chocolate in class

Two different people brought treats to class today. 1. chocolate cupcakes for Kate's birthday to our John precept (thank you Kristin), and 2. Natasha brought a bag full of chocolate/fruity treats to our Ethics II class. Sometimes food is needed to stay awake!

Next week is Thanksgiving! A whole week to get homework done! Woo-hoo!

It's hard to believe there are only 4 weeks left in this semester. Where has the school year gone? Papers are coming due, paperwork and form deadlines are nearing, tests have been issued. December 18 cannot come soon enough!! A word to my fellow students: Hang in there!

city spotlight // the music scene

Luther Seminary is located virtually in between the Twin Cities and so there are incredible opportunities to see the cities. Matter of fact, its kind of weird to do this seminary thing without getting out into the city that defines so much of the culture surrounding us. Let's be honest, seminaries are bubbles and we need to break out. My suggestion to you: dive into the local music scene...

There's a rich history and a vibrant active music scene right here in the Twin Cities. I can't even begin to cover enough ground in a blog post and still maintain the mini-skirt rule (long enough to cover the material, short enough to keep it interesting). But here's two groups you should check out and one incredible club.

Meet My Friend Heatherlyn...

a singer-songwriter and a passionate advocate for social justice. Heatherlyn's music is acoustic folk with stunning vocals often paired with hand drum goodness and luscious cello. Her debut album is a fantastic intro to her work, passion and style. Visit her at www.heatherlynmusic.com
// word on the street (not public yet) is that Heatherlyn will be on campus for a special house concert in December.

listen | watch | shows


MUST SEE: We Are The Willows

I regularly worship with the good folks at House of Mercy (btw, you should come...its not that bad) and every Sunday we have artists from the community. Its always incredible stuff. This past Sunday was particularly good -- We Are the Willows. With roots in the Eau Claire music scene, Peter Miller is an inde rock artist who's textured sounds will do wonders for your soul. So there...now dive in: // two CD Release shows this weekend!

listen | watch | shows | photos

GO! to The Dakota!

It doesn't really matter if you like jazz or not, The Dakota Jazz Club is infamous and the music there is always so good that you'll be converted. It's cool, just think of it as reverse musical evangelism. Yeah, you know like you're getting evangelized into coolness while there. Serious, my friend Dave Hahn (a PhD student here at Luther) and I have been twice now and seen two of the best jazz acts in the counry: Marcus Roberts Trio and Dirty Dozen Brass Band. Sure you'll spend a little bit more than a Blockbuster night but its special experience so get dressed up, grab friends and enjoy -- I promise, you'll love it.

A Micro Date

During the school year, we tend to have a Wednesday evening ritual at my house. Have supper together, then the kids get their baths early and then we take them down the street to my in-law's house. They spend the evening there while my wife and I are both busy with church night activities.

That's the normal gig. Last night was just a touch different.

We still planned on having the kids head down to their house, but the in-laws had plans to go get groceries in the late afternoon. They said that was fine, but that they'd just take the kids along with them to the store.

I still sitting at work at about 4:15 when I got a text from my wife. It simply said "We are without kids."

Nice. I guess they decide to leave for the store really early.

Neither of us needed to be to the church until about 6:30, so we thought we would take advantage and have a little date night. Maybe it would be better for me to call it a micro-date as we were only out and about for a little over an hour. But it was still nice.

We ended up going to a nice restaurant in the area. Usually when we end up there we have a little wine and enjoy ourselves for awhile, but with church activities we both thought that it would be better to refrain from that. But the food was good, the conversation was nice, and we didn't have to put up with two crazy, easily distracted kids. Always a nice thing.

After that, it was on to church like normal, but hey, a date is a date right?

Pray + Break Bread // Christ Lutheran Capital Hill

You may remember my previous post on Pray + Break Bread, but honestly this practice (its not really an event per se) is just so different that our most recent outing last Friday equally deserves a shout out.

As a recap here's how it works. Students, staff, faculty, friends, whoever gather at 3pm on a Friday afternoon once a month. We head out together and visit with a pastor who speaks to us about the neighborhood their church is located in. She/he tells of the struggles and the celebrations. We pray for that pastor. Then we walk that neighborhood, praying as we go and ending up at some incredible local restaurant in that neighborhood. It's freakin' brilliant.



This month we went to Christ Lutheran - Capital Hill. Pastor Gary Dreier (husband of our very own Prof. Mary Sue Dreier) greeted us and shared. The biggest issue is the construction of the lite rail. While it would provide increased public transportation options, it would also divide several poor neighborhoods and consequently several current bus stops would be discontinued. For those who depend on those stops (an proportional number) the elimination of these stops will be difficult. Christ Lutheran houses several other ministries including the synod offices of St. Paul Metro Synod. You may remember this famous wedding video:

yup. that's Christ Lutheran Capital Hill. now you know.

Read my live tweets from the event: #luthersem.

pre-winter views

The latest look at Luther before winter places a white blanket over the land.

Kindergarden Drama

Last night was my weekly couple's Bible study. My wife and I have been participating in this group for a number of year's now, probably 6 or 7. The membership has changed dramatically over the years, and in it's current rendition, it involves us, my wife's parents, and another couple with kids nearly identical in age to ours.

So last night we met at the in-law's house and the parents met in the family room while the 4 kids (my two and the other couple's two) played in the toy room just off the family room. My kids are well familiar with it as it is Grandma and Grandpa's house. It worked fairly well, though there were instances of one kid walking out of the room crying because something got thrown or someone got pushed or whatever...typical kid stuff.

The interesting thing involved an interaction between my oldest (nearly 6 year old son) and their oldest (recently 6 year old daughter). These two kids have grown up together since they were about 3 and 6 months old respectively. They've played together for years and been best friends the whole time.

Things are starting to change.

Last night she chucked a toy that caught him in the head...much drama ensued. Granted, we weren't in the room when it happened, but it wouldn't surprise me to hear that they were both throwing things back and forth and he just happened to get pegged. I could be wrong, but I have my suspicions.

