What I Did for School

Note: This is written for all the family, friends, acquaintances, and occasional random strangers who have asked me what I'm doing for school. Within this post, I will attempt to explain to you what my college journey was like and how I finished it in two and a half years and am graduating at 18. 

Here's the elevator pitch - or the Reader's Digest version, if you will:

Instead of spending four years at a traditional brick-and-mortar school, I took a combination of online and correspondence courses from my home and transferred them to Thomas Edison State College, where I am graduating from in December with my Bachelor of Arts (major: communications; minor: English).

Whew. That wasn't so bad. But you're still confused. I understand. And that's why you get the longer version as well.

I started my college degree at 16-years-old with the assistance of an organization called CollegePlus (CP) - a Christian-run company that teams up with students to help them complete their college degrees at an accelerated pace. I was matched with a coach named Sharon and our journey began.

CP helped me plan out my degree - what requirements I needed to fulfill and what courses and exams I could take to fulfill them. The end goal was always to transfer to Thomas Edison State College (TESC), because they're extremely flexible with what credits they accept. Not only that, they would let me finish my degree online - a major plus.

What's also cool about CP is that they helped me choose courses that would fulfill my high school requirements while dually fulfilling my college degree requirements. I went straight into college after Grade 10, but as I worked on my degree, I was able to use certain courses to fulfill my high school (Grade 11 and 12) requirements. I got dual credit.

Thus, I was able to finish my high school diploma while getting college credit at the same time.

So I picked my degree and major and CP basically said, "Here's what you need to take. You need to fulfill this many General Education credit hours, this many major-specific credit hours, and this many electives."

For General Ed hours, I was able to take several CLEPs (credit-equivalency exams). To read more about those, you can see my first experience here.

For my other requirements I was able to take some courses from a bunch of different places - I was able to take Saylor tests and StraighterLine courses for NCCRS credit, an ALEKS course for ACE credit, and some online courses from major universities like LSU and BYU and then transfer all of those courses to TESC.

Finally, last January I officially enrolled in TESC and transferred about 96 credit hours to them. From there it was just a matter of finishing up my last few semesters. I had five last courses with TESC, as well as a handful of other courses and exams to complete.

After a crazy summer, I registered for my last two TESC courses that began in August. And last Saturday I handed in my very last term papers. On Monday I took my last final exam.

I am done college.

This method saved me years of time and thousands of dollars - a combination almost too good to be true. It wasn't because I was super smart, though I am admittedly driven. It took a lot of work and energy and skipped holidays, but everything was worth it.

This method of earning my degree was flexible and, with the help of CP, blissfully uncomplicated. Sure, there were bumps and knots and occasional scares and random tests that didn't transfer to TESC, but everything eventually worked out.

Now I'm done. It's surreal to be sure, but I'm enjoying this time of rest before my official December graduation.

And that is what I did for school.

---

I Am a Different Kind of Reader

Christianity doesn't just inspire our beliefs; it inspires our actions. It is the fuel and fodder to what we do, and the why behind the what. Everything from what we choose to wear to what we find entertaining on TV is impacted and influenced by the label we call, "Christian."

This is not a bad thing. Rather, it's perfectly expected. Christians think differently than the world and so their day-to-day choices will be changed by God's standards, not the world's.

Recently I was reminded of this. I have taken four literature courses now since I started my undergrad degree last September. I'm a communications major, (unofficial) English minor, and I love studying literature more than almost anything. But I keep hitting this roadblock, we could say. It came up in American Lit, English Lit, even Children's Lit, and now I see it again and again in Adolescent Lit.

I'm a different kind of reader.

And I think you might be too. I am an analyst, a literary critic, a reader with eyes wide open. I'm not a watchdog, counting curse words and sniffing out the slightest case of innuendo (not that I don't notice them). I am a worldview-watcher, examining what I'm reading to see if its overall value has merit for the Christian, if it is a book that I can unashamedly read to the glory of God.

So far in Adolescent Lit, I have read some terrible books, books filled with goop and grime that remind me of the depravity of man and are lost without the hope of Christ. But I have also read some good books, books that talk about self-sacrifice and redemption and give glimpses of God's glory.

Don't entertain yourself in auto-pilot. When you turn on the TV, open the covers of a book, click a YouTube video, make a Spotify playlist, turn on the radio, whatever way you entertain yourself, be a worldview-watcher. Look to see whether you are being entertained by sin or goodness. Know that as you're doing that, you're different from the world.

