Masland Library Blog

I have had two experiences during summer vacation so far that I thought would be worth sharing, particularly on this blog. The first comes from my summer job, and the second comes from my local library in-the-middle-of-nowhere, Chester New Hampshire.

During this summer my life takes a very different pace, as I am on the grounds crew for a local golf course. Instead of shuffling books or helping patrons with Microsoft Word in a nice air-conditioned library—like during the semester—my average work day here runs from 6:00AM to 2:00PM in the cold, rain, and heat, doing all sorts of different landscaping type-jobs. This year one of my more recent jobs has been teaching a new high school graduate the ropes.

During my time with this new employee, the commonplace discussion about school, life, and family ensued. Upon my saying that I attend “Philadelphia Biblical University” (sorry, I haven’t started saying “Cairn” yet), the discussion about Christianity came up. As this is my third summer working there, all the guys on the course know that I’m a Christian and that I study the Bible at a University. What was different about the discussion this time was how much this new kid didn’t understand about Christianity—his parents were never involved in any type of religion, and he was raised in a government school that never taught him anything about Christianity or the Bible. He was shocked to hear that Jesus was God. We started talking about the Bible. He had never heard of Abraham before. He even asked me if Jews thought that Abraham was God the same way Christians think Jesus was God. Now, I say all this not in any way to make this fellow look bad—he is simply a product of our culture.

The second event was my looking through the catalog for my local library. They don’t even have a copy of Calvin’s Institutes. The closest thing to any sort of “Christian” material available was Joel Osteen, the man from planet prosperity. I was definitely disappointed, although not surprised, at the major lack of Christian materiel available to the public in my area—New England. The land that once was called home to our friends the Puritans.

I tell both of those stories to remind my fellow students of what I was reminded of by them: we take for granted what we have, both in our general understanding AND our library. Not knowing the name of Abraham, if you were raised in a Christian household as I was, is something that’s hard to imagine. As a PBU student, not having access to thousands of commentaries and theological treatise is also something we don’t stop to think about, and often times, it isn’t something we stop to use. Those things being said, I want to encourage you to thank God for the resources he has given you—both through the friends and churches that you have, and also the great collection of writings available to us in the library. Go ahead, pick up a dead theologian. Read Calvin’s Institutes. Praise God that you can. 

~Zak Fixler

 I was shelving books a couple months ago at the library like I usually do when I stumbled across an interesting book. Its title read The Very Private Matter of Anorexia Nervosa. This piqued my interest because all throughout high school my best friend was very skinny and had often been accused of being anorexic. I decided to educate myself on this eating disorder so I checked out the book and I headed back to my dorm room. Once I started reading, I could not stop. It was the author’s own personal story of her struggle with anorexia. In this book the author, Shanon Christian, described every emotion, every thought she had over a 3 year period of her life. It all started innocently when she wanted to lose a little bit of weight but it rapidly became an obsession of counting every calorie and exercising to the point of fainting. Shanon became lost in this cycle and started to lose control. Her hair started falling out, she experienced anxiety and depression, and she had no energy to do anything-except continue to count calories and skip meals. Family and friends tried to help her understand that she was destroying her body but Shanon would not listen. It had become an obsession. As she struggled to get her life back under control she finally hit rock bottom. Shanon cried out to God to heal her and slowly but surely Shanon started to become better. It took quite a while but in time with the help of God, she learned to overcome her anorexia.

 If you or someone you know on campus is struggling with anorexia and is trying to find a way out, there are many places that you can check out, one of them being on our own campus. The Oasis Counseling Center can provide you with private Christian help for no cost at all. You can also visit the nurse to receive information about anorexia nervosa and other eating disorders or check out the website http://www.anad.org/ which is the National Association of Anorexia and Associated Disorders.

~Jenny Dunning

One of the first things you will notice as you step through the wooden doors of the library are the colorful paintings on the wall facing you. These paintings all carry a story, each of them unique. Art has a funny way of expressing stories. Each piece adds a part to an even bigger story that the curator tries to tell. And art, being a very subjective topic, will lead you to interpret the story differently from you brother standing next to you and your sister across the room.

And to think that just a few years ago, our library had very little to offer in the aesthetic realm. Our school has changed a lot. It's constantly ebbing and flowing, out with the old, in with the new. Soon, students will register for classes next semester, finish the semester strong, leave for the summer, and come back again in the fall. I know this next fall will be different. I know for sure that there will be new students who will contribute to a new PBU community culture. I know some of my favorite professors will be gone, and there will be new professors to fall in love with. Yet, loss is still a hard thing to deal with. Several of our students have been personally hit with this emotional tear, speechless, confused, angry, numb. Dr. Hirt, dean of the Bible department, has been struggling with cancer since last year. We've just been informed that Lisa Weidman, Director of Communications and Marketing and a key catalyst for the appearance of fine arts on campus, has a rare form of cancer. Unlike Dr. Hsu's death, theirs will be expected. We will have a little bit longer to celebrate our last times with them,
stories ebbing and flowing.

I wonder what stories Lisa intended to share with each piece of art she contributed to for our campus. I wonder what stories she will be sharing in heaven, stories that God has embedded on her heart, full of color and wonder and so much beauty, full of ebbs and flows.

~Hanah Bae

Lisa Weidman's Honorarium page

Dr. Hirt's Honorarium page

Dr. Hsu's Honorarium page