Masland Library Blog

Time is a funny thing.  There are days and weeks that never seem to end, there are times when minutes go past so slowly that you literally feel older just watching the clock tick.  Then there are times when  you cannot seem to keep track of time, the hands on the clock seem to move at lightening speed ticking away the precious seconds and minutes of our lives.  I recently took a trip overseas to Poland and the time change is 6 hours. I lost 6 hours and then regained them on the trip back, and I found that while the plane ride there didn't seem so long at 8ish hours, the trip back at 10:20 minutes seemed to drag out interminably. 

I have been at PBU for 10 years this semester.  I started my undergraduate work in Fall 2001, I lived in Davis Dorm with a wonderful group of women who loved adventure and had huge goals for the future.  It is has been a privilege seeing how their lives have changed and the paths they have taken in the last 10 years.  I have remained at PBU to work in the library as my life has always revolved around books, my parents and grandparents fostered this love in me and my work as a librarian here at PBU is rewarding as I get to help students at PBU learn and exceed in their academic studies.

During my undergraduate years a large percentage of my friends consisted of music majors and through them and my cousin in the honors program I was introduced to Dr. Hsu.  My first thoughts on Dr. Hsu was that he was brilliant on the keys, he played superbly and yet was one of the most approachable men I have ever met.  I worked in the library and it was months before I realized Dr. Hsu and the Dr. Hui's were all related, I think it finally sunk in when I was invited to Ms. Stewart's house for one of the holidays I couldn't get home for that year.

In the last 10 years I have been blessed to know and to learn from Dr. Hsu, not piano (I am a hopeless cause there), but rather in his wisdom and love of the Lord.  My roommate for many years was a music major and when several of my classmates and Dr. Hsu's personal assistants had left the area my roommate and I would on occasions take Dr. Hsu home.  Those trips were always interesting and filled with grand conversations.  I especially remember one trip out to a friend's wedding in Shoamokin, PA when my roommate and I took Dr. Hsu out there so they could play a duet together for the wedding.  Dr. Hsu was internationally known and yet he was always so involved in his students and former students lives that he would frequently play at their weddings and  events.  He is a man who left a deep impact on the people in his church and here at PBU.  Even when he wasn't feeling well he would always have a smile and a kind word.

We will miss Dr. Hsu, but we also know that he is with the Savior he loved so well.  He spent almost 40 years with the students at PBU, investing and sending them out to the field.  I am sure if you asked him how the time went he would say quickly, and yet what a wonderful investment.

~Laura Saloiye

From the PBU Facebook site:

Dr. Samuel Hsu Memorial Visitation Wednesday, December 7, from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm at the Dunn-Givnish Funeral Home in Langhorne, PA, the family will receive visitors. Memorial Service Thursday, December 8, 10:00 am at Tenth Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, PA. There will be a prelude beginning at 9:30 am with former students of Dr. Hsu playing. The service will also be simulcast at Philadelphia Biblical University in the Chatlos Chapel.  

The last week of the semester is here. It’s crazy to think how much has been accomplished or how much work is left to be accomplished, all the events that have taken place, and everyone we have gotten to know a little better these past months. So much has happened and so much has affected the way we think and the way we act. Each occurrence, each lecture, each person has an effect on our lives and it is amazing to look back and see the difference. Whether it has only been a semester or it has been your college career, life changes you and it is amazing how God uses it for His glory. We have talked a lot about God’s power, mercy, and glory in chapels with President Williams has spoken often on how we view God. It leaves us with questions we need to ask ourselves. After your time here so far, how have you changed? How has your view of God changed and what has caused this? After so many lectures, we can either leave completely unchanged or completely renewed and abounding with a great knowledge and love for God. I hope that the time we have spent here has been beneficial and that God’s goodness and hand are seen throughout it all.

~Sara Garms

Whether be it today, a month from today, or in ten years, I can assure you of one thing, we will at one point ask God, “ Why?!?” Why me? Why now? And we may even proudly scoff, “I could do better than this! You have NO idea what this is doing to my life.”

As if he didn’t already know what was happening and as if he forgot to wear his glasses today and was too far off to see you crying fountains in your bedroom. Well let me assure you of this: 5 The Lord watches over you- the Lord is your shade at your right hand; 6the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.( Psalm 121: 5-6) He sees everything your going through, and He knows exactly what’s happening…even when it seems otherwise.

Dr. James Dobson makes it clear that he cannot answer the enduring “Why?” But he says this: “God always makes sense even when he doesn't make sense” Often when we are in the midst of trials we feel as if we’ve been abandoned by God. As if he really couldn’t care less about what’s happening with us, and we too quickly lose our faith and write God off as an uncaring and blind God. Our emotions and feelings….honestly, they are not the most reliable. If you’ve ever “followed your heart”, as you know the saying goes, you’ve probably often found yourself wondering why you ever did that. (Jeremiah 17: 9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? ) “Establish your foundation not on ephemeral emotions but on the authority of the written Word. He promised never to leave us (Matthew 28:20).” (When God Doesn’t Make Sense- James Dobson)

So even when God doesn’t seem to make sense to us, He still makes sense… because He is God and we are not, and when we “feel” like He is doing a bad job, we need to stand upon the firm foundation of God’s promise. (Yes, I acknowledge, it is much more easily said than done. But with God’s empowerment….it is possible.)

God told Job…

Job 38: 4-8 ⁴"Where were you ^(E)when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell Me, if you have understanding,
⁵Who set its ^(F)measurements? Since you know.
Or who stretched the line on it?
⁶"On what ^(G)were its bases sunk?
Or who laid its cornerstone,
⁷When the morning stars sang together
And all the ^(H)sons of God shouted for joy?
⁸"Or who ^(I)enclosed the sea with doors
When, bursting forth, it went out from the womb;

And just like Job, our response should be :

¹Then Job answered the LORD and said,
²"I know that ^(A)You can do all things,
And that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted.
³'Who is this that ^(B)hides counsel without knowledge?'
"Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand,
Things ^(C)too wonderful for me, which I did not know."
⁴'Hear, now, and I will speak;
I will ^(D)ask You, and You instruct me.'
⁵"I have ^(E)heard of You by the hearing of the ear;
But now my ^(F)eye sees You;
⁶Therefore I retract,
And I repent in dust and ashes."

Lord, help us to trust your Sovereignty even when we foolishly think we can be more sovereign. Forgive us for our faithlessness and for our relying on ourselves.

~Grace Sulaiman

The book can be found in the PBU Library here: BT732.7 .D628 1993