And that's a good thing.

Growing in Grace: August 2014

So Much Drama - R.C. Sproul, Jr. on the drama in our lives. "Maturity is supposed to bring perspective. We’re supposed to learn first that we’re not the center of the universe, and second, that today is not the very lynchpin of history."

College Doesn't Change Your Heart, It Reveals It - Yes and yes. This is so good. "Our hearts are fickle things, and more than anything, that’s what college reveals. As Paul Tripp might put it, it’s not that college changes your heart as much as reveals it. It isn’t the secularity, or the immorality that is to be feared. According to Jesus, it’s the propensity of our hearts to either want the wrong things or try to anchor themselves in the wrong places."

Good Credit - Knowing that I'm going such a nontraditional route for my college education, it's cool to see when that route gets highlighted and recognized for the value that it has. In this article, WORLD Magazine highlights competency-based programs, including CollegePlus (the program I'm using) and some of the real stories about people who did it.

"Invictus" Redeemed - I love reading Jon Bloom. He's a regular contributor to Desiring God and I simply love the way he writes. And this, his article on William Henley's poem, "Invictus," is why he's one of my favourite bloggers. "“Invictus” is decent poetry, but as a declaration of cosmic independence it is, frankly, a delusional fantasy. Even if God didn’t exist, it would be a fantasy."

Humanism: You Will Be Like God - This article by the late James Montgomery Boice was published on Crossway's blog. If you're wondering what humanism is all about, definitely read this! It is excellent.

Aborting in the Name of Jesus - Russell Moore, the president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, reflects on a sick and disturbing article that was published in a recent edition of Esquire, about a doctor who claims to be doing abortions because he's a Christian.

The Ways We're the Same (Or What Not to Do in an Awkward Social Situation) - "We can all remember a time when we were excluded and rejected. For some the wounds came early on. For others the wounds are fresh. Maybe it’s a mixture of old and new scars, but we all have them. We are all sinners, and we’ve all been sinned against. No one will leave this world without a few bruises."

Lead with Empathy, Love Your Neighbor, Let the Truth Come Out - A Response to Ferguson -- Albert Mohler wisely addresses a situation where we don't know a lot of facts. "The Christian responsibility in a situation like this—and we are all inadequate to the task—is to say just enough at the right time. And until the facts are more clarified—something that is the responsibility of our justice system at every level—that’s about the most we should now say."

The Gospel According to Cats and Dogs - I hope your gospel isn't according to cats or dogs but rather the Bible itself.

Ireland's Ghost Houses - These pictures are so eerie.

Image Credit: http://www.creationswap.com/artwork/1/0/91/1091/1091_1091_5.jpg

Books, Baseball, and Worshipful Rest

Yesterday was a beautiful day of rest for me. On Monday I finished my final two CLEP exams in PEI and returned home for a Tuesday of rest. I took yesterday off from any academics. I just read and played baseball and tidied my room and ate Chicago popcorn and enjoyed the sunshine and picked up my grandparents from the airport.

And the rest was beautiful. I'm a busy person, like I'm sure you are too. This is no surprise; we live in the culture of exhaustion. The "shop till you drop, work till you can't" mentality pervades our society, so much so that we view rest as laziness.

But how blatantly contrary to God's Word. I was reminded of an article by Jen Wilkin I read last summer. In it, she wrote,

The God who grants us soul-repose commands our worship in the form of bodily rest. The worshiper is blessed in obedience. Restored and ready, he resumes the effort of tilling his corner of the garden. More importantly, he's reminded that both the garden and also the one who tills are contingent and derived, depending every moment on the sustaining breath of the Creator. He is thereby mercifully relieved of his idolatrous, exhaustion-breeding belief that the work of his hands upholds the universe in part or in whole.

The command to rest is most clearly displayed in God's calling His people to keep the Sabbath. We are sinning when we refuse to rest, because when we obey this command of God we sacrifice our pride and idolatry and express satisfaction in God's power and our limits. By refusing to rest, we are saying that we think we can do life alone, that we can sustain our world through our power, might, and long hours. And in the face of disobedience, our love for and worship of God grows cold.

Wilkin continues,

Love grows warm once again in the emptied spaces of rest. We remember our love for the One who sustains us, we recall our love for the ones who surround us. Worshipful rest renews our love for God and for others. It is the rest that restores our souls.

