Edit: Due to the age of this post, some of the information is out of date, and I have removed some links and email addresses. I did not, however, change the content so please enjoy.

I am excited to say that I am proud to announce I am finally blogging. Several people have suggested that this is a better alternative to sending out a newsletter with updates and I agree.

If you are not already on my Prayer Mailing list and you would like to be, please send me an email. If you are already on my Prayer list, don’t worry I will still send out something every week, but it will be much briefer. My plan is to send out a request for prayer requests via email each week and simply link to a post on this blog.

To christen my blog I want to start with my most recent newsletter, so If you have read this before, you will have to check back next week for new material.

Over the past two years I decided that I am a terrible student and sought to try and change this. Last semester was a great achievement for me as I read three or four whole books throughout the semester. Not counting some light skimming for research papers, this was more than I had read for school through all of college and possibly high school. This semester, I have made even greater strides toward being the student I should be: in the past two weeks I have read 850 pages (2 books now completed) and continuing on at a rate of 2-3 chapters per day. As we approach Lent and Meagan and I try to live without TV, I’m hoping this might even increase a little.

Why did I decide to write about this? I hope that it doesn’t come across as pride, but rather to point out something else I’ve been learning. Before, I always thought my education was about me, what I learned, and what I could get out of it for the amount of time I wanted to put into it. But in the course of trying to understand humility better, I have seen a severe error in my thought process. This education is not about me. What I learn is meaningless except when it is used in the context of my work. Therefore, everything I learn and do now is really for the people I will one day serve. And I suppose that is true for every person in a position of learning or even working: ultimately, what you do has less impact on you than on the people around you. Thus, true humility is doing your best to serve others.

That is all for today. Again if you want to be a part of my prayer e-mailing list, just let me know.

Pax,

-Paul Hart Cochran