Classes Starting

Well, after many months of anticipating and preparing, tomorrow (Monday) is the first day of classes. I will be teaching 2 sections of Speech, Creativity in Preaching, and assisting in Introduction to Preaching (I will shadow the prof this semester and teach it next semester). I have about a half dozen students for Creativity and 8 or so in Speech. The Intro class has about 35 in it and I will be doing some of the lectures and some of the prep work for the class each week.
Tonight was the opening convocation. The address was given by our neighbor, Dr. Young, who teaches World Religions. He talked about the importance of multi-culturalism and how to accomplish that here at Princeton. It was well done. The service was full of singing in different languages and sharing in biblical stories about inclusiveness. It was a good evening. After the service, Joanie practiced with the seminary choir for the opening communion chapel tomorrow. My guess is she will be singing in several of the choirs. I have met several of my students. One, in particular, is an incoming first year student who is in my Speech class. He is a graduate of Samford and knows Dr. Massey. He is looking forward to preaching classes and has already read my book on narrative preaching. (Yes, it is a different kind of student at Princeton - not only do they read the texts but they read in advance). Tomorrow should be a good day. I will attend a prayer service at 8am, teach at 9:30, and participate in chapel at 11:30. In the afternoon, I have preparation to do for Intro (I need to exegete a passage for class next week) and I need to get some lectures finished for the Creativity class. All in all, a good day (with Monday Night Football as dessert).
After four years of doctoral work and some 30 years of wanting and preparing, I get to spend the next three months fulfilling both a dream and a calling. Tomorrow is going to be a good day.