10.28.06

All Your Ways are Good

Posted in Life at 8:48 pm by Adam B.

I am taking Greek and Hebrew this semester in school. Just Greek and Hebrew. I made the choice to attend Western Seminary because I have a lot of friends in the area, and because the school seemed to have a focus on ministry. That, and because it was half the cost of a similar program at Wheaton, the school where I got my MA in Church history. Wheaton was the first choice for this stage of my academic career until I was won over by the atmosphere and surroundings of the Portland area. Portland is a quaint city that is two hours from anything worth seeing: mountains, waterfalls, the ocean, the desert. While the drivers and pedestrians could all learn a lesson in road etiquette, it is much more comfortable and easy going than Chicago.

My first class took me by surprise. My Hebrew teacher was German. Not that I have anything against the Dutch (as he calls himself), but I was not thrilled at the prospect of learning Hebrew from a man for whom English was a second language. Then I found out my Greek teacher has a lisp. Great! My Hebrew will sound like German and my Greek like I’m six. I began to miss the upscale classrooms of super rich Wheaton with their polished, published, clearly enunciating teachers. What have I done?

Oh the depths of the riches of the mercy and humor of God (that’s not a literal translation from the Greek). My Germanic Hebrew teacher speaks better English than I and it turns out he is the voice reading the Hebrew vocabulary words on the Bible Works software package. More important, I am understanding Hebrew. Greek, too, has been a pleasure this time around. My Greek teachers style is perfectly suited to me. He asks me to do all the things I avoided the last time I tried Greek, and they actually work. Who would have thought doing homework would make such a difference. Taking Greek and Hebrew simultaneously has not been the burden I thought. I rather enjoy it. In my spare time* I have been reading, as you all know, which has been an extra source of delight. I get to see close friends almost daily. My wife is in a natural paradise, and a happy wife make a happy man. The fear of language is gone and the hard work of learning is balanced in the joys of knowing.

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