Busyness is not always bad. But when it is hindering you from worshipful rest, it most certainly is. Don't let hectic days cool your love for the Creator. Enjoy the beauty of rest.

Image Credit: http://data.whicdn.com/images/10860516/tumblr_lmhdp0BC8W1qciek8o1_500_large.jpg?1308237733

Cowper, God, and Poetry: Part 1

English literature is a topic at once both delightful and terrifying. I love good literature deeply, so I was more than a little excited to begin studying for an English Lit CLEP. But I have soon seen that to get to the good stuff there is much muck and mire you need to wade through first. To discover one rich Christian biography, you need to sort through a dozen sordid, worldly ones first.

For studying, I actually have a list of close to one hundred names of famous novelists, poets, essayists, and critics in the history of British literature, and I briefly researched each one of those names, highlighting a few biographical details about them. I sat at my computer, typing name after crisp British name into Google search, clicking Wikipedia article after Wikipedia article. Walter Landor, Thomas Peacock, George Darley, George Meredith, Oliver Goldsmith. And then I typed in William Cowper. And I didn't click the Wikipedia article.

Just a few glowing blue links below it, a resource from Desiring God sat. So I clicked on that. It took me to a biographical sermon on William Cowper that John Piper preached at the 1992 Desiring God Pastor's Conference. It shed light on Cowper in a way that no Wikipedia article could. And by the time I had finished reading, I had discovered a few poems (now put to music and arranged in some hymnals) that truly struck me in a way that no poems I had read in my English Lit study had before. So for the next few posts, I want explore some of these poems, and the themes and doctrinal richness found in them.

But in this post I'm simply going to introduce you to Cowper the man. Cowper had always been a poet. He wasn't always a Christian, but he had always been a poet. That's why if you search through the thousands of poems Cowper wrote, not all of them are Christ-centred. Many of these pre-conversion poems are weaved with the threads of hopeless depression. And Cowper knew what that was like.

He was struck with his first mental breakdown and plunge into severe depression in 1752, when he was 21 years old. He had just started studying for a career in law, and depression came on him quickly and suddenly. In his own words,

(I was struck) with such a dejection of spirits, as none but they who have felt the same, can have the least conception of. Day and night I was upon the rack, lying down in horror, and rising up in despair. I presently lost all relish for those studies, to which before I had been closely attached; the classics had no longer any charms for me; I had need of something more salutary than amusement, but I had not one to direct me where to find it.

He was able to cheer up, though, through the naturalistic poetry of George Herbert and a fresh change of scenery. But this was only a cheap bandaid to his problems. In later years, he suffered bouts of manic depression again and again, attempting suicide on multiple occasions, and eventually being committed to St. Alban's Insane Asylum in 1763.

Cowper was convinced that he was damned to eternal torment, but it was a doctor at St. Alban's, Dr. Cotton, who was "somewhat of a poet, but most of all, by God's wonderful design, an evangelical believer and lover of God and the gospel. He loved Cowper and held out hope to him repeatedly in spite of his insistence that he was damned and beyond hope. Six months into his stay Cowper found a Bible lying (not by accident) on a bench in the garden." (Piper) He opened the book to John 11 and the story of Lazarus and then he turned to Romans 3:23.

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

And as they say, the rest is history. God saved Cowper's soul that day, and he began to live for Him. He was released from St. Alban's in early 1765 and moved in with the Unwin family in Huntington. It was here that he began attending a church in Olney, a short way away from Huntington. This church in Olney was pastored by a man you might recognize, John Newton - former slave trader and writer of Amazing Grace. Newton would be Cowper's pastor, mentor, friend, and fellow poetry writer for thirteen years.

Cowper lived to be 69 and died in 1800. His battle with depression didn't magically disappear with a puff of smoke. He still fought sin, but it was now with the hope of the gospel. His poems changed drastically, from despair to joy, an outpouring of a life redeemed. I'm going to reflect on these three poems over the next week:

God Moves in a Mysterious Way
Abuse of the Gospel
Afflictions Sanctified by the Word

Read and meditate on the glorious grace of our God.

