Hurray! The Barclay’s are coming back to Odyssey! It’s amazing. Don’t miss the season premier of Adventures in Odyssey, coming to Christian radio near you sometime Saturday in the near future.

I wish there was a course of study that included: a dash of Theology, a bit of Newtonian Mechanics, a healthy dose of Production Planning & Control, some Writing, a little Thermodynamics, some delightfully complex mathematics, a good bit of Operations Research, quite a bit of Statistics, and a lot of time to think Philosophically about everything.

That’s what I’d take.

I’ve obviously gone the technical route instead of the artistic one. In a way I’d like to have that decision to make again. Perhaps I’d come to the same conclusion, perhaps numbers would still win out over abstraction, but back when the decision was to be made I was not equipped to consider all options.

But I’m stuck with numbers, and trust me, that’s a great place to be stuck at.

Although…

One of the things that bothers me about the Industrial Engineering undergraduate program is how nonspecific and relatively untechnical it is. That might be a little strong, because there is plenty of technical material to be learned, but the fact remains that you can walk into the IME Graduate program with essentially no Engineering background (though I’m sure you have to have some Math background) and get admitted. C’mon, I want something specialized and technical. Are the undergraduate courses that insignificant?

I look at Mechanical Engineering. If you went in to them with no Engineering background, you’d have to do multiple years of catch-up before you’d be eligible for grad school.

That’s why I’m attracted to Operations Research, to Statistics. It’s specific and very technical.

Check out the words to a popular praise & worship song:

Come, now is the time to worship.
Come, now is the time to give your heart.
Come, just as you are to worship.
Come, just as you are before our God.
Come…

Someone pointed out to me that the line “Come, just as you are to worship” is wrong. And sure enough, it is. If it said, “Come, just as you are to the cross” it would be great. But God’s not going to hear our prayers or receive our worship if we come to Him with iniquity in our hearts.

I just heard that a young lady—Daryl Hostetler’s wife for those of you who know them—of only 25 years was just diagnosed with a deadly case of colon cancer. She has three months to live.

What would you do if you only had three months to live? A sobering thought, one that I can’t really fathom.

I’d cry, first of all. I’d cry and cry and cry and probably wonder why.

Then, I don’t know.