23

As of today I have officially completed my 23rd year on the planet. Twenty-three seems like a pretty good number really. I’ve always been attracted to odd numbers for the strangest reason. I like the fact that you can count from both ends and have something left in the middle. I really don’t know where that came from, but I can remember liking numbers like 3, 5, and 7 even back in elementary school. Some other interesting facts about the number:

23 is not only the ninth prime number but also the smallest odd prime that is not separated from another prime by a distance of two.

A group of 23 or more persons has a 50% or greater chance of any two people having the same birthday. (I know you don’t believe that, you think it has to be much higher, but math doesn’t lie.)

23 is the atomic number of Vanadium, an insignificant silver-grey metal used in lacrosse shafts.

23 was the number worn by Michael Jordon and Don Mattingly

23! is 23 digits long

23 is the number of the best known Psalm

So what does it mean to me to be 23? On October 16, 2006 I was probably in the house I shared with Glen and Cliff, not studying for quantum mechanics, and wondering where and for what was I going to go to graduate school. I was pretty sure it wasn’t physics, but beyond that I was probably still confused. Looking back, this last year doesn’t really seem short. So much has happened, deciding God wanted me to go into biostats, applying, being accepted, and choosing to attend UNC, graduating from Clemson, spending the hardest, but most rewarding summer ever in Honduras, and moving to a new town where I knew no one to start a grad program in a subject I knew little of. In fact, this last year seems really long. It was good year, but it was absolutely overflowing with change.

And of course I’m obliged to ask the often self-incriminating question, am I closer to God now than I was 12 months ago? This time I believe I can answer a tentative yes. All the change in the last year brought about some major highs and lows, but through it all I’ve learned some great stuff.

So now it’s October 16, 2007, and I’m in my single bedroom apartment, the first time I’ve lived alone, still not studying. Honestly I’ve started to grow weary of school. This will mark my 18th straight birthday taking place while I’m in some sort of schooling. I came here convinced I was to follow the Ph.D track, but now I’m leaning towards just a Masters. I just have this growing desire to go do something useful instead of taking more tests. But that subject deserves its own post.

Where will I be on October 16, 2008? Well hopefully still in biostats at UNC, but beyond that who knows. I would be even willing to forfeit that if I was sure of God’s calling. So for this next year, I’ve decided to resolve to know one thing, and to hope for one thing, both contained in the last stanza of one of my favorite hymns, aptly based on the 23rd Psalm.

And so through all the length of days,
Thy goodness faileth never;
Good Shepherd, may I sing Thy praise
Within Thy house forever.

Amen.