"Stupid algebra... when are we ever gonna use this junk when we're grown up, anyway?" --pretty much every Jr. Higher ever (myself included)

God had a little fun with me Tuesday afternoon. I'm wanting to double-major and spend a semester in Israel and graduate in four years, so this all means that I need to take a few community college classes over the summer to get some gen. ed. out of the way. So, over to good ol' COC I went, filled out my 2-page scantron application...
(random rambling sidenote: there were so many politically-correct descriptions of every type of race and ethnicity possible-- I wanted to put I was an african-american/latino whose upbringing was that of a pacific islander, but I could only check one box-- I just laughed and put plain old "white"-- apparently "black" is too politically incorrect, it must be "african american", but nobody bothers changing "white" to "european-american"-- I'll let you ponder the irony for a while-- and no, I am not a racist)
...and then I was told I needed to take a placement test to see "what classes I should be put in to best help me succeed" (which I figured out pretty quick was a disgustingly sugar-coated way of saying "we want to see first if you can even speak English and then after that see how dumb you really are"). So I proceeded to get lost, not once, but twice, trying to find the classroom in which the test was being administered. Once I found the place, I was told to wait outside. As I stood there for about 20 minutes, I was pretty bored. I was thinking things like "this test is gonna be cake... c'mon, this is COC... how hard could it possibly be?" Then they called my name and I went in, sat before computer screen and started my test.

Holy cow.

The English part wasn't so bad, and in fact, I did really well. But the math was a different story. I couldn't remember how to do 8th grade algebra. I couldn't remember how to factor trinomial equations. I couldn't remember the rules on multiplying exponents. I felt so stupid, I just started laughing. People were staring at me. I didn't care. I found it hysterical. The one thing I've only been good at my entire life has been school, and here I was, not knowing how to do Jr. High algebra.

But then it hit me. There are no coincidences. I was at COC, taking that test, and doing terribly, for a reason. I think God wanted to show me something. A number of things, actually. The first is obvious-- I still need to repent of my sinful pride that exemplifies itself in how cocky I can get regarding academics. The second thing that hit me was a little more subtle, though. I was reminded of the play "Flowers for Algernon", in which the main character, Charlie, is mentally handicapped, but has a procedure performed on him which dramatically raises his intelligence. Over time, though, the effects of the procedure wear off, and Charlie faces the inevitable reversal and the subsequent decreasing of his intelligence. I thought of 2 Corinthians 4:16, which reads "Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day." Here Paul talks about our physical outer man wasting away, and this is true. I see it in my parents: my dad has to stare at writing 4 inches away from his nose in order to read it. I see it in me, even: my baby pictures are pretty cute, but now when I stare in the mirror, I think "good grief, I'm ugly... if I'm ever gonna get married, it's gonna have to be to a blind chick." I think Paul would include the decreasing in mental facilities with the decaying of the outer man. The good thing is that we are always continuing in increasing in sanctification! That's what he means by the "inner man being renewed day by day." Another day walking with Jesus in simple faith and studying the word is another day that we grow. I see this in my grandmother. She's got all sorts of things wrong with her body, but as she gets older and weaker, her faith gets stronger.

So yeah, I don't remember how to do 8th grade math (actually, it bugged me so much that I went home, dug out my old math notes from Jr. High-- I never throw anything away-- and I re-taught myself how to factor trinomials!), but I do know that what is truly important, what should be chief and paramount in my life, is that I pursue that which renews my inner man every day-- the study of God's word. That's what we should all be after as Christians-- the study of God's word and the knowlege of Him. In Philippians 3, we find that every thing else we could possibly know or do or be all pale in comparison (literally, they are dung) compared to knowing Christ better. And that's where I want to be.