After talking with the kids and starting to see just a tiny touch of animosity between them, we (the parents) came to a realization.

They're starting to get cooties.

I think that's hilarious...but somehow I get the feeling that it's going to be short lived.

When do kids starting dating?

MIA (NOT missing in action)

Have you had a chance to go to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts? My Exercises in Biblical Theology class took a field trip there this weekend and had a chance to see Professor Sarah Heinrich at work at the museum. I was there with my sister and two nieces. (The youngest one was 2, so she was far from attentive as we made our way through the museum). I didn't get to hear everything Sarah said, but enjoyed seeing the museum through the eyes of my 5 year old niece who saw things we missed. She was intrigued by a stone floor room in the Chinese exhibit. She said it was a place to hide from other people. She learned what a "statue" was. When we were at the Mall of America on Sunday, she pointed out the "statues" of farm animals on the kiddie roller coaster. Too cute! She likes to take pictures (just like her Auntie), so my sister gave up her camera and let her document the trip. I can't wait to see what she saw. Lots of awesome art lives in the twin cities. I bet Sarah would be glad to lead another tour for Luther Students, so get a group together and let her know when you want to go! Enjoy art!

GMI's Global Agape Fest

Weekend in progress, so far so good. There has been a lot of excitement in the soccer world today. I took a brief look at the games taking place in Africa, there was a great deal of activity. My national team was walloped again. Not that I expected them to win, but it is just frustrating that they keep on losing.

However, the highlight so far has been the Global Agape Fest, a dinner festival hosted by the Global Mission Institute at the Northwestern Atrium. Once again, this was a great opportunity to catch up with most of the international students. There was some good singing, clapping and even a little dancing. The music was Hispanic. For the African students, soccer talk would naturally take the lead, news from Manchester United down to the England-Brazil and Kenya-Nigeria matches taking place today. I also learned that a spouse of one of the international students has just been diagnosed with cancer, thank God, in its very early stages. (I cant mention the name here, but if you pray, God will know who you are praying for).

I had a chance to share tables with the Dean of Students, Patricia Lull. Following a brief exchange with the students living in House 18, and after being joined by William Obaga, an observation from one of us was made that "this agape fest has the largest number of children than any of the recent years." Indeed, children from all over the world were in attendance. We all agreed with Dean Lull in the faith for job security, when these childrens' generation comes to the seminary in 25 years. This is hopeful. A generation of global future seminarians is here with us!

Senior Preaching Rocks!

Senior Preaching is my favorite class by far. Lecture is usually alright, but today it was awesome. Here are some videos of the super experiential, song filled, Spirit filled class! Well...some people weren't all that into it. Drives me nuts. Oh well...those of us who actually enjoy it get to sing all the louder then! Thanks to our guest singers/teachers/awesome music leaders for the insightful afternoon of learning!

wordle (for now)

I meant to catch up on blogging this week. No luck. I've got some great content coming soon. Until then just know that I got four hours of sleep after several days of Hebrew studying, Moltmann reading/writing. Ugh.

this "wordle" is a visual representation of the "weighted words" from my essay I'll give later today to Prof. Padgett (he's been sick these last few days -- get better soon prof!)

calling all carnies

STEP RIGHT UP LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!

The Luther Seminary Circus has come to town!

In the spirit of the thankathon, Seminary Relations hosted carnival games and a dunk tank this afternoon. Karoline Lewis, President Bliese, and Eric Baretto willingly hopped onto the seat and got knocked repeatedly into the tank! It was a riot!

Cotton candy and a community lunch too! What a great day! I hope you didn't miss it!

Nina Bliese taking down her husband!

The shot that sunk Karoline Lewis!!

Ben was the first to put Karoline in the water!

Nice vest, Karoline! :)

The Routine is Starting to Drag

Last night I was in the midst of trying to pick my way through homework for the week. Here in week 10 of the semester my routine is pretty well locked in...Sunday night finish up responsive postings for the previous week and start reading for synoptics class, Monday night finish up reading for synoptics and take the weekly quiz. Tuesday night produce my weekly discussion posting for synoptics. Wednesday night begin reading for pastoral care (depending on how much time is available after getting home from church night activities), Thursday night finish reading for pastoral care and attempt to get that posting done. Friday night, slack off unless the posting's not done yet.

That being said, here in week 10 I also find myself hitting a wall. Classes have been in session for two months now and I'm worn out. So instead of jumping right into work last night (after my young kids, 5 and 3, went to bed), I ended up on facebook.

Side note...I think facebook could be considered the drug of choice for Distributed Learning students. We are on there all the time...Gotta get my facebook fix...gotta get my facebook fix.

But I digress.

Anyways, while on FB, I got into discussions with several of my cohort/classmates. It seems like we're all in the same boat by this point of the semester. Tired from long days and late nights. We work all day, do our class work, stick in contextual work within a congregation, many are doing extended units of cpe. I wonder how we all manage to refrain from going a little gaga.

But somehow we manage.

It also seems to be the feeling of the group, or at least the ones I talked to last night, that we're all looking forward to our next intensive, which is coming up in January. 2 weeks on campus, this time in the snow and freezing cold weather. A year ago we say 35 below zero. But we are all looking forward to it.

Why you may be asking?

Well, it allows us to focus on one thing for a couple weeks. Class...nothing else. Well now, that's not entirely true. We are also focusing as best we can on what's going on at home with our families, but what I mean is that our attention can reside on a single task for a short period.

That and we all get to see each other which only happens twice a year. So that's a plus too.

change + society + story

This past Sunday afternoon I had a brilliant phone conversation with my friend Thomas Knoll and he reminded me of this beautiful quote from Ivan Illich. For those of us trying to improvise between tradition and culture, this can serve as a call to re-focus on what really matters — this is especially true for those of us in mainline Protestant denominations.

How do we practice the art of storytelling in the midst of crisis?
How do we practice the art of storytelling in the midst of disagreements?
How do we practice the art of storytelling in the midst of discontinuous change?
How do we practice the art of storytelling in the midst of learning a new cultural language?
How do we practice the art of storytelling in the midst of building up the community?

