Almost One Week Over

Hello everyone!! Sorry it has been so long since I last blogged. Let me tell you, I have been very busy!! It is very reminiscent of my PHC days actually. My Freshmen year consisted of late nights, lots of reading, and very little sleep (with an average bed time of 2 a.m.)!! There is always something to be doing. The only difference here is I was a lot younger back then. LOL!!! :) Things start out a little crazy because basically you are already behind! You are expected to come to class prepared, having read the material, and prepared to discuss it. The goal is to stay ahead of the professor. Sometimes you will not cover all a days material in class, meaning you already have some work done for the next class. This allows you to focus on another class that you may be falling behind a little in. Things will get better as time goes on.

In the midst of all this, I have to admit it - I am enjoying law school!! Of course, I have not yet been called on for any classes yet. :) My time will come.

Like PHC, perhaps one of the greatest things about Regent is the Christian fellowship. I have already met a number of great people, and look forward to building upon and cementing those relationships over the next 3 years. My roommates and I started a prayer time on Wednesday nights, to get a number of us together to pray for each other, especially on matters outside of school. We had a group of 14 this last Friday!

I have to say that I feel priviledged to be here at Regent. Let me tell you a little about my fellow 1Ls. First, we are Regents highest incoming acidemic law class yet!! The average age is 25 yrs old, with a range from 21-55 yrs. old. We have a guy to girl ration of 51 to 49, and cover 37 different states. We represent 138 undergrad institutions. Its a pretty good group. I think there are a 161 of us.

God has been very good to me. I can't tell you what exactly I want to do with my law degree, but I have a great peace about being here (also, reminiscent of my time at PHC). I keep going back to a quote I found a while ago that gives me great encouragment:

GOD DOES NOT CALL THE EQUIPPED, HE EQUIPS THE CALLED.

Good quote, isn't it? Well, I am excited to be here, that tomorrow is Friday, and...excited that I can go to bed early tonight (11:30ish, Yea!).

Grace & Peace !!

Last couple days

Sorry about not being able to post the last couple days. Things had been crazy, so when we had a few days off, I took advantage of it.

First, though, on Wednesday, we had our mock test. It wasn't too bad. I actually messed up a little bit on it though. I made a quick outline, and if I had followed that to a "T" I would have been find. I missed one little point, which changed the outcome of the case. I figured it out half way through, and I knew what I had to write, but didn't get to finish the essay. The test was 40 min. with 2 multiple choice questions. I had one of those wrong. Even though I had to change course mid way through, overall I was pleased with the test. I came out of it feeling I applied the material well.

Afterwards, my roommates and I decided that we were going to get a group to go to the beach. We started inviting everybody, going up introducing ourselves and asking if they wanted to go to the beach on Thursday, our first real day off. The next day we had about 25 people come out from about 11AM to 3pm!! It was a beautiful day. We had some good games of beach volleyball and enjoyed the warm water and got a lot of sun (no burn for me, I got a good base tan - :). Afterwards we invited anyone who wanted to come back to our house for dinner, games and prayer. My roommates and I went home and cleaned and began putting up stuff on our bare walls (nothing like the presence of females to make one do something they have been putting' off, lol). My roommate Jeremy cooked some of his homemade true Italian spaghetti sauce. We had bread and salad to go with it. It was a good meal. About 15 people showed up. My buddy Jon Bell made it from Norfolk - got to see our house and meet some of my friends. Got to play pinochle with him and a couple other avid card players. Others got into some deep discussions in the kitchen (what do you expect from law students? - LOL). At 11pm we spent some time in prayer. Then with those that stuck around, we played a big game of spoons (which I won!!) and taught a bunch of people to play Four on the Couch. It was a blast. I don't think the party ended till 2am! Hey, pretty soon we will be in the books 24/7 - so we enjoyed ourselves.

Today was the rest of orientation, more of Administration stuff. We had a lot of material thrown at us this past week. Classes start on Monday, which we have to come prepared for!! So today I was working on first assignments. It will be a lot of work, but as a friend reminded me tonight, "Anything worth doing is going to be hard". Well put, well put.

Tomorrow I go back to sovereign Grace Church, this time with a bigger group of new friends! Well, more later. Jeremy and I are going to go for a run. Later.

Long Day 2 of Orientation

Yes, today was long. I am tired. Could be a combination of not getting much sleep last night and that it is now 12:01 AM. Today we had a mock lecture on the two cases we preped for the night before. Lecture is done in the Socratic style - teaching having the students explain the material, and adding missing parts.

My roommates and I were happy about two things today: 1.To see that our briefs were pretty close to what was coming out of class, and 2. None of us where called upon to expound upon the cases (though we were prepared to do so). Other than this, it was a long day. Our assignment for tomorrow was to come with an outline of the general principles discussed in our mock class time, and be prepared to take a mock test - that's right, I said a test - on Day 2 of lawschool!! Crazy! And this is as easy as it is gonna get folks. For those of you who don't know, generally all or most of your grades in a class rest on just ONE final exam at the end of the year!!! That's it! You either get it or you don't. Talk about pressure at finals. Oh well, I'll just have to burn that bridge when I come to it. :)

