering is gladness and gratitude, but such is the command of James 1:2-4:

"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."

I *love* working for Caterpillar here in SW Chicago - hope everybody else's summer is going just as well.

Stay in the Word.

Moving Day

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 13:57:38 GMT

Tomorrow!

Baja Run

Wed, 28 May 2008 12:01:34 GMT

Most of my Formula team stayed after graduation to work on the car. One day, Ryan and I were bored while waiting for the engine guys to have the car ready. Ryan loves dirt-track racing and I'm a fan of off-roading vehicles. We took the Baja car out.

Our goal was to get muddy.

We succeeded.

We had to stop when I broke a shear pin in the steering shaft at the same time as Cedarville's tornado warning sirens started sounding (the weather was weird that day), so we went back to the dorm and took warm showers to wash several pounds of dirt out of our clothes and facial hair. The end.

Adolescence in America

Thu, 01 May 2008 22:14:13 GMT

Young adults in our country live far below their capacities

(an op-ed assignmnet from my Worldview Integration class)

I am now two days short of graduating from college, and this implies, among other things, that I can anticipate the same exclamation one hears at every major life threshold: “My goodness, they do grow up so quickly, don’t they?” With all due respect to Aunt Edna, we really don’t. By historical standards, in fact, Americans grow up almost a decade too late.

Before the late 1800s, the term “adolescent” did not exist, and neither did the social construct which accompanies it. Some lifestyles are unsustainable in all but America’s extravagantly-affluent 20^th and 21^st centuries. “Adolescence,” of course, is the artificial period of limbo between childhood and adulthood, during which time young people must discover and define their identity. The best way to discover and define one’s identity, naturally, is to spend one’s time, energy, and finances on entertainment and social functions. This maximizes one’s opportunities to gain wisdom from media outlets and one’s peers. The privileges of adulthood are conducive to discovering identities; the responsibilities of adulthood are not. Perpetual narcissism is merely part of the process. Adolescence is so entrenched in American culture that there are vast social institutions – the video game industry in particular – which depend directly on the existence of adolescent consumers, a market with a surfeit of disposable income and disposable time.

Perhaps my analysis is too cynical; perhaps adolescence is the inevitable response of human nature in the face of adulthood’s limitless possibilities in a complex world. If adolescence is natural, however, why does human nature chafe against it? Despite their privileges and freedom, American adolescents are some of the least-contented people in the world. It is no coincidence that the average person hears the word “angst” for the first time in reference to teenagers or the music they favor. Parents also chafe against adolescence, anticipating the teenage years of their children with a sense of resignation at best, for by cultural consensus, one of the primary means of self-discovery is fracturing one’s relationship with tyrannical Mom & Dad (while happily accepting their money for car insurance payments).

None of this need be. I didn’t discover my love for Shakespeare by reading Dr. Seuss; I picked up Julius Caesar. Similarly, it’s ridiculous that for a young man to set about “discovering” what kind of person he will become in the real world of adults by living in a faint shadow of that world. The defining characteristics of a grown-up man – and I pick on young men because we are typically the slowest to grow up – include courage, wisdom in discerning the worthless from the worthwhile, ethical maturity, a willingness to take responsibility for one’s actions, a sense of respect and protection toward women, and economic provision for one’s self and one’s family. A 13-year-old can begin to practice all of these traits if he is willing to forsake the laziness, self-centeredness, and triviality endemic to his sub-culture.

As a recovering adolescent myself, it is not my aim to be accusatory or discouraging. I simply hope to convince other young people that it is good to grow up. As an illustration, I am currently working with an engineering competition team to build a small Formula-style racecar. The leader of our team started his own lawn business as a teenager, working long hours, saving money, and buying capital until he owned $35K in business assets and earned an above-the-poverty-line income by age sixteen. The money he made helped send him through college, the mechanical expertise he gained by fixing lawn equipment helped him solve many problems that arose in building our car, and it is no accident that he became the team leader: he had been practicing manhood to a greater degree for a longer duration than had his teammates.

Summer is approaching quickly with ten thousand difficult, worthwhile opportunities for the uncommonly-ambitious. May adolescent readers truncate America’s 10-year social gestation period and prove themselves men.

Jackets Racing at FSAE Virginia

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 06:41:11 GMT

To those who don't know, my senior design project is to build a race car for the SAE* Formula competition with a team of 11 other Cedarville mechanical engineering seniors, and we've all devoted most of our out-of-class time and energy to the project this year. That's why it was really nice to make a strong appearance at the Virginia competition this year, from which we just returned.

The design judges remarked that they hadn't seen a young team with such a strong understanding of race car design theory, and awarded our team 5th place out of 33 in design (10 more teams, including schools like MIT, couldn't get their car done in time and declined to come, forfeiting their $1000 entry fee). That's a testament to the top-tier engineering education Cedarville offers, as well as the extraordinary commitment of our adviser, strong leadership from the team captains, and over 7000 hours of labor. We had some easily-fixable electrical issues that prevented us from accumulating a ton of points in the actual driving events, but when the car was running, it ran extremely well.

People kept telling us that our car also looks unusually stunning. Here's evidence.

* SAE = Society of Automotive Engineers.

Surfing to Calvary

Sun, 06 Apr 2008 03:29:42 GMT

Some websites entice users to spend great amounts of time on content that is trivial.

Others invite users to spend a minute on content that is weighty.

Every morning, Of First Importance adds another short, Gospel-centered quote from a pastor or theologian. I commend it to your browser.