The Journal of Dr. Richard L. Sleight

OCTOBER 2005 EDITION 

Weight change in October, 191.5 to 185.5

Annie's potent appeal of the new SPU Human Resource policy that had slashed her scholarships was "granted."  She had won.  Or had she?  All of her scholarships were reinstated (and more). She could spend them on both tuition and room and board. This last distinction was huge.

	SPU Merit Fellow Scholarship	$10,000
	Eaton Scholarship	$2,000
	Alumni Scholarship	$1,500
	Valedictorian Scholarship	$1,500
	National Merit Scholarship	$2,000

But as I write this on October 7th, it is not at all clear that what Annie has won for herself, quite begrudgingly from the SPU administration, will be extended to those few other students in the exact same circumstances.  Since Annie put up a good fight, she won.  Others, who for lack of skill or will, did not fight as well (or at all) for their rights, will remain victims of truly poorly designed and badly executed policy. Where is ethics and fairness at this "Christian" school?  As a doctoral specialist in "educational policy," I am dismayed at my wayward employer.  I have learned also, that "grace filled community" is a platitude to the SPU administration.  They demand graciousness from others but will not extend it themselves.  It has been a shock to my worldview.

Alas, the issue can not be resolved by us.  The toothless (but not voiceless) Faculty Council will have to take up the gauntlet of battle for others.  I hope they do. (On October 22 my Dean mentioned to me that the issue is indeed not dead and that further statements from the administration are pending.  The word "apology" was mentioned.  For my part, the word "forgiveness" must guide here.) 

Teaching, Teaching, Teaching
 
Monday morning, Tuesday afternoon, Wednesday morning, Thursday afternoon, Friday morning (and maybe even Saturday morning.)  This roller coaster of a weekly schedule has got me reeling.  I tell myself that if I were a High School teacher I'd have six classes every weekday so why consider this so hectic.  It is just that I have another job, my never ending staff jobs that have to get done on top of teaching.  I'm grading homework at home four nights a week, and doing SL8.COM jobs or Cross Country web pages or some other duty that leaves no time for relaxing.  Maybe relaxation is an optional luxury.  But on Sunday, October 15th, I still found time to attend the Seattle Seahawks vs. the Houston Texans at Qwest Field - a 42-10 Seahawks win!  Brother Randy had a extra free ticket.  That's the only way I attend professional sporting events these days.

Randolph R. Sleight, PE, PLS, F.ASCE
 
This month big brother Randy received a most significant international honor.  He was named a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers. The class of 2005 represents only 30 of the top Civil Engineers in the world. Bravo Poncho!  (My old nickname for Randy was Poncho, after tennis great Poncho Gonzales, whom Sports Illustrated called in  2002 "the greatest tennis player of all time."  His nickname for me was Mowgli, or "little frog" from Kipling's The Jungle Book.)

On October 16th Randy invited me to the Seahawks game.  He'd gotten free tickets from his sister-in-law Bev.  It was a special Sunday night game on ESPN that started at 5:30PM.  This was our second game together in recent years using her seats.  Alas, I could not stay past half time  (when the Seahawks led the Houston Texans 21-3) because I needed to get home to fix a broken computer for my own sister-in-law Susan.  When I got home I saw the end of the game on channel 11.   "We" won 42-10.  And to top it off, Nathanael had already found and fixed the problem with Susan's computer.  I think he has a future in computers.

Another October Like 1999?
 
In late October 1999, I learned of the sudden passing of Randy Conrad the February before, and I got reacquainted, if only by mail and email, with his widow, my second girlfriend and first "potential spouse," Kim (Sanders) Conrad.  I had begun a serious weight loss program but this emotional jolt led me to lose 21 pounds before Christmas that year.  It didn't hurt that I was also trying to look good for my good friend Jeff Lantrip's wedding in February 2000.  

Busyness, stress, and a renewed "easy discipline" seems to be working again.  In 1999 I just cut out dinner (and sweets).  This time, at least on weekdays, I'm only snacking until I can get home and have a light dinner.   The proof is in the tale of the scale. (Yikes, I'm a poet!)  The first statistical test I teach to my students, the "inter-ocular test" I call it (more commonly called the "eye ball test") reveals that I do gain more weight on Sundays!
   

Nathanael Continues His X-Country Season

October 13th, at Rainier High School, southeast of Fort Lewis, Nathanael showed much improvement. He finished third on the BCS team with a respectable time.  This was only the second race he'd run this season wearing his new spikes.  With the Emerald City League Championships coming up in just six days, there was little time left to get it together.  Only the top seven runners continue on to "District" after "Leagues."  It would be the end of the season for those who didn't make the cut.

