Penn State?

In less than two weeks I will start my senior year of college. I am not much closer to knowing what I want to do with my degree than when I entered college 3 years ago. I tell everyone that I’d like to be a writer or work in a corporate communications position, but that’s just my back up plan. Trouble is that my primary plan has nothing to do with my degree.

There are a couple things that I would like to do with my life.
1) Be a well-known performing and recording artist.
2) Own a shop of some sort.

The first item usually seems impossible to me, but I have a God who is completely capable of the impossible. The second item will probably be something involving food. I like food, and I like working with food, and most of my jobs have been with food.

I am not exactly sure where a bachelor’s degree from Penn State is going to be used in my life. Sometimes it seems I’m working towards something I won’t really need. It’s funny though — I know that Penn State is exactly where God wants me right now. I’m just not sure why.

I Miss Jesus

This semester, I have an overwhelming amount of information coming at me. The Wall Street Journal, political blogs, RSS feeds, not to mention textbooks. Professors are snatching up every last second of my life.

I live in a world where 95% of my colleagues are not saved and view education as top priority. This means that most of my time is spent taking in secular knowledge. I thoroughly love what I’m learning, but my intellect is increasing at the expense of my walk with the Lord. So much of my brain is in college that the rest is essentially useless. Focusing on the spiritual world is difficult when everyone else is focussed on knowing the physical world. My particular major is a very pragmatic and somewhat unemotional course of study, and doesn’t exactly work hand-in-glove with a Christ-centered worldview.

Time-management is a struggle for a great number of people, but it is imperative that I learn it quickly so I can spend more time with my Savior. I miss Him.

“Not only was the teacher wise, but also he imparted knowledge to the people. He pondered and searched out and set in order many proverbs. The Teacher set out to find the right words, and what he wrote was upright and true. The words of the wise are like goads, their collected sayings like firmly embedded nails–given by one Shepherd. Be warned, my son, of anything in addition to them. Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body. Now all has been heard, here is the conclusion of the matter. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.”

Ecclesiastes 12:9-13

Bacteria from Scratch

A team of Maryland scientists, led by J. Craig Venter, have constructed a complete DNA chromosome that carries all the necessary chemicals to sustain life. Using only bottled chemicals, they have been able to stitch together a DNA strand on the order of 580,076 base pairs.

The next step for these scientists is to inject their genetic instructions into a “blank” microbe and see if it will “boot up.” The group of scientists who built it removed the sections of code which enable the cell to be infectious, and they’ve also added extra code to “watermark” the cell as artificial. If this cell boots up, we will have created life entirely from chemicals.

The motivation behind synthetic life is supposedly to create renewable fuel that could substitute for oil. However, several critics and groups are questioning the morality of synthetic life, claiming that it could lead to microbes that get loose and wreak havoc on the environment.

I’m not sure how far God will let us explore the creation of synthetic life, but I don’t think we’ll ever be able to artificially produce a living organism with a human soul.