TIM K. SNYDER :: creative | editor | networker
www.curatingthejourney.org

Posted via email from curatingthejourney.org/lite

Created and Led by the Spirit

November 6 and 7 of 2009 saw a gathering of over 150 dignified scholars and practitioners of mission and theology at the campus of Luther Seminary for a missional church consultation under the theme "Created and Led by the Spirit: Planting Missional Churches."

It was a landmark conversation, at least from my perspective, in its effort to manage the tension between being academically rigorous and spiritually powerful at the same time. Generally, there has been a watershed between the two. However, in this conference, the two managed to meet in an amazingly sweet way. It was an excellent sight to see the openness of many to the Spirit--something most people agreed would not have happened a generation ago.

All the four plenaries were great. The workshops and break-out sessions were also incredibly resourceful. The mix was even better than most of us expected; the practical aspects of missional church planting, the theological-philosophical aspects of the work of the Holy Spirit, not to mention the cultural mix of the participants. Some of the highlights for me were when I talked to two missionaries from Asia that are now serving in New Jersey. Hearing their views on evangelism and church planting as foreign missionaries trying to work in a multicultural context in the US was really helpful.

I am already looking forward to next year's consultation.

chapel aSISTA!

Yeah, that's cool girl talk for chapel assister. I got to help Jannie Swart in chapel today. He's a PhD student here at Luther finishing up his dissertation. I'm definitely not that cool, which is why I was his assistant. :) He's from South Africa, all about extemporaneous (aka: Spirit filled worship), and no albs. Basically, he's my hero. If you don't get a chance to be in chapel, did you know you can always listen to past days? Just go to www.luthersem.edu/chapel. I haven't been up front in a leadership position since internship, so I was back to the nervous morning ritual, and sick half the day over it. It's so true: the more you do it, the easier it gets!

Lessons in leaf removal

I thought about doing homework today. Really and truly I did. But alas, it was not really meant to be...at least for the most part. I also thought about taking a nap this afternoon, as is my normal Sunday custom. This one really didn't happen.

It's my own fault though. I'll claim it.

Here in northwest Iowa, we have a wonderful (catching the sarcasm yet?) season when all the trees turn beautiful colors (aka really ugly brown) and fall off...all over my lawn. I swear that there is an invisible barrier that separates my back yard from the three adjacent lawns and ever leaf stays in my yard. Actually, the boundaries are caused because I have retired neighbors on all sides. They have the oppurtunity to clean up the leaves during the day when I'm slaving away at work. But that's beside the point.

About a week ago, a pretty fair share of the leaves had dropped, so I went down the street to my in-law's to borrow their mulching mower. That did a pretty good job chopping everything up. Well, fast forward a week and it was time to do the followup leaf cleanup as the trees were pretty much done shedding. I began this process yesterday afternoon.

I had no more than started raking and burning leaves slowly in my fire ring, when my neighbor from across the street (ironically another online seminary student...though not through Luther) came walking over with his leaf blower.

"Here man, this makes it way easier."

Which turned out to be true. I worked on blowing the leaves into very large piles and continuing to burn them (very slowly) until it got too dark to see. I knew that my mission would continue to though, so all was not lost.

Well, I did in fact finish it all up this afternoon, but in doing so, I learned two very important lessons.

Lesson #1. Never mulch leaves before using a leaf blower. Even a week later, the little chopped up leaf pieces are a major pain in the tail to blow around.

Lesson #2. Only applies to my personal situation. Loading the leaves up into the truck and hauling them across town to the dump works much faster than trying to burn them all in very small fire pit. Someone with a large garden or other type of bare ground could burn much large quanities faster, and someone that does not have a truck would have a hard time loading up leaves to haul them.

Lessons learned.

I just wish I'd gotten a nap.

Missional Church Consultation

Incase you missed it, this weekend Luther hosted the Missional Church Consultation. Speakers and missional church folks from all over the country stopped in to teach, learn, and be in dialogue with one another. As a photographer for the communications department, I get to sneak into all the major events on campus whether I'm actually invited or not. I used my new video camera and ran into the event...here's a peek at what the consultation looked like.

Here are a few shots from the event, including the 13 wild turkeys that were sitting on their post ready to welcome people. (No, this is not where the seminary event planning $$ go...they showed up on their own)!!

A funny situation followed up by a serious one

Today I had the oppurtunity to go with my pastor on a home visitation. Two things happened. One was very moving, and the other was just funny.

On the way to the home of the couple, we (my pastor and I) pulled up to an intersection. As we stopped, we both noticed something smeared out on the road in front of us. We were not able to identify what the substance was, only that it was a strange brownish-yellow (I'll let your imagination take that one). As we sat there trying to figure out just what we were looking at, my pastor asked "Is that [insert the proper colorful word here]?" Then he said "I sure hope not." I looked the direction he was looking and a car was very slowly spinning its wheels through a very large amount of the mystery substance. Needless to say it was spraying all over the car. I really hope that the driver was taking a trip to the carwash.

For the record...I think it was a spill of used cooking oil...but I'm not sure.

Now onto the serious side of this.

The visitation was with an older couple within the congregation. That in itself was a wonderful experience. The man is suffering from cancer, and they are both realistic about the eventual outcome. However, their outlook is one that is truely inspirational. His faith shows through very strongly and it was evident that he was at peace with God taking him home in the long run. While it was difficult to sit there and see the pain that his wife felt as she recounted the past few months, it still felt like a postitive experience to witness their interaction as they discussed their life situation. One that I will carry with me in my future ministry.

ice cream social

I hope everyone got a chance to swing by the Thankathon table today for free FRESH FROM THE OVEN chocolate chip cookies and icecream. Incase you're wondering: YES, there were toppings! Thanks to Lynne Moratzka for all her wonderful hospitality and treats as we go and do what we should do: Thank donors who give so much to us!

