This month was a blur. It was the second hand and not the hour hand. You might think to yourself, “duh, Jack it only has 29 days making it the shortest month.” To that I would say, “you’re so right. I didn’t think about that.” But in reality, I DID think about it and didn’t want to address that to you because, yes, even that seems like conflict to me and guess what: I’m a 9 so here have this run-on sentence and let’s be done with it.
Anyways, yeah that month went fast. The days are getting longer, I’m sleeping less (not a bad thing), I am learning more and more about discipline (see my last post if you haven’t already); here, have another poorly structured sentence (last one I promise)! I finally got my official acceptance letter into graduate school after a scare that it might not be in the cards. I have been enjoying my job more and more. I got to go out to my test plots and do some preliminary testing on my research vines for UGA. Just yesterday, Darby and I applied for an apartment in Athens, GA. Lent is in full swing. Lots to comment on (dang it, I did it again).
RE: grad school scare. I received a call from my professor that he got a job at Penn State and will be moving there next month, therefore there was a possibility that I wouldn’t be able to attend grad school. Long story short, a professor that I knew well at A&M is now the head of the department at UGA and will be taking me under his wing instead. I like to call this a “last-minute save.” During the time of waiting, Darby and I had two choices: freak out or trust that God is sovereign. I am proud to admit that, while both happened, the latter persisted. God is sovereign and it was truly edifying to each of our faiths to experience that. I am so thankful for my God and my fwife (future wife (Darby (see last post))).
RE: a few preliminary grad school tests. Last week, I was able to go to my test plots in Hendersonville, NC to prune Merlot and Chardonnay vines. My research is on delayed pruning techniques to bring out a delay in bud break of different Vitis vinifera cultivars. Please, ask me about this in person if you so wish to be bored to tears, but damn if it doesn’t truly pump me up. If you know the story of the 1981 Christian athlete's classic film, “Chariots of Fire,” about the Christian Olympic track runner from England named Eric Liddell, then you know that he famously says, “when I run, I feel His pleasure.” (Honestly, this is probably another run-on sentence but for this one, I do not apologize). Well, when I’m in the vineyard pruning vines, I feel His pleasure. It was unexplainable, but I finally understood what Eric Liddell was referring to. I get to go back tomorrow night and Wednesday to finish those pruning trials, and I truly cannot wait.
RE: apartment in Athens, GA. This past weekend, my buddy Josh, my super-extra-special buddy Darby and I stayed the weekend in Athens to find the place that DD and I will live when we get married. And dadgummit we found the perfect place. Despite all of the anxieties, God came through once again. To quote my mother, “God is bringing you down there so He isn’t going to leave you homeless.” We’re once again praising Him for that!
RE: lent. It has come at the perfect time, (a nod once again to God’s sovereignty). This year I am giving up social media. I have likened it to eating an entire 3-lb. bag of Haribo gummy bears. (Now, if you know me, you know that in my humble, yet experienced gummy bear opinion, Haribo remains supreme against those posers such as Trolli or Black Forest). I have been consuming and consuming and consuming the different flavors of social media: Instagram is the green one, Facebook the yellow, Tik-Tok the red, and Twitter the white. I really didn’t look up after eating handful after handful until I noticed that the bag was empty. Lent is a chance for me to detox from fructose and gelatine. I look at the empty bag with a stomach ache. I have the opportunity to break into a new bag but I am choosing not to because frankly, I’ve just had too damn much. It is still early in the season, but this time has been so refreshing. I find that my mind is less cluttered. I have time to sit, time for creativity to sprout and less time for my teeth to rot from my skull. I have more room to hear and to listen, and boy oh boy is that sweeter than any flavor that I waste my health away on. I am so thankful for my God. He just thinks of everything!
Whew, this has been more info than you, Gracious Reader, probably care to know but thank you anyway! Pray for me and Darby as wedding, school, life after Fellows, etc. start to come together!
Reading: The Green Mile by Stephen King, The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson, The Body by Stephen King (finished), Pet Sematary by Stephen King
Audiobooking: Needful Things by Stephen King (finished), Scythe by Niel Shusterman
Listening to: And It’s Still Alright by Nathaniel Rateliff, Half Moon Light by The Lone Bellow
-Jack B