Introductory Psychology and Discernment

Set next on my slate of courses is Introductory Psychology. As soon as I prepared to begin studying for this course, I looked at its CollegePlus-issued study guide. My eyes were immediately drawn to a caution:

Please Note: Some offensive materials are contained in the theories which must be studied for this test, and we as CollegePlus do not endorse all these worldviews. We ask that you use discretion and take personal responsibility in studying, remembering to bring everything under the authority of the Word of God. Be wise in discerning the lies from the truth and discuss questionable content with your parents and coach.

Discernment: The ability to differentiate and determine lies from truth.

I had a phone call with my academic coach for CollegePlus last Tuesday and, as we talked about Introductory Psychology, I brought up this caution. My coach had a smile in her voice as she gave me a word of caution about the caution. She was a psychology major. So she can't count all of the well-meaning people who sat her down to make sure she understood perfectly well that psychology can be dangerous. She went into this degree somehow expecting it to be so much worse in worldview than any other degree. She expected, from what people had said, that she needed more discernment in psychology than in any other area of her life. And then she did the degree, and she finished, and she realized this simply wasn't so.

Christians are called to be discerning in every single area of their life. (My dad emphasized this in an excellent post just a while back.) That's why CollegePlus' note of caution can be a little misleading. It presents the idea, implicitly at least, that discernment is something that's needed in one place and not in another. Like it's a switch than be can flipped on or off. If we think it's only needed in Introductory Psychology, we're liable to lack in discernment in some other subject that doesn't have the caution. And in so doing, we'll lead ourself down a dangerous road.

There is one occasion in the Bible that particularly speaks of discernment. It comes from the book of Joshua, and it's about a group of people called the Gibeonites. The Gibeonites were neighbours to the Israelites, God's chosen people. But the Gibeonites, like all the nations surrounding Israel, hated God. And that's why God's plan of judgement on them was to be worked through Israel. In His holiness, He commanded Israel to destroy the God-hating nations around them. And so they did. Except for Gibeon. Gibeon was crafty. They were no fools. They saw the Israelites' plan of attack and they knew what was coming to them. And they decided they didn't want to die. So they made up a plan. Joshua 9:3-6 says this:

"But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai, they on their part acted with cunning and went and made ready provisions and took worn-out sacks for their donkeys, and wineskins, worn-out and torn and mended, with worn-out, patched sandals on their feet, and worn-out clothes. And all their provisions were dry and crumbly. And they went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and to the men of Israel, "'We have come from a distant country, so now make a covenant with us.'"

I can hear the whine and weakness in their voices. If Joshua and the Israelites were thinking with discernment, they would have done the most important thing that makes discernment what it is - they would have consulted the Lord. That's what true discernment is. Knowing what the Lord deems true. And the Israelites would have fast discovered the Gibeonites' lies in they had discerned the truth. But instead,

So the men took some of their provisions, but did not ask counsel from the Lord. And Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them, to let them live, and the leaders of the congregation swore to them.

Discernment was down, and Israel would suffer its consequences - disobedience to God. I hope this wakes us up to the urgency and necessity of discernment in everything, whether we turn on the TV, or are surfing the web, whether in church or school, whether it's said from the pulpit or the paper, from people we trust or people we don't. It's true that there are times when we need more or less discernment depending on the situation, but there is never, never, an excuse for lacking in discernment.

C.H. Spurgeon:

It is for us, therefore, to judge carefully, and not to think that any opinion will do. Besides, opinions have influence upon the conduct, and if a man have a wrong opinion, he will, most likely, in some way or other, have wrong conduct, for the two usually go together.

On the Road Again: The Exams Part Two

Well, there we were - on the road again. In my dad's Mazda again, rolling down highways lined with dead trees and patches of snow-speckled brown grass on our way to Maritime Christian College in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. The sun was shining, it was a few degrees above freezing, and the roads were quiet. We had the music thumping, I sipped my bottle of water, Dad sipped his thermos of coffee. It was a beautiful morning for a drive - back to that little library and that old computer for the exams part two.

Dad and I drove back to PEI on Monday to take some more of my Anne Shirley exams, also known as CLEPs. I had Western Civilization I in the morning and College Composition in the afternoon. But it was Western Civ that was worrying me. It was this that had me sitting outside of the testing centre for fifteen minutes before going in, frantically flipping through my study guide one last time. It was this that made the butterflies slam against the walls of my stomach. And it was this that made my heart pound when I hit the "Submit Test" button. It was also this that forced me to rely on God even more. So it was a pretty great feeling to pass it. Pretty great. I started grinning like a fool when I saw my score. And since there was no one in the library, it's possible I may have done a mini happy dance. Very possible.