Dorothy Day & A Guitar

So Dorothy Day is famous for saying: if you have two coats, you've stolen one from the poor (my paraphrase). A few months ago I was getting ready to move here to St. Paul and I learned that my friends Tim and Laurie Thornton (the blackthorn project) was looking for a guitar to take to Peru. When they do these trips as artist-missionaries they like to take instruments that people have donated so that they can leave the instruments with budding worship leaders and songwriters who will then even further bless the communities of faith there. I've had a great Takemine guitar in my closet that I acquired under well sketchy circumstances. I'll explain.

A former roommate of mine had lost his driver's license and in a less than thought through plan he pawned his bike and this guitar. He needed them both back and time was running out so I gave him $150.00 for this guitar. I have no idea what he used that pawn money for and I wasn't about to ask. Since then I got a new guitar and so have this extra one has just been ridiculous so when the Thorntons needed a guitar to bring to Peru, I was happy to give away this beauty.


This morning I got an email from Tim Thornton telling my about Jeremias (Jeremiah):

Tim, this guy, jeremias ( jeremiah) is just faithful. He's holding two guitars because he received the one he's been using from Ben and robin a year and a half ago on our last visit. Well he's been using it every day, leading worship and writing songs. They have written one or two that their congregation loves to sing together. Well one of my strings broke so I played the guitar he has been using, and I was amazed that he was able to do as much as he's done with it. That was a fine starter guitar but while I led worship with his beater instrument, the Lord impressed it upon me that he really needed an upgrade, so after the service I said, "what does God do when a man is faithful with what is put under his care?"Jeremias said "He enlarges it." I showed him the guitar and said, "well there is your increase. Now you get to bless someone else with the one you've been playing." He couldn't believe it. I also gave him a floor tuner and your cable. I know he's going to be able to do so much more with a guitar that keeps it's tune and sounds so good. Thanks Tim for giving him a gift of quality that is more than a token, but an upgrade for a faithful musician. I'm really excited that he can play something that will inspire and not distract him. He's really using his music to serve the body, and i think it blessed his soul too because of that principle that God rewards faithfulness, and that he now gets not only to receive, but to give too. As you pray for him, you can remember that his wife has taken the kids and left him and that's pretty tough on him. You can ask for them
to be restored to him and to a healthy life and to the lord.

Community

So I was going to write about the awesome issue of the Concord that came out yesterday. It's about faith and the economy. I wrote a little article (page 7 if you'd like to read it) about the abundance I've found in my life despite the economy. After this morning, I wanted to write about something else, though.

See, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer this summer. It has spread to her bones but treatment seemed to be working well. She had some weakness in her leg that wouldn't go away though. After some back-and-forth, the doctors finally decided to get an MRI to just check it out on Tuesday.

Suffice it to say, the news wasn't good. I'm not going to go into detail because we don't have a complete diagnosis yet, but it wasn't good. It's times like this I realize how lucky I am to be part of the Luther community. Today I stopped by the Communications Office (where I work) to drop off some DVDs for my boss. I had told them via e-mail earlier this week and the news was shared with the people who love me. I was embraced and sorrow was shared. I know as my mom and my family go through this journey, my friends at Luther will be there to cheer on the success and grieve the failure. To me, it's one of the greatest assets of this place: The community.

We have some pretty amazing faculty at Luther, but if you haven't had time to get to know the staff that runs this place, take some time to do so. I've been thanked with hand written notes and special meals for something that is really just part of my job. My son is invited to visit offices when he's on campus to pick up a piece of candy or two (one awesome staff member even wanted to know what kind of candy he liked so she could make sure to have it on hand when he visits!). I have participated as entire offices pray for a family member going in for surgery or as graduates leave.

I sometimes feel like an outsider as a part-time commuter student, but I have found my home at Luther through the staff I am blessed to work with. When you're taking time this week to thank a donor for their contributions, make sure to find a Luther staff member and thank them, too. Luther wouldn't be the same without them.

got gratitude?

I work in Seminary Relations and have been cutting out hundreds of "got gratitude" stickers lately. I want to remind all the students here at seminary that this week, Wednesday-Friday there will be a table set up in the OCC for you to drop off your thank you letters to donors. I've also been informed there will be milk and cookies as well. Mmmm!! If you cannot make it this week, next Tuesday evening, and next Wednesday during the community lunch, there will be a table and people happy to help you. Let's reach 100% participation this year and thank all the generous donors to Luther Seminary! Thanks in advance for taking the time to write an important note of thanks.

A cat with street smarts

I was driving home from work yesterday afternoon, making my way down a residential street. As I drive, I noticed a cat walking towards the street a few houses away from me. The cat got to the edge of the road, and then proceeded to jump down off the curb into the gutter. At this point, I was wondering if it was going to keep moving, there by causing me to slam on my brakes to avoid making street pizza out of someone's pet.

Here's where it get's weird.

As I'm watching the cat, I see it turn it's head and look down the street. Then it turned and looked the other way, towards me. It repeated the process. Then it stopped, waited for me to drive by, and then continued on across the street.

The cat...looked both ways. A cat did this. I can't get my 5 year old to figure that out.

In other news, we had some people over last night for short introductory Bible study. The purpose of our meeting last night was to review two different topics for future study, but I decided to make use of the group and hold an informal text study. I'm on duty for preaching this weekend, and have some idea of what I'm going to preach on, but it's not entirely formulated in my mind yet. I figured, what better way to gain insight than to get the impressions of a few people on the text that I'm using.

I got some good ideas too.

Go Fish in Jackson

Last weekend I went home for 11 photo shoots, but cut my shoots off early on Saturday night so I could go with my two nieces to the Go Fish concert in Jackson. It was a crazy sight. You probably remember Go Fish a number of years ago singing their tight Christian harms. This time, they were jumping around like puppets on a string bringing the story of Jesus to life for children. Kids were going balistic. Now, I've been to some kick butt concerts lately, so Go Fish hardly compared in my mind, but imagine for 5-15 year olds how exciting a concert like this would be. It was pretty awesome to see three adult men with energy coming out their ears, and kids singing the books of the Bible and smiling and having a good time.

