First Grades are In

Acceptance Speech
(inspired by those made tonight to the Hollywood Foreign Press)

Wow, what an incredible honor to be studying at Westminster. These grades mean so much to me. I would like to thank my advisor, who, back in August walked me through every semester for the next four years and didn't look at me cross-eyed when I told her I wanted to go part time.

I also need to thank the librarians at the Adreas Center. You helped me navigate those stacks, find theologians you didn't necessarily agree with, and you showed me my favorite setting on the copier-- two book pages to two sides on one page.

To my classmates on Monday nights, your diligence, your spontaneous discussions, clarifying questions were spot-on. To the certificate students who have real jobs, thanks for keeping the discussions pragmatic. To the auditors, your nervous energy made all of us want to be smarter. To my Biblical Theology professor, who kept a fatherly eye on me. Thanks for not laughing at my idea that the halved carcasses from Genesis 15 was a prefigurement of the "valley of the shadow of death." Thanks for allowing me to retake my final after I royally screwed it up. You telling me I had "fresh insights" helps me not give up-- even when the loan statements come in.

To the Human Personality folks from Thursday afternoons: you were an amazing group of human beings to be among. It is no-joke to be studying human nature-- how badly broken, and yet how wonderfully complex. To my instructor, studying with you after years of reading your books, only animated the truths you put forth. Thank you for helping me break with my "idolatry of the professor" by letting us into your home, by telling us your struggles, and by insisting that even after authoring life-saving books on depression, addiction, anxiety, and fear of man, you are just like me-- walking by faith.

To the girls I study with-- Jamie, Cherilyn, and Kelli. Thanks for answering midnight emails. Thanks for meeting off-campus. I share these grades with you.

To my brother, Mikey, who, even though he was working multiple jobs, in grad school, with a child on the way, found time to mail a book to my dorm room in Tower B. The book came out of WTS and CCEF. I read that book and a seismic shift took place in me. That book threw the light on for me, which helped me to see that I can live a sham or I can live in hope. I would not be here doing this if it weren't for that birthday gift. Thanks for your friendship, that sticks so uniquely, like only a sibling can.

Thanks to our sweet daughters. Even though I have no more patience to co-op at your nursery school, you still continue to be part of the bustling beauty that is there. Thank you for not throwing my laptop into the dishwasher in protest of all the time I spend staring at it. Always, always remember that smart girls have more fun. (not my line).

Thank you to our phenomenal sons. Your non-competitive acceptance and tolerance blesses me and keeps me off the hamster wheel. Thank you for your insatiable curiosity about human nature. Thank you for always asking me about my reading. I promise you guys that what I'm doing will seriously reap something good someday.

And lastly but most of all, I wish to thank Geoff Beatty. He follows after my flagrant and sometimes scattershot path and so calmly snuffs out the fires I make. And when my fires of theological discovery are good ones, he takes the bellows and pumps it up to a roaring and rapturous discussion between us. We are like Sts. Clare and Francis, two wild-headed spirits whose friendship could be seen from miles. A raging fire in the forest, two friends colluding about life and about God.