The Home Stretch

Well, there’s just another week and a half left in the program! I’ve got another 3 papers left, and then I’m home free. Huh, leave it to Oxford to make me start reckoning time in the amount of papers I have left. It sure will be nice to be home once again.

I it was really nice to have Mom, Dad and Caleb up for this past week. I worked over part of the “Spring Break” we got here so that I’d be ready for them and not get too far behind and it was good thing I did. I completely lost any initiative to work while they were here, so I just put it all on hold and ran around with them for a week. And After the two papers I’ve written this week, I think I’m back on schedule.

That vast, green expanse you see behind me and Caleb in the picture is none other than Old Trafford, the stadium where Manchester United Football Club plays their home matches. The trip to Manchester with Caleb was the icing on the cake for the visit over. After a slight mix up with the busses and a little drama with train tickets, we wound up making it Manchester just an hour later then we initially planned, and were still able to take the 2 hour long guided tour of the stadium the day before the game. We stayed at a really cool hostile and picked all of our restaurants for the two days we were there by which ones gave us free refills on drinks. I had only eaten American food once since I got here, but last weekend was my reintroduction to States cuisine. One trip a piece to Pizza Hut and Subway with a double shot of KFC and I consumed more coke in one weekend then I had in all of my time over here combined. Caleb got the record at Pizza Hut, however. No more than 15 seconds after the waitress put his Pepsi on the table, the glass was empty, and she asked if he’d like a refill. It was a site to behold.

Caleb and I made it back to Oxford around 11:30 Sunday night, and caught a bus up to the Bed and Breakfast where my parents were staying. I spent the night there with them there, got up to eat Breakfast and we said our goodbyes. They came at a great time, knowing that I would be home in a little less than a month made it not so hard to say goodbye, but long enough to make me glad I didn’t try to stick it out to the end.

So, the home stretch. The most comforting thing is knowing that in a week and a half, regardless all else, it will be done. In that respect, I kind of feel like Ransom in Perelandra (ya’ll knew I had to get my Lewis reference in). It doesn’t matter if that point at which it is all finished happens to occupy a place we refer to as “future”. God’s not confined by time, He’s bigger than that ;0). Therefore, all times (past, present, future) are continually in His presence. This idea gives a new reality to the fact that we are “crucified with Christ” and His blood covers our sins. When God the Father looks at us, He doesn’t see our sinfulness, because His Son’s sacrifice is in an indefinite state of present before His eyes, and therefore, we are indefinitely covered by that sacrifice.

Is that Orthodox? Is it mind blowing? I don’t see why it can’t be both, but I’ve been wrong before…