If you want to see the excitement for yourself, click here. Enjoy!

Halloween

As a parent, there is one time a year when I am subjected to walking around in the cold and knocking on the door of complete strangers.

Halloween.

This year, I was accomplanied by Darth Vader and a ladybug that kept losing her antennea (antenei? is that plural?). Not to mention a cowboy (my Godson) and a slightly crabby princess (after a complete meltdown regarding the hairstyle that Cinderella wears).

The good news...the weather was clear and not overly cold. At 40 degrees, I was warm enough in my coat, gloves, and BLAZE ORANGE STOCKING HAT (Keep an eye out for in January. I'm notorious known for wearing it now). The next bit of good news...we obtained enough candy to successfully keep my kids sugar buzzed until just after the turn of the next century...or the second coming of Christ. We'll have to wait and see which one happens first.

The highlight of the evening occurred when we ended up at the door of someone I actually knew. One of my former coworkers (that I actually just played catch up with at my sis-in-law's wedding a couple weeks ago) and her husband, who is also an area youth director (meaning that he interacts with my wife on a pretty regular basis). They actually live about a block away from our friends (whose neighborhood we terrorized this year).

We walked up and she came out. After greeting our friends, she looked around at the rest of us. A few seconds later, she recognized me (the hat probably threw her off).

"You guys know each other?"

"Yeppers"

"How?"

"From church, we've actually known each other for about 6 years."

So that was pretty cool. I'd call it the highlight of the evening.

My kids, on the other hand, would likely call the highlight going to a house that has recently been graced by a batch of lab puppies (our friend had the inside track on that one). So we had to go around through the yard and check out the new puppies. Of course, they were little and cute, as new puppies tend to be...but I wasn't fooled. I just watched Marley and Me a week ago. I know what those pudgy little buggers grow up to become. Also, the fact that my show managed to find a certain pile of...well, you can probably imagine what I found while walking through the yard.

I would call that the low point of the evening.

missing CA

I'm going to go ahead and speak the truth: I'd rather be in CA right now. I miss my internship site. I miss the people there. I miss the ocean view. I miss the dolphins (if you haven't yet seen this video, you may want to), I even miss the sea lions (even though I absolutely despised them). Some of my classes rock (senior preaching is right up there), but some of them are a little...dry. I miss the daily support of staff and friends. I miss the regular God moments. They seem to get lost here on campus. Anyone up for a road trip?

I have been marked … rather my transcripts have

Have you taken it yet? Have you even heard of it? Have you cowered in fear?

Yep, I’m talking about the Bible Proficiency Exam (BPE). Yesterday, I took this required test. Don’t worry, I won’t leave you in suspense. I passed.

I have been worried about this test since I first heard about it. I’ve heard Luther’s urban legends about the BPE: “The BPE is impossible.” “I heard that that a student in ’46 didn’t graduate because they couldn’t pass it.” “I hear even the professors have trouble with it.” “Did you hear, they had to make the test easier because students couldn’t pass it!” “Someone once told me birthday cake is not a breakfast food!” Oh, wait, not that last one. But I have heard the rumors and I let them psych me out.

If you’re not familiar with the BPE, legend has it that years ago the professors at Luther were concerned that students graduating into ministry work were lacking in basic Bible knowledge. We can talk about the three parts of the Trinity, sanctification and vocation but what year did the Wilderness Wanderings begin? Students have to take this test after their first year (or 10 completed credits) before being allowed to register for the next semester's classes.

Let me be honest. The test isn’t easy, especially if you haven’t had a strong biblical education or are new to the faith. Before taking the test, I had already taken a number of Old Testament classes, but only one New Testament class on the Gospel of Luke. After the Book of Acts, I’m pretty thin and the test showed that. I never memorized the books of the Bible or Bible verses in Sunday school or confirmation. I don’t learn dates and places well. I understand the themes and overall story of the Bible, but I have trouble memorizing and reciting. No question this test is a “remember and recite” test which made me anxious.

I’m still not sure this is the best format. Luther wants to make sure we have the basics of Scripture before getting deeper into our studies, but it seems an unfair testing metric. Yes, there are systems in place to study and memorize this information, but is it the best way to know it? I passed the test yesterday, but could I do it again or did I just cram that information in my head long enough to pass the test?

In any case, I managed to pass the test (don’t worry, not my first time. Yesterday was my second attempt) and the taunting, bold, red “HOLD” is off my MyLutherNet account.

The test taking process wasn’t without it’s own drama, though. I’m blind as a bat without my glasses. I’m not exaggerating, either. So midway through the test, I’m starting to feel like maybe I might pass; I know the answers to a lot of these questions! And “POP” a screw just falls out of my glasses and the lens falls to my lap. “WHAT?!?!” I scream (in my head; there were other people taking the test). I can’t even see the screen, the screw is in the same place stray socks disappears to and there are no paperclips, bread ties or safety pins in the computer lab. I was going to have to take the BPE looking like a pirate (you know, sqinty-eyed) when I remembered I had my prescription sunglasses with me. So I guess I finished the BPE like a rock-star (wearing my shades inside and passing the test).

Oh, and those rumors? Yeah, when you’re an adult, birthday cake is always a breakfast food!

the rain in spain

Does anyone else have recollection of it raining this much in October in MN? I swear, it smells like spring! For weeks, we've seen buckets upon buckets be poured onto our beautiful campus. I must say, the assortment of colorful umbrellas has been a lovely site to see. Each time the clouds roll in, the leaves shake with fear and fall to the ground. I think we can officially say goodbye to fall.

Opportunity Knocks

Sometimes I am amazed at how God creates opportunity. Last Thursday night, I was responding to a group email circulating with 4 of my friends, and I commented that after a week that felt semi-low key homework wise, I was enjoying a evening of (very nearly) slacking off, but I still had a 12 page paper to write by Monday, a sermon to prepare for Sunday afternoon, and a pastoral care verbatim to write by next Friday.

At that moment, I ruined my ability to slack off. But I digress.