I had a short lunch break and then returned for College Comp. CC didn't worry me near as much as Western Civ. It did leave me more unsettled, though. It's made up of 50 multiple choice questions on elements of grammar and sentence revision, to be done in 50 minutes. Then you have to write two persuasive essays (one with sources, one without) in 70 minutes. When you're done, you don't get a score. Your essays will be sent to two random English university faculty members somewhere in the U.S. who will grade them. Their cumulative score, combined with the multiple choice questions, will give you your official score. The unsettling part is that I have to wait for them to mail it to me. It could take anywhere from 4-8 weeks. So now I get a lesson in patience!

Taking exams has a way of revealing true heart attitudes. I know these two I took on Monday really showed me an area of my life that I struggle with - self-reliance. When pressure is placed on you, things come to light about how you really feel, things you may not have known before. "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?" (Jeremiah 17:9) Taking these state examinations has really prompted me toward self-examination, and for that I'm truly grateful. The process of sanctification is not always easy, but it is good. Knowing my own struggle with self-reliance forced me to make a much greater effort in prayer and reliance on the Lord. I tried to keep my attention on Him, not on myself. Soli deo gloria.

So now I'm home, waiting for College Comp scores, catching up on some sleep, and starting some study for my next two CLEPs - Western Civ II and Introduction to Psychology. At the end of the day, my reflections were simple: God is good. Let us never forget. God is faithful. Let us never doubt.

Our Proper Obsession

One of the exams I'm studying for right now is Western Civilization I - a comprehensive history from the beginning of the world until 1648 AD. "About a foot wide and an inch deep," as someone put it. As part of my studying, I watched a documentary on Netflix called Alexandria which related the history of Alexander the Great's conquest of Egypt and construction of this city he named after himself. Alexander showed his brilliance when he first conquered Egypt and came to the people "as one of them," opposed to being an outsider, offering sacrifices to their gods, respecting their religion, and even giving lavish gifts and money to their temples. The Egyptians quickly adopted him as a god, but Alexander had much to learn about their religion. This is what the documentary said about it:

Alexander had to get to grips with [this], a culture that not only believed in life on earth, but which was obsessed with life after death.

This was unfamiliar to the heavily hedonistic, temporal-visioned Greeks. And that's one thing that the Egyptians had in their religion (false though it was) that Christians today, like the ancient Greeks, seem to lack - proper obsession. That is, obsession with the afterlife. Egyptians knew well that this life wasn't all. In fact, in comparison, this life was but a brief and bitter taste before the wonder to come - the Buckley's before the spoonful of sugar. And though the Egyptians' complicated polytheism was false and much different than orthodox Christianity, we seem to have lost that remembrance that the best is yet to come. For the child of God, this life is but a brief and bitter shadow before we see the glory prepared for us.

That's why we're called to live in light of eternity right now. There's an old saying that goes, "Don't be so heavenly minded that you're no earthly good." My dad has often pointed out the error and unbiblical approach in it. Repeatedly in Scripture, we are called to focus our mind on heaven, not on the earth, perhaps no verses more clear than Colossians 3:2-3, 5:

Set your minds on what is above, not on what is on the earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with the Messiah in God. ... Therefore put to death what belongs to your worldly nature.

And again in Philippians 3:18-20:

For I have often told you, and now say again with tears, that many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. ... They are focused on earthly things, but our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

As Christians we ought to be obsessed with life after death, knowing that that is what counts and this earthly life is but a puff of smoke, a breath that evaporates into the air. Our proper obsession is not with anything on this earth, and especially not this life, but with the life to come. Unfortunately we forget this often, don't we? Our obsessions are doled out on the things we can touch and see - even if it's only for this little while. Blinded by a flavor of this sort-of humanistic hedonism, it's so difficult for us to keep the kingdom of heaven elevated above the crumbling kingdom of earth.

So let's repent and right now make a covenant to live for the kingdom of heaven today - to have a proper obsession. Let's set our minds "on what is above, not on what is on the earth." For we must remember who we once were but are no longer. We "have died" and our "life is hidden with the Messiah in God." "Our citizenship is in heaven." Let us never forget.

