"When all is lost, ask the IRS. They'll find something." Douglas Horton

Back to the importance of eschatology (last night's post)....

I taught Intro to the OT to incoming freshman and had a great time with those students and that class. It met four times per week and each session was crammed full of data to hear, understand, and retain. That class and its second semester parallel, Intro to NT (which I also taught), gave students the raw material they needed to do upper division Bible and theology work. You can't productively work issues of Bible interpretation unless you have a degree of mastery over the basic content of the OT and NT.

Names, events, dates, places....
I had all kinds of crazy mnemonic devices to help them memorize the data (There's really no other way to learn it than memorization.) "Read my lips, 606" for Nebuchadnezzar's first invasion of Judah in 606 BC. Or the story about a fat guy who was a line worker in a women's underwear factory. His name was S. J. Bedmizan, but everybody just called him Lrg.
You just memorized the 13 tribes of Israel. (yes, 13.)
He lost a whole bunch of weight, got serious about his job, and got promoted to Mgr.
You just memorized the placement of the 12 tribes (yes, 12) that got land, and the location of their allotment.
I had fun and I hope they did, too.

I really wanted them to succeed; it made both of us happy when they did well on quizzes and exams. That's why I spent so much time early in the semester explaining to them the difference between homework and studying. The former completes an assigned task to be turned in and graded, and pretty much disappears at the college level. Aside from papers, homework is rare. (I did give map assignments.)
In college homework is replaced by studying. That's self-directed and means taking time, ideally each day, to review class notes and handouts, quizzing yourself or study group partners to make sure you have mastered the content.
Most freshmen are understandably a lot better at doing homework than studying. Many had never studied before because that skill and discipline is apparently rare at the H.S. level. But it's essential to passing college exams.

And exams will come! When you're a freshman experiencing college life and all it includes - independence, dorm life, social interactions - it can be hard to spend 45 minutes every evening studying (homework is so much easier to do) for an exam that won't happen for another four weeks. Of course the night before that exam is panic time and leads to the all-nighter, a futile attempt to cram into one eight or nine hour session what should have been done over 50-60 hours of short sessions.
FAIL.

Scores for the second exam rose dramatically for most students. Those who couldn't learn the discipline of studying on a regular basis never saw their sophomore year.

My exam is coming. I will stand before my Savior who will review with me my stewardship of the new life he gave me. Alas, the date for that exam isn't printed in any syllabus, but it IS coming. Wisdom requires that I live today in light of that sure and certain assessment of my stewardship. And like studying it is a discipline. A daily discipline.

Like a college professor the Bible tells me of the coming assessment. And like a college professor my Savior wants me to succeed. That can only happen if I'm mature enough, wise enough, to live in the light of that appointment today and every day instead of getting distracted by all the enticements of "college life."

So I'm going to go out and study...to show myself a workman approved.