By some crazy twist of fate, my son (who is 5) didn’t have school on Friday, so my wife decided to road trip with the kids. Our nearest shopping mecca is about 90 minutes away, and she likes to head that way when the opportunity knocks. The nice thing for me was that they didn’t leave to come home until about the time that I got home from work.

EMPTY HOUSE!!!!!

HOMEWORK TIME!!!

So I sat down and went to work on my report (due Monday). I got that finished and emailed off to my professor. One big thing knocked off the list. Fast forward through Saturday, because admittedly, I didn’t get much of anything done.

Then Sunday…I head off to church in the morning still wrestling with the potential sermon for Sunday afternoon. Background, I was performing a short worship service at a local mental health care facility. The good news is I can pull out an old sermon if I need to, but I don’t like doing that. The really good news is hearing the pastor’s sermon Sunday morning sparked off my mental status and once my kids went down for naps after lunchtime, I was able to knock out the sermon. Admittedly, it wasn’t one of my best ones, but it was new and fresh. It wasn’t recycled.

There (at the last minute) was number two off my list.

So then I headed off to the facility for the service. I’ve done this particular service twice before and have had positive experiences each time, so I don’t know why I get leery before going, but such is life.

Once again, it was a good time with good conversation with the residents, one in particular turned into a very good conversation. As I wrapped up and left, I realized that it was a total pastoral care moment.

I walked out to my truck with my phone buzzing from a message that my wife had sent me saying that she took the kids to a movie and did I want to join them. This would have been possible as I was only about a mile from the theatre, however, I heard opportunity knocking yet again.

She’s got the kids…the house is empty…I have a subject for a verbatim fresh in my mind.
So I headed home and wrote up my verbatim…posted it, emailed it…done deal. List of big extra things to get done…completed...and there was much rejoicing.

One more terrible thing to waste ....

This year, the seminary has 54 International Students from 22 countries. That’s impressive. According to the Dean’s office, 25 are from Africa, 18 from Asia, 5 from North America, 4 from Europe, and 2 from South America.

Personally, I find this mix very exciting. I am one of those people that will always try to find ways to engage with other cultures. And the privilege of having 22 different countries plus the US represented at the seminary is a terrible thing to waste. Not only is it a preview of where the global village is going. Lets face it, who has not heard that in the next two generation, the demographic make-up of North America will look very different. But this cultural mix is also of great educational value to the seminary as a whole. Hastings Banda, Malawi’s first president coined a phrase that soon became a proverb in Malawi; kuphunzira sim’kalasi mokha, komanso kuyenda. Literally translated, education is not only in the classroom, but also travel. It suggests that education is not only achieved through the classroom learning, but also through travel and exposure to other cultures. What a privilege we have here to get education and exposure at the same time! Yes, it needs patience, and deliberate effort, but it is not something we should waste.

The “Taste of the Global Church” hosted by the GMI gives us all a chance to hear and learn from what God is doing in the wider world. I may have to emphasize here that the “Taste” is not necessarily meant to be gathering of international students, even though that is what it turns out to be. Don’t our American friends want to hear of what the church is going through in Malawi? Burma? Nigeria? South Korea? Believe you me, you would have enjoyed Denis Gelinek last Friday. I still can’t get over his question, “What would Luther say?” [to the German Lutheran church today.]

As an addition, the International Students’ Association at Luther Seminary is now in operation under the leadership of Sekenwa Briska as chairperson. The vice chair is William Obaga. I serve as secretary with the help of Woongdon Joshua Choi. Jacob Kanake is treasurer, and Denis Rakotozafy is the Events Coordinator. We appreaciate Joeivan Kataraia’s help as the Spuoses’ coordinator.

luthober fest

Today the Luther Student Council put on an awesome family event complete with pumpkin painting, food, music, and lots of fun! It was so cute to see kids going up the stairs and peeking out and waiving to their parents below! Thanks to the SC for their hard work and for bringing kids up into Northwestern for an afternoon of energy!

Contextual Education Leaves Me Bloody

Sometimes my contextual work puts me in a situation that makes me appreciate something that I had previously taken for granted. Other times, it leaves me bloodied and bruised…quite literally. This week, I experienced both.

Last night I wrapped up a confirmation class that I’ve been teaching for the last 5 weeks. As the class was completed, I wanted to get the follow up records done right away. This a fairly simple process of going into the file of each student and signing off that they completed the class.

My requirements for passing the class are admittedly pretty simple. If you show up and make at least some attempt to participate in discussion, you are pretty much good to go. If you miss a class, I offer make up work and will give credit for the class period. I try to be understanding that things can come up, so I do allow 1 class period as grace, so out of 5 weeks they need to get credit for 4 of them.

Well, one would think that it would be pretty simple to tabulate who passed and who didn’t, and in retrospect it was pretty easy. However, it took a lot more time than I expected. First I had to go through the attendance sheets and figure out who missed what class, then I had to go into each students folder, which of course are mixed in with all of the confirmation kids (not just the ones taking my class). This whole process took me half an hour, and by the time I wrapped it up, I was one of the last people to leave the church.

This helped me appreciate the work that teachers do outside of class to make sure that everything is in order and accounted for.

Now, on the other subject.

One of the small duties that I do is assist the alter guild with one task. We have a cross in the middle of our narthex. The cross beam is about 15 or 20 feet off the ground and the alter guild likes to hang a drape in whatever color is currently featured in the season of the church. About 2 years ago, I happened to be walking into the church to see my wife at the exact time that they were drawing straws to see who got to put up the drape for the first time.

“Scott, do you mind climbing ladders?”

“Sure, I can do that.”

At that instant, this became my job. So whenever, the vestments on the alter change, I drag out the extension ladder and climb up…hang the drape and climb back down. I’ve been lucky…the color has been green for several months now. I’m out of practice. Side note…Holy Week is a pain from this perspective because the color changes about 2 or 4 times.

Tuesday I was at the church and decided that I would change the drape as Reformation Sunday is coming up this weekend. Time to go red. Keep in mind, I’m out of practice. As I was setting up the ladder, a couple of staff members came out and were talking to me, which distracted me as I lifted it up against the cross. What I failed to notice was that I had it backwards. So when I went to push it up higher (to reach the cross beam) I unlatched the legs and it all came sliding right back down at me.

