I’m Back
Don November 6th, 2009
“Well, I’m back,” as Sam said to Rosie at the end of The Lord of the Rings. After a week lecturing for Summit Ministries at Snow Wolf Lodge near Pagosa Springs, Colorado (see “The Queen and her Handmaids,” Oct. 12), I got back to a week of undone work and Pre-Registration week with its academic advising frenzy for Spring semester, as well as the last two weeks of frantic preparation for Shakespeare’s “Much Ado about Nothing,” being put on by the Toccoa Falls College Drama Club. I’m the faculty adviser to the Drama Club as well as being Father Francis in the play. So I haven’t had a moment for blogging. Until now. So here are a couple of miscellaneous thoughts to get started again.
Summit Ministries is a great organization. Their students are the most intelligent, prepared, and receptive, and their staff the most sharp and focused in their application of Scripture to the issues of the day, that I ever meet. If you ever have a chance to attend–or send your young people to–one of their two-week Christian Worldview camps, do it. Google them and you will see what I mean.
I do not have time to be in a play. So why am I doing it this semester (other than general insanity)? It’s Shakepeare! ‘Nuff said. But it’s also a chance to spend time with students outside of class. You get to bond with some of the best in new ways, which is worthwhile in itself. But that bonding that takes place outside of class is a powerfully transformative factor in the students’ ability to receive what you want to give them inside of class. Many faculty members do not sufficiently appreciate this fact. I come to appreciate it more with each passing year.
Donald T. Williams, Phd