Wishing I read my Bible more like my casebooks... and my first moment of distinction

I have now completed my first full week of classes. I made it!! And more importantly I enjoyed it. Here are few brief glimpses into the first week...

I read a LOT. I spent about 20 hours this weekend reading, and re-reading, and re-re-reading for my first few classes. I had hoped to read everything for the whole week and it didn't happen, so this week I tried to fit in even more reading at night after class and at work when things weren't super crazy. I'm actually enjoying the reading and outlining though. I've already developed a color-coding system for highlighting my cases... green for facts, blue for procedural posture, pink for rules of law, yellow for court ruling, and orange for dicta. That way if I need to find something important and my briefs leave me hanging, I can quickly identify the information. It makes the pages look so much prettier too!!

I wish I read my Bible like my casebooks. With all the highlighting and analysis and digging into these cases, I realized that I would get much more out of the Bible if I tore it apart like I do the cases. Often I read the Bible passively, looking for a "Word just for me" or some kind of comfort. But not often enough do I really study, really analyze, really find out what treasure this Book really holds. Just like I will never be able to go to a case, find a statement that seems to support my argument and use it out of context and without authority, it's ridiculous that I go to the Bible and try to take a verse or idea and apply out of context and without any analysis. It's a good challenge to me to dig deeper in the Word of God!

I miss my friends. I knew it would be hard having to limit my social life and commit all spare time to my studies, but I'm experiencing it being hard already. Having to say no to parties, dinners, even having to limit time on the phone to the time I'm driving is not fun. I have a tendency to feel isolated pretty easily, to give into the pity party the enemy tries to throw for me so often. I'm so incredibly blessed to have SOOO many people support me and pray for me and be patient with me, but it doesn't make up for actual interaction. Thankfully I have a great roommate now, but between my schedule and hers (she's a teacher), I don't even see her very often. I'm slowly making friends with a few people in my classes, but we only see each other in class (and I'm pretty sure nobody else in my class lives South of I-30). So to my friends: please still love me even when I don't get to see you!!

I had my first moment of distinction this week. And those of you who know me at all know that my distinctive moments are not always graceful or flattering! In true form I stuck my foot in my mouth yet again and gained special recognition. While waiting outside our classroom with my back to the end of the hall I visited with a few classmates before class started. We had been talking a little bit when the awkward silence that falls when people are just getting to know each other invaded our conversation. Trying to think of something interesting to talk about with my potential future friends, I asked them if they knew if we had to have answers prepared for the questions our professor had emailed the day before. They made some funny faces and just told me I could ask him myself. I thought that was an odd response, and was not deterred from trying to kick out the awkward silence, so I told them I was sure glad he sent out that email because I didn't know what in the heck he was talking about in class! They just made more funny faces and I got frustrated that I wasn't getting any real response, so in a last ditch effort to be funny I said, "I mean I know we're all going to BS it anyway, right??" That's when their faces went from funny to utterly contorted and all their eyes went to the back of the hall. I finally looked behind me and, standing about 15 feet behind me, was our dear professor. I casually turned back around, red-faced I'm sure, rolled my eyes, and tried to say a bit more loudly, "I know it's going to be a great discussion!" My classmates laughed, possibly lied and told me that they were sure he didn't hear me. Soon those three were telling others and one made sure I knew that I was going to be the talk of the section that night. What an introduction to law school! By the way, I made a point to make meaningful contribution to the the class discussion that night.