Of History, Hebrews and Discernment

I'm studying for my next two CLEPs right now, Western Civilization I and II. These basically cover the entire history of "western civilization." A pretty specific subject, huh? Not so much. Anyway, my official study guide began at 25,000 BCE (Before Common Era, not BC: Before Christ) with the history of the Fertile Crescent, the place of the first known civilizations, and then followed the history of these different civilizations and highlighted their lasting contributions. I read about the Mesopotamians, the Persians, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Hittites and the Hebrews. Yes, the Hebrews, also known as Israelites, the people of God. In my official state college study guide. People often try to say that the Old Testament wasn't true, but even secular historians cannot ignore the proof. But what I found especially interesting was the way the author (a professor at a secular university) wrote God out of His own people's history.

The whole history of God's people, its purpose and its legacy was horribly misconstrued, mainly because it took the religion out of the religious history. It mentioned it of course, as their "monotheism" was a major defining tenet of their civilization. But the idea that the God they worshiped could actually exist was a concept completely ignored. This was the first statement about the Israelites:

One of many small nations of the ancient Near East caught in the clash between empires, the Hebrews would hardly merit attention if it were not for the example of their tenacious survival in the face of daunting odds and the fact that their spiritual legacy of strict monotheism became a defining feature of Western civilization (mainly due to the spread of Christianity, which arose as a reform movement within the Hebrew tradition).

Goodness. I didn't realize it was the Israelites who survived the "daunting odds" on their own. Or that Christianity was a "reform movement" by the Hebrews, to make it better. In the same way, it later talks about Abraham who, though he lived in a polytheistic-focused period,

first identified Yahweh as the divinity whom he would worship exclusively, pledging his loyalty through a special relationship called the Covenant.

Any evidence that Yahweh is anymore than just a god the Hebrews believed in is outright ignored. Really, though, this should hardly surprise us. I would never expect anything less from my state history curriculum. But it is interesting to read with discernment, to analyze the facts in light of Scripture, and identify their errors. We ought to always use discernment, in literature, in media, in conversations and even in church. We ought to understand the presuppositions and beliefs of the communicator and their worldview. And we ought to know the Bible so well we can detect anything contrary to it. My dad once said that the only way to identify counterfeit money is to know the real stuff. The same is true with discernment and the Bible.

My, this was a rambling post. And if you weren't able to detect a thesis out of it, I'll give it to you now: "Through whatever we do, whatever we read, whoever we talk to, we must use discernment to recognize what is contrary to Scripture and know how to respond biblically."

"Teach me good judgment and discernment, for I rely on Your commands." Psalm 119:66

For Every College Student

I'm reading a phenomenal book right now called Liberal Arts for the Christian Life, edited by Philip G. Ryken and Jeffrey Davis. It is a collection of twenty essays by the faculty of Wheaton College, detailing what a Christian liberal arts education is. It is designed for the undergraduate student (which I am) and so I decided to pick it up. Though I'm going a rather untraditional route to a college degree and will be graduating through a state college, I highly value and respect the Christian liberal arts education. That being said, this book is not just for undergrads at a Christian liberal arts college. In my opinion, it's for every college student. The truths and values and wisdom communicated by these twenty wise educators is timeless. Quotes from their essays are already scattered throughout my journal. This quote is definitely going in the front of my math and science textbooks:

Quoting T.S. Eliot: "No one can become really educated without having pursued some study in which he took no interest - for it is a part of education to learn to interest ourselves in subjects for which we have no aptitude."

See the wisdom here? But there is one quote especially that I believe is the theme of this book and should be the theme of every college student's education:

Students will do almost anything for a good grade, but zeal for learning is currently at a low ebb. The quality of your education is your choice to make.

Despite the fact that I am not at a brick and mortar college, the quality of my education is my choice to make. These words have often been ringing through my ears as I study, and I pray that throughout my entire college career I will continue thinking about and applying them. These are words of wisdom for every college student and, goodness, for every student! You can go through the most premier education at the most elite school out there, and still get a terrible education. You can have the best teachers and the best books and even get the best grades, and still get a terrible education. You can be valedictorian and voted "most likely to succeed" and have memorized all the facts, and still get a terrible education. The quality is "your choice to make." You will make or break your education experience by your pursuit - will your goal be accolades or actual knowledge?