Now, fortunately I wasn’t on the ladder yet, but I was holding onto it. It slid down and nicked one of my fingers on my right hand (minor, not a big deal), but it caught a pretty good chunk of the same finger on my left hand. I stood there for a moment thinking “That hurt.” The pastor looked at me and asked “Gonna try that again?”

“Nope”

I was a little flustered by the whole thing, not to mention my finger was bleeding like crazy. So decided that I would tackle the drape another day. I bandaged up the end of my finger and headed for home.

The good news…I didn’t quite amputate the whole finger…in actuality I really only skinned a small portion next to my fingernail. The other good news…I managed to put the drape up yesterday without anymore injuries.

rainy days

This weather is really bumming me out. It's been raining all day. The library is full of people huddling for warmth and studying away! Come back fall! COME BACK!!

Community

(Pssst. I have a challenge for you in the last paragraph.)

When I started at Luther, I felt out of place. I was an older student who had spent the previous 10 years in a non-ministry career. I was also a part-time commuter student with three children. I wasn’t on campus much. I didn’t have people to just be with. Every day I asked myself, “Self, what have you gotten into?”

During this time, I applied for (and was hired for) a job on campus. See, my previous 10 years were spent as a graphic designer and I still loved the work (still do, actually. Finding a way to do graphic design and ministry is an entirely different entry!). The Communications Office was looking for a “student with graphic design experience.” It was, I believe, a match literally made in heaven.

You’re probably wondering what this job has to do with anything, right? It has everything to do with my time at Luther. Through this job, I first developed friendships with a few staff and that was my community. Just a few people to start with. Then I started to work with other students at the same time (and even an awesome spouse of a student). Then as I worked on more projects, I had the opportunity to interact with different departments, staff, faculty and students. You know what I found out? Well, yes, a lot of people on campus are a little crazy and seems to have an unhealthy obsession with T.V. and pop culture. But those are beside the point.

I found out that we have the most amazing community of amazing people on this campus. I don’t always fit in with everyone. But I am able to walk across campus and smile at people I know or have worked with. I have people to sit with at lunch. I have a place to go and spend some time on non-theological conversation with theological people.

I also feel that my family is welcomed and embraced by the community here at Luther. Aside from actual campus events where families are welcome, I have made plans with other parents on campus. We share stories of being faithful parents and, um, not so faithful parents. My children come into the office with me and are genuinely welcomed. In fact, my son has moved to a new school this year and his bus stop is near campus. So when I’m in class or at work, I feel comfortable having him hang out on campus. He has been welcomed by those who don’t know him and embraced by those who do. To me, a true test of the welcome-ness of a community is how they treat visiting children. Luther treats visiting children very well.

Did you read this far? I have a challenge for you. See, I want to show my son, Patrick, just how welcoming Luther is. That’s where you come in! On Wednesday and Thursday for the rest of the semester (from about 3:15-4), Patrick hangs out in the OCC cafeteria. I’m inviting anyone in the area to stop by and introduce themselves to Patrick (he’s 13 with brown hair and should be doing homework when you see him! I hear he looks like me, so take a look at my picture up top). When you do this, Patrick will ask your story of how you have been moved by the promise (for the Communications Office, simple stuff!) and he will give you an awesome pen/highlighter to keep (for free!). So, how many new people can Patrick meet this semester?

But don't make your visit too long...He still has homework to do!

Just over a week ago we launched GENERATE Magazine at Christianity 21 and its was so much fun showing off the first issue to new and old friends in Minneapolis. As subscriptions roll in and the excitement builds as folks get their issues in the mail, author, speaker and theologian Tony Jones weighed in with a generous review — very exciting stuff. I think you should listen to him and subscribe today.

a glimpse

I just thought you may enjoy seeing what I saw last night when I looked out the window from a stairwell in Stub Hall. Ah, MINNEAPOLIS! I love this place!

Speaking on Valium

This coming Sunday is of course Reformation Sunday, which doubles as confirmation day at my church. That being said, last night the church hosted 18 high school freshman along with their parents, mentors, and prayer partners, filling a pretty strong portion of the fellowship hall for their confirmation banquet.

A year ago, when I was beginning seminary, I began teaching confirmation and these particular kids were in the first two classes that I taught. Due to that time I spent with them, my supervising pastor thought it would be fitting for me to present the address. He assured me that it didn’t need to be overly extensive. 10-15 minutes mainly aimed at encouraging them as they are confirmed.

So I spent the last week racking my brain trying to come up with something to talk about. Then I remembered 1st Timothy 4:12, “Let no one look down upon you because you are young…” I thought this was pretty fitting considering that once the kids are confirmed, they will be considered full members of the congregation, on equal footing with every other adult in the church. In order to fill out a few minutes, I wanted to share something personal with them, so I shared an example of what happened after confirmation for me as well as my brother and sister. We each took different paths since confirmation and I think that the kids appreciate some personal insight into things.

Well, anyway, I got the address all ready to go last Friday, so by last night I was good to go. I headed out to the church and was very impressed with the way they had the dining room set up. Its tradition for the 8th graders/parents to serve the banquet, and they did a really nice job. I ended up sitting at a table with a family that included a guy from the town close to where I grew up, so we got to talking about the town itself, things that have changed and all that jazz.

Then it was time for me to give the address. I think it went okay, but admittedly, I felt kinda like I was on Valium while I was doing it. I hadn’t slept well the night before and by 7:30 in the evening I was dragging. I guess it went okay though because several parents came up to me after it was over and thanked me for what I had said. Hopefully the Spirit uses it on some of the kids as well. But as my partner pastor says every time we discuss a sermon, you send it out there, but it no longer belongs to you…you have to trust that the person that needs to hear it hears it.

