Homecoming Banquet!

Hey ya'll! I write this to you in a very tired state. I was up really late last night writing a book review for Old Testament Theology on Stephen Dempster's Dominion and Dynasty. The book's thesis is that we need to be reading the Old Testament as a whole and finding unity in the text. We too long have focused on the minute details of the Old Testament and have missed the main concepts. Dempster argues that the two themes he sees emerging through all of the Old Testament are Dominion (Land) and Dynasty (Genealogies). These twin themes weave their way into the text and give all the small details in the narrative unity. But I won't bore you with the details :) I really recommend this book if you are seeking to understand the Old Testament better. Because I love all of you and I know most of you (if not all of you!) want to understand God's Word more - this is my message to you (from my meager two years of being a Bible major!): Don't ignore the Old Testament!!! It may seem really confusing at times, but there is SO much richness there that you cannot afford to miss. It really unlocks the New Testament when you understand the Old. Alright - I'll get off my high horse now :) But seriously, if you are at a loss as to where to start, let me know, and I'll give you some suggestions. This has seriously changed my life and I think the church needs to fall in love with the scriptures as a whole again.

Ok - to what this post was ORIGINALLY supposed to be about - Homecoming banquet! So my tiny school has a lot of banquets every year, and the first one is Homecoming. At Bryan, it is traditional for the guys to come up with a creative way to ask the girls to the banquet, so it is fun to hear all the stories. I went in a group with my friend Ryan. Him and his friend Nate asked me and a friend, Diane, by giving us scrammbeled notes in our mailboxes that we had to decifer. We finally figured out where to meet them and when. When we got to the spot, they walked out of the chapel and asked us :) Sweet!

The banquet was really neat. It was an under the sea theme, complete with goldfish centerpieces. I won the gold fish at my table. Sadly, Campy (named after my friend Hannah Camp) and Stevie (named after my dad!) are now in Fishy heaven :( I tried folks - I really tried. Anyway - after the good meal and entertainment, our dates took us to Wal-Mart (Dayton is a SMALL town - we do what we can!) and we did a scavenger hunt for ingredients for a desert we were going to make. After this we went to a prof's house, made our desert and watched a movie. Fun times! Although I'm not a big fan of all the hype and drama that goes into banquets at Bryan (sometimes it seems a little High School), I am trying to appreciate them and enjoy then while I can, since this is such a short season of my life.

I snapped pictures all night - here are some of my faves!