Wednesday, October 19th, brought BCS to the Emerald City League Championships at Lower Woodland Park.  We wondered which 'Nathanael' would show up. The day before, assistant coach Cody Bean told me that Nate had been running the best practices of anyone on the team.  The team was told to "run together" which the lead BCS runners did until about the end of the first mile.  This time Nathanael was leading the BCS pack when he left it to chase the mostly Seattle Academy and Charles Wright runners ahead of BCS.  He made big moves on the uphill stretches and surprised us all when he came off the hill and back to the finish in 10th place overall, and once again 1st for BCS.  His time of 18:00:00 was :34 better than his time in the same race last year when he finished 15th.  His teammate and fellow Sophomore Martin Geier finished 15th and these two earned the "League All-Star" designation.  This was Nate's breakthrough race.  He put it all together.  

The BCS boys team took 3rd place. (The BCS girls took 2nd.)  As they moved on to the Tri-District Championships on October 29th, the boys knowing that only the top three teams will advance to State.  BCS would need to hold on to third, defeating all of the teams from two other (hopefully weaker) Leagues.  
And if there was any doubt that Nathanael was back to his old speedy self, the District race at American Lake Golf Course in Lakewood silenced all doubts.  It was a complete repeat of the prior race.  The BCS girls team again took 2nd and the BCS boys team again took 3rd, both earning trips to Pasco on November 4th-5th!  Nathanael led his team with another 10th place finish, earning individual honors as a "State Qualifier" for his individual performance.  His time of 17:26 was :46 seconds better than his time last year on the same course.

Next month will include our report from Pasco.  And as     X-Country ends, Wrestling begins on November 14th.

My "PDP" Review
 
On Friday, the 21st, I had my annual review.  In general, Jeff Van Duzer is quite satisfied with the quality of my teaching.  He mentioned that I'm "loved" by all in SBE and by many across campus.  My student evaluations have recently been stellar. He did ask that I try again to find time to take the two Microsoft MCDST exams that I've had no time to prepare for.  Study for these will have to come after winter quarter. 

Jeff also wants me to select one of my BUS 1700 Spreadsheets lessons and convert it to a self-study format.  He is convinced (but I am not) that our students can learn this material without so much of my direct involvement.  This will be a test.  I have found a software product called Breeze that will allow me to record my lessons and still allow the students to watch as I "mouse around" on the Excel screen.  This might actually be fun.

October 5th, a Relationship Milestone
 
It was Wednesday night and it was the regular night someone (normally me) took Jeannie Beth to "The Rock" at UPC.  But this was the 25th Anniversary of the day I proposed to Nancy, on a sunny Sunday after church by Drumheller Fountain on the UW campus, 22 days after I looked her up.  She insisted on going out to dinner. (We hadn't eaten out together much in the past few years except for her birthday trip to Vancouver.)  She chose a retro style dinner in University Village called Mom's.  We split a French Dip sandwich and I had Navy Bean and Ham soup (since I'd gotten multiple fillings and work on a crown at the dentist's just a few hours earlier.)  She loved her Blackberry Shake as I did my Butterscotch Malt.  We agreed that a $20 date was way more fun than a counseling session.  (Note: Although Nancy went to counseling a few times a few years back, we had only gone to see a counselor together once after we got married.  I believe we are mature enough to recognize and resolve our "issues."  Plus we also share the Heavenly Counselor [Isaiah 9:6].)  It was a wonderful, if brief, special time. 

Wild at Heart More Harm than Good
 
Over the past few years I have been given copies of John Eldredge's Wild a Heart by two well-meaning Christian ladies.  No doubt they each believed that this would be just the kind of book I would enjoy.  However, I had already read the Christianity Today review of this book, and I was quite prepared to find fault with its author.  While he shares some interesting insights, my overall evaluation of this book is that it is just plain wrong on every level.  A strong claim like that requires an explanation.   I don't have time for a full analysis but I think these few points make my case.

First, his God is too small.  He puts the words, "Why won't you choose me?" into the mouth of God.  This is downright heretical.  God chooses us, not the other way around.  He opened Lydia's heart. Salvation is a gracious act of God.  Man continues to want to claim his own power to choose from the Sovereign God who says, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."  What is our part in salvation?  Only the sin part. 

