West Coast Baptist College student
Archive for December, 2009
Ten years
Dec 31st
I remember turning 10 back in 2000 and feeling so amazed that I was finally in the double digits and that we were in a new millennium… wow, a lot has happened since then! I’ve seen a lot of dreams come true; as a matter of fact, I’m living one of my dreams right now just by being a student at West Coast. Music has taken me to places and put me on platforms that I only dreamed of (and that all who heard me play ten years ago could not fathom). Some of my heroes are now my friends, and I get to learn from the most amazing group of Christians that I have ever met. God has been good.
Some things that I thought were the permanent foundations of my life turned out to be temporary and disappointing, but you know, the good has really outweighed the bad, and the disappointing events have dimmed in my memory, leaving the warm nostalgic memories, which I think means that I really did have it pretty good.
As I watched the ball drop in NYC on tv tonight, I reflected, and I can’t help but wonder where I’ll be in 2020… with whom I’ll be… and whose lives I’ll have touched between now and then. This last decade, people have poured their lives into me… this next decade, I want to make an impact on others!
What’s ten years compared to eternity? I guess Heaven will tell… but I’m looking forward to it!
Happy New Year!
this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
- Philippians 3:13, 14
Merry Christmas!
Dec 24th
I love the nostalgic memories of the excitement of the month of December from earlier in my childhood. The play or musical at church… the decorations at home… watching the presents pile up under the tree… eagerly waiting for Grandma to drive in through the snow… Christmas Eve, getting to open one present and listening to old-time Christmas songs on the record player… the smell of potpourri in the house… knowing Luke 2:1-20 by heart: the things that made Christmas, Christmas for me.
While those days are now in my wonderful, warm memories, Christmas is just as real and means even more to me now because of the Savior who was born and now lives in my heart. I pray that it means the same to you for the same reason, because then, no matter where you happen to be at Christmas time, your heart is full of gratitude and love because of Him.
Merry Christmas one and all!
It’s over…
Dec 18th
The semester is finished, and even though I’m happy to relax for a few weeks, I do miss school already. Before I started school, it seemed like it would never get here, but now that I’m in it, it’s going too fast! The proverb makes more sense now:
Only one life, ’twill soon be passed, only what’s done for Christ will last.
- China Inland Mission
We finished finals on Tuesday, and I think I did alright, but the day (that the report card comes) shall declare it. (All of these links are to the professors’ information on the college’s faculty page.)
I got something like a 97 in Freshman Speech with Bro. Goetsch, not sure what I got in Personal Evangelism with Bro. Ferrso, but he let us have open notes for 10 minutes! (Bro. Ferrso is awesome!)
Romans with Bro. Keely was a great class too, Romans was almost a verse-by-verse study of the way the book is laid out and how it describes the righteousness of God and our how we are affected by it.
Structure of the Bible with Bro. Butterfield was a good refresher course on dispensationalism, and almost a survey of the Bible.
I actually took Old Testament Survey with Bro. Lester, and I think I learned the most in that class. I would take as many classes with him as I could if I were just starting at WCBC. We learned much about the story of Elisha and the children who mocked his baldness (II Kings 2:24), actually we didn’t, but he is a great teacher and makes an hour-long class easy to stay engaged in.
US History I with Dr. R was a great first hour class as well, even if we’re sleepy, his teaching style is wonderful, and the practical life lessons he throws into the lectures make the class worth it.
English Grammar with Mrs. Goetsch was an easy class, and I signed up to take Composition with her next semester.
Most guys take Practical Theology with Pastor Chappell and Bro. Keely for four semesters, and as the name implies, it’s lectures by pastor and a couple guests each semester teaching us some of the very practical aspects of ministry.
Of course, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention my piano teacher, Daniel Hopkins. I have progressed more this semester than I ever did in an entire year or two. Bro. Hopkins is in my opinion, the best pianist here at Lancaster Baptist and West Coast, and if you get the opportunity to take lessons from him, or even listen to him play, soak it all in.
Really, every class was great this semester, and if I could rewind to late August when I was still more a high schooler than a college student, I would take the same classes. I have grown up so much since I’ve been here, in ways that I don’t think I ever would have had I stayed at home another semester. So, to close off this semester, I leave you with the theme verse of our church and college:
Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel. Philippians 1:27
I hope that you have a wonderful Christmas season, a happy New Year, and I’ll see you back here at the end of January for the start of the next semester of school.
Thanksgiving break
Dec 1st
Well, today you have the misfortune of reading a more descriptive post than normal, because even though almost more happens in one week at college than did on this break, I now have time to write about it!
Last week on Tuesday we wrapped up classes for Thanksgiving break, and to celebrate, we had a potluck in the dorm. “Potluck” is a polite way of saying the we collectively committed the sin of gluttony. As in, we spent money we didn’t have on unbelievable amounts of food, brought it back on forklifts, and ate, and ate, and ate.
And then we took our dorm picture. Allow me to explain the embarrassment of one guy, possibly me, during this situation. A guy with a pretty nice camera (which, as I would later learn, was equipped with a timer and video recording capabilities) had it set up on a tripod, and all of us were just goofing off, trying to make a pyramid, but one of us, possibly me, didn’t know that Braden had the video rolling and was planning on just editing out one frame later on. I said that we were goofing off and trying to make a pyramid… well, most of us were, one of us, possibly me, was standing in the back holding up his iPhone taking pictures,
and when everyone finally got into position, he was standing there with a dumb expression on his face… to be preserved for posterity on the huge dorm poster that will be printed with a professional matte finish and hung in the lobby for a year.
“Michael, you’re always different.” – Dr. Mark Rasmussen, US History I 11-20-09
That’s what happens the night before Thanksgiving break in Heritage I, and I would have stayed up for the slumber party if I hadn’t had to drive to the San Francisco area the next day, but most of the guys dragged their mattresses out to the lobby and did most everything but sleep for the rest of the night and morning. The two guys who rode with me the next morning got some great sleep in my car, and I was happy that I had slept the night before. 
We had a nice trip to Manteca, and the Silver Bullet handled well, though it likes to fishtail at 75 mph in the gravel on the side of the highway. Just kidding I did get us lost on the way up and we hit terrible traffic on the way back, so both ways we spent a lot of extra time in the car. I was able to get some extra rest, but not enough to not look forward to Christmas break!
I saw reindeer, (provided by California Reindeer Rental Inc. [pictured here looking somewhat forlorn in the desert climate])
A (normal-sized) house with more lights than I have ever seen in one place
complete with a train circling the yard (not running yet)
Moving on: my “friend” dragged me out of bed at 5:30 the next morning to go fishing in a muddy river and wear Bass Pro Shop hats. It actually was fun; it had been a few years since I had watched people fish. (What? Did you think I would spend $25 whole dollars on a fishing license?) (Ahahaha!)
Here’s what I was watching:
But I was listening to some music, so the combo of watching people not catching fish and beautiful Christmas music made a great day. Thanks Ryan and family!
My friend’s church rents a building with another church, so they have their service in the afternoon, which allowed me to go over to North Valley Baptist in Santa Clara for their 11 A.M. service.
Of course North Valley and Golden State are great ministries up in the Bay Area, and it was so nice to visit there for a service. Dr. Trieber and Alvin Martinez were very kind, and of course it was awesome to listen to the two Bosendorfer pianos!
So with that nutshell, or bombshell, of a synopsis, you now know what I did on break, and ten minutes of your life have been irretrievably lost… thanks for reading!