My First Anne Shirley Exam

I was sitting in the back of my dad's silver Mazda, Dad and Mom in the front, rolling down the tree and lake lined highways leading to Prince Edward Island. It was eight o'clock Monday morning, and we'd already been on the road for an hour and a half. I was sucking Lifesavers Wint-o-Green mints and attempting to drink a coffee-stained thermos of vanilla rooibus tea. There were chocolate chip granola bars in my purse and a million things going through my mind. It was the day of my first exam, or more precisely my first "Anne Shirley exam."

Okay, let me explain: They're not really called "Anne Shirley exams." They're called CLEPs - College Level Examination Programs. These are the standardized tests I'm taking that earn me college credit. These must be taken in a registered CLEP Testing Centre, and the closest one to us is in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. But instead of calling them "CLEPs," I prefer "Anne Shirley exams." And if you know Anne of Green Gables you'll totally get this. To take her teacher exam, Anne had to leave Green Gables and go to Charlottetown to write her test. And I have to leave Halifax to go to Charlottetown to write my tests - just like Anne! And since I love Anne of Green Gables, you may see why I'm excited!

Monday was my very first exam, and that's why we were up at six o'clock to leave Halifax by six-thirty. It was a long drive, but the weather was beautiful. We listened to two sermons - one by D. Martyn-Lloyd Jones on the beginning of Genesis and one by Voddie Baucham on Revelation 3:14-22. We stopped twice - once for coffee and once for gas. Our drive was just under four hours (we hit a bit of construction), and though my exam was scheduled for eleven, we got there at ten-thirty.

The "testing centre" was pretty interesting. It was situated in the small, single-building Maritime Christian College (which I'd never heard of before), right across the street from the bustling University of Prince Edward Island campus. MCC is not affiliated with CLEPs in any way; it just hosts them there. Despite arriving early, I was ushered by Ben, the academic advisor of MCC and head of the CLEP Testing Centre there, into my exam right away. First, I was led downstairs into a slightly creepy basement and then into a very tiny library. It was hardly a library - just a mid-sized room with a couple of shelves of books. And then there was a small, stubby desk, a creaking swivel chair and one clunky, ancient computer. This was my testing centre.

My exam was Analyzing and Interpreting Literature, and I was more than a bit nervous. Ben was also nervous - for me. (Luckily I only clued into this afterward when he mentioned how nervous he gets for the people taking the exams.) My exam was seventy-eight multiple-choice questions and I had just ninety-seven minutes to complete it. Why those amounts, I have no idea. It covered areas of prose, poetry and drama, from Classical and Pre-Renaissance times all the way up to the Twenty-First Century. I was given a section of literature and asked different questions about it, analyzing and interpreting it.

As I tested, students were in and out of the library, making it a less than peaceful place. I tried not to let it bother me though and with many prayers worked patiently away at the exam. Meanwhile, upstairs, unbeknownst to me, Mom and Dad were waiting in the lobby when the receptionist got a very interesting call. The person on this call wanted to shut off the power at the college. All the power. At first the receptionist gave them a ready okay, and Mom was getting ready to jump in when the receptionist realized, "Oh, wait! We have someone taking a CLEP exam downstairs! If we cut off the power, she'll lose everything." And I would have. So they didn't. Thankfully I wasn't aware of any of this as I tested. If I was, I may have started freaking out just a little bit - or a lot.

Finally I finished the exam with lots of time to spare and, after answering a few of the College Board's silly survey questions, they gave me my grade immediately. And I got an A! Now, CLEP grades are a little different than normal grades. A normal percentage is out of one hundred, but not so with CLEPs. These are out of eighty, eighty being the highest score you can get and twenty being the lowest. And I got a 75. So I think that translates to about a 94%. Which I was thrilled with! Even Ben congratulated me on getting such a great score! Mom, Dad and I went out for a celebratory lunch after (which included a delicious hamburger and raspberry cordial and then some ice cream from Cow's Creamery). And we may have stopped by the Anne of Green Gables Chocolate Store - but only to buy a chocolate lollipop for Travis.

And now, after a dozen giant exhales, I'm kicking back, getting ready for our family vacation next week and starting the preliminary prepping for my next two CLEPs, Western Civilization I and Western Civilization II. I now officially have nine college credits under my belt and am over halfway done my "first semester." I thank the Lord for His goodness and graciousness and glorious sovereignty. And even if I had failed Analyzing & Interpreting Literature, I know that that would have been the best for my good and, more importantly, His glory and so I praise Him for His omniscience. But I thank Him for His blessing and am so excited that He has given me this special opportunity to take these "Anne Shirley exams"!