He paints God in man's image.  So much of his circular reasoning about the nature of God rests on, "So God created man in his own image."   So if we are created in God's image, just look at man and you can discern the image of God.  Sorry, but no.  He is Creator. We are creature.  He is Artist/Designer (Potter).  We are clay.  His ways are past finding out.  And His image was so marred in us in the Garden that we can not look to man to discover God.  But the Artist painted His Self Portrait, adding Himself to the canvas of our world in the Person of His Son Jesus.  Jesus is the image of the invisible God (and no other.)

He plays fast and loose with Scripture.  Throughout his book, Eldredge disparages careful Biblical scholarship.  His writing has an "off the top of his head" style that might appeal to most churchmen who's knowledge of Scripture can fit in one chapter from John and Psalm 23.

He claims to describe all "men" but only manages to draw a poor caricature of  the stereotypical 21st century American middle aged professional man.  In this he is saying all men (of all time and in all cultures, of all races and creeds) are basically like himself.  God is not so uncreative as to create cookie cutter men.  Men (and women) are as different as snowflakes. 

Eldredge starts with his own premise and tries to bolster his position with emotional stories and misapplied Biblical concepts. His end goal for men is not God's.  The godly Christian man should be marked by the Fruit of the Spirit.  The author calls this weakness.  Not so!  It is the greatest strength. 

Finally, I point to his "straw man" argument that men should be like Stallions instead of Geldings. Again he misses the mark.  Stallions, with all their strength and passion, are good for nothing.  God wants to take men, undisciplined Stallions that they are, and by adding His Spirit, tame us and produce Quarter Horses, fit servants for His purposes.  "When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid." Mark 5:15-16   Author Eldredge seems to prefer the dangerous wild man to the Spirit-controlled disciple. 

"For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.  They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths."  2 Timothy 4:3-5

• In September, Annie moved into Hill Hall along with her roommate Charlotte from Redmond.  She seems to be settling in well, even if I bring a few more items from home for her. JB misses her as, I think, does her cat Ginger.  The house in Bellevue is a bit quieter and perhaps a bit messier (if that is possible).  At the New Student Convocation I sat in the stands with Annie and Nancy until we sent her forward to enter the circle formed by the faculty, a circle I would have been in during any other year.  At the Opening Convocation the following week she joined me for a picture in my regalia. I admit that my anger at Dr. Phil Eaton, the SPU President clouded my thoughts and I did not even track with his speech, which many of the faculty said was one of his best.  I find he only asks questions and gives no answers. I want to quote My Fair Lady, "Don't talk of love, show me!"
   

• September felt like a valley.  Every direction was up.  But that is actually an optimistic statement. October feels better, much better. 
   

• Thirty-five students in BUS 2700 is daunting.  But I do enjoy teaching.  I do not enjoy teaching in the morning.  What possessed me to want to teach High School back so many years?
   

• On October 8th, Saturday Morning Men's Bible Study facilitator Phil Voigt said something extraordinary.  Did any of the fifteen other men present catch it?  We were speaking to a few of the new fellows across the tables about the long history of this group. Phil said, almost as an aside, "We are in another period of transition."  He had never hinted that his time of leadership was coming to an end.  Is that what he was saying?  He is certainly moving slower and with apparent difficulty.  But he is stoic regarding his bone cancer.  On the way to the car he asked me pointedly about my future planned absences from the group.  I only foresaw possible absences in late October and early November, should the BCS Cross Country team earn a trip to State.  A week later he told me his tumor had grown 30%.  I sense, as he said, "We are in another period of transition."  As it turned out, on October 22nd, I did lead the group through the second half of Romans 8. 

²⁸ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. ²⁹ For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. ³⁰ And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.  _{Romans 8:28-30 NIV}

The Thursday before, Phil's wife had called Nancy to tell her Phil had had medical complications.  I spoke with him Thursday, and by Friday he called me from Swedish hospital.  Tom Masters (M.Div.) will lead the group while I'm off at Cross Country races.  If Phil improves, he may be back.  I will know more in November.

• Einstein discovered, 100 years ago, that E=mc².  But it turns out that Austrian (and Jewess turned Protestant) physicist      Dr. Lise Meitner gave the first theoretical explanation of the fission process. Nathanael thought I should write down my comment that, indeed, it was an "Eve" that first split the atom. 
   

• I finally opened business checking and savings accounts at Washington Mutual.  SL8.com made $280 this month.  It's not much but it ensures another year in the black for my little sole proprietorship computer business.   
   

• Jeannie Beth will Trick or Treat in the SPU dorms tonight.