Aside from our regular 4 hours of orientation today, there was also another hour and a half of lecture on the Importance of the OT by one of the Divinity Professors. It was very interesting, but after being in class all day, many of us were anxious to be done. I did enjoy the overview of the life of Moses covered. Here was a man who while in shepherding in the desert was asked by God to step out of his comfort zone and go lead a grumbling nation out of slavery. He felt completely unqualified for the task. He infact argues with God, listing all these reasons why he is unqualified (see Gen. 3-4). God refutes everyone and says, "Moses, your my man!" I can somewhat relate to this story. I too have stepped out of my comfort zone to enter law school. I also had used the original excuse of being unqualified with my own set of arguments why I shouldn't consider law as a profession. God, in His great patience and foreseeable wisdom, refuted my arguments, and now I am here, trusting He will carry me through. The point was made that we so often forget that this life is NOT ABOUT US! How true. (*sigh*)

After tomorrow, we have Thursday and Friday off except for a few social events. Can we say "beach here I come"?? LOL! Well, when I say we have "off" that is such a relative term. You see many of the professors have already posted First Assignment readings to be done before the first day of class. Let the fun begin. :)

I must head to bed! Keep on pluggin'!!

Orientation Day 1

Professor Gantt started out the day with directing our attention to the truths of Phi. 4:13 "I can do all things thru Christ who strengthens me", and Jn 15:5 "...Apart from me you can do nothing". What a great reminder. I can see after only one day that it will not take long to come to the end of my own strength. God's grace must be my source of strength, brains - everything! Prof. Gantt made no bones about how we will be working hard during our time in law school. In some ways, this reminds me of my start at Patrick Henry College (PHC). God proved Himself faithful there, and I trust this will be know different.

Ran into Mark Leichliter today, a guy that graduated a year after me from PHC. Good to see a familiar face. He and his wife Erin are down here, and already extended an invitation for dinner sometime. You know that I am all over that!! Speaking of familiar faces, I am simply ecstatic that another PHC graduate is in the area, Nick Higgins!! We met for coffee last week. It is great to have a couple brothers down here. Thank you Lord!!

Needless to say, I survived day 1, which included 4 hours of lecture, plus the following assignments due tomorrow - briefing 2 cases (drawing out the pertinent information), and outlining a statute. My roommates Matt M., Jeremy P. and I sat around our kitchen table for about 2 hrs after returning breaking down our cases in preparation for tomorrow. We brainstormed, stumbled over some of the difficult wording, and came up with our initial briefs. Tomorrow we may be proved wrong by the professor, but at least we got some material to work with. Some of what I did tonight I vaguely remember from my days of Constitutional Law at PHC.

I hate to admit this, (shh...don't tell anyone) but I did kind of enjoy it. Twisted I know! I am sure I will be in my right mind a few weeks into the semester. ;) No worries. LOL. Right now I am glad to get started, and enjoying the challenge.

Well, I need to head out. Poor Eagles, they just lost to the Steelers! My poor roommate from Philly. (Did I mention that my roommates Matt and Jeremy are really into football!?!)

I'm outta here for now. Yea! I posted 2 days in a row!!
Nite.

Well, it is not the official kickoff - only Orientation. It will only be a taste of what I am getting myself into. Classes don't actually start till the 22nd. That's right folks, Mark Wohlschlegel II (the second edition, as opposed to the first) is starting law school! I may find that as hard to believe as you do, for those of you catching this tid-bid of information for the first time. :) I am a 1L (first-year law student) at Regent University School of Law, located in beautiful Virginia Beach. Not a bad gig if you ask me. I will have to see how it goes combining "books" and "beach" - I'll get back to you on that one.

I officially became a resident of our 4-bedroom townhouse on Glyndon Drive this past Thursday. We are only 5 minutes from campus!! I have 3 great roommates - Jamison R. from SC, Matt M. from TN, and Jeremy P. from Philadelphia (I'll give better introductions later, after all, I have just recently met them myself). As one of Matt's friends put it "two Yankees with two Southern boys" *whistle*. We are all 1Ls who God has led to Regent with very little idea of what we want to do with a law degree. This gives me and my shipmates some comfort - to know we are all in the same boat (come on, did I have to spell it out for you, LOL). Emotions are high among us - excited to finally be here(!!!), and apprehensive about what we have gotten ourselves into. Overall, we are psyched!!! BRING IT ON - Lord Help US!!!!

I have a very good sized room with a large walk-in closet, and perhaps one of the best things about it - it is all mine (or mines - sorry Mom)!! You see, coming from a family of 10, having a room to oneself is rare, and in college they give you roommates, though I didn't have much success there either (had to get a new every year, LOL). So I am very excited about this. Other late excitement in my life right now include finding a dresser, couch, and coffee table cheap! I still don't have a bed, but I did bring an air mattress to start off from. Think I am going to try the couch out tonight and see how that goes (yes, this is in my room too - told you it was good sized).

Visited Sovereign Grace Church today in Chesapeake (only a 10 minute drive away) with roommate Matt M. Very similar to the others of Sovereign Grace Ministries. The worship was great and the message very good as well. The pastor spoke out of I John 2:15-17 about how "world" here refers to the aspect of Satan's dominion over mankind, and how this is polar opposite of God's system. Great spiritual food. The people were very friendly. I guess this church has a number of Regent affiliated students, both current and former. Matt really enjoyed the visit. We plan to go back. I am pretty sure this will become my VA church home.

Well there is so much more I could say, but it will have to wait for another time. Sleep is inorder at some point. Anyway, hope you enjoyed my first post. I will do my best to keep up with it throughout my time here.

Thanks for checking in!
Over and Out...................click!