Happy anniversary

This weekend, my husband and I spent the night away from real life and family in honor of our 15^th anniversary. My husband, wanting to make this a special anniversary, booked us a room at the Water Street Inn in Stillwater. I’ve driven through Stillwater, but I’ve never spent time in there. It reminded me why I love living in the Twin Cities.

I’ve lived in the area most of my life. I love the fact that I can get the big concerts, go to major sporting events, see Broadway-quality theater and visit top-notch art galleries without having to drive more than 20 minutes. I can also visit small towns and scenic suburbs and be home the same day (Stillwater is a 40 minute drive from my home near campus).

Today I enjoyed a fantastic breakfast, view of the St. Croix River from our room and a walk down Main Street Stillwater (with a little shopping in the fantastic boutique shops). We jumped in the car and drove around the area for a few hours enjoying the amazing fall scenery in the beautiful St. Croix Valley where we stopped to visit a funky and free outdoor sculpture garden. We had to take a couple self-portrait, similar to one we took 15 years ago on our honeymoon drive.

On our way back from the Taylors Falls area, we stopped to see this amazing view of Stillwater from up the river:

And we were home by 3:30 to pick up the kids and head home for a nap and the usual Saturday-night-before-church preparations.

While autumn has been, well, brief to say the least this year, I love being able to enjoy watching God’s creation as it changes and just driving a short distance from the Twin Cities allows me to see that change in an entirely different light. So while autumn is probably going to be over sometime in the next five minutes, I hope you have had a chance to see how beautiful Minnesota truly can be.

Moved by the Promise!

A huge celebration/revealing happened today at Luther Seminary. For years, we had been using the slogan, "God could use someone like you." It had been changed to "God could abuse someone like you," and many other renditions of that kind. Finally, we have a new slogan and some sweet publications to show off our new identity! It's called, "Moved by the promise!" There was a program this morning in the chapel to reveal it, a video presentation of people answering what it means to be moved by the promise, and the announcement of winners for the "Moved by the promise" photo contest.

Here are the winners:

1st Place: Elly Peterman won a 32 GB ipod touch
2nd Place: Allie Owen won a Nintendo Wii

3rd Place: Amber Marten won a Flip video camera

There were over 1,000 photos entered in the contest, so you can imagine how pumped I was to hear my photo had placed in the top three. Here's what the photos looked like. They are ranked in order of place. Congrats to all the winners! And way to go LADIES on representing the artsy rock stars of Luther Seminary! :)

celebrity sighting!

Were any of you around the OCC around 12:00 this afternoon? I had the sweetest celebrity sighting ON CAMPUS!!! Not only is this celebrity the most upbeat, personable lady I know, but she's famous! A PUBLISHED AUTHOR!

Any guesses yet?

ELLEN ROSCHER!! Author of How Coffee Saved my Life. A recount of her year spent in Lascano, Uruguay.

Ellie graduated from Luther in 2005 with her MA in I managed to sneak a peek of her for the last ten minutes of her presentation to a board room full of fellow students and staff. She was even signing copies of her book. If you missed her, well, sucks to be you! :) Kidding. You can still get copies of her book and I bet she'll even sign them for you!

Thanks for gracing our campus with your presence, Ellie!!

Laughter at my brother's expence

Every once in awhile, its important to put some things on the back burner and just go out and have a touch of fun.

Last night I had that oppurtunity. But first some back ground. My older brother had reconstructive knee surgery about a month ago, and hes been laid up in his house with a cast from his hip to his toes ever since. Needless to say he's going a little stir crazy. Just ask his wife, she'll confirm that for you.

I was talking with him yesterday and he commented that he's going to go a little gaga if he doesn't get something to pass the time. Roughly translated, he was planning on buying a new video game system. I needed to doa touch of shopping for my wife's upcoming birthday, so this was a good excuse to blow off responsibility for a couple horus and hang out with my brother.

The best part of the evening, watching him flop himself into my truck. It was a process, and I'm not ashamed to say that I laughed at his expense. Don't judge me, if the rolls were reversed he would have done the same thing.

After buzzing into town we made a "quick" run through Arby's. By quick I mean extraordinarily slow. I think they had to butcher the cow and grow the potatoes before we finally got our food. But once that was done we went to do our shopping. I made my purchase while he stood there on his crutches. One comment at his expence sparked him to wack me in the leg with a crutch, something I won't soon forget. Once that was completed, it was on to the electronic section for him to decide what game system to buy.

That portion of the evening lasted about 20 minutes. I was trying really hard to stiffle my laughter as he shuffled back and forth between the game cabinet sections, trying to decide what to get. That would have been funny enough to see normally, but then put the crutches into it, and I just had to laugh.

Now I realize that this makes me sound like a terrible person. Here I am laughing at someone because of a medical imparement. Trust that I don't normally act in such ways. But it was my brother, we are able to joke around with each other about things like this. You just wait, someday when I'm laid up due to a procedure of some kind, he'll be the one laughing.

reflections on the Luthermergent gatherings

Last week about 30 folks (some in and out) gathered in Edina, Minnesota as part of Christianity 21. The time was filled with conversation, new friends, old friends, hard questions, prayer and trying to figure out if we should even have a Luthermergent "network." Thursday we gathered together leaders of communities to talk about their contexts and about what they're learning. We asked that difficult and often elusive question, "so why Lutheran?" and noticed how many of our Luthermergent communities are led by folks who are adult converts to Lutheranism. Weird, right? That evening we headed over to celebrate the launch of Sparkhouse and much needed space to just invest in each other. We closed the night with evening prayer and a blessing of the (Spark)house.

On Friday we re-convened and we dwelled in the word — "I believe, help my unbelief." We then took some time to listen broadly to research on emerging churches in the ELCA (a PhD study by my friend Dan Anderson) and we dove into the results of the Luthermergent National Survey from last spring. We tryed to imagine together what this network community might look like, might do and who we might serve. We didn't try to resolve all that.

Much more is to come. If you're interested in continuing the conversations started in Edina, whether you were part of them or not, email me (tksnyder(at)gmail(dot)com) and let's talk. In the weeks ahead we'll evaluate that gathering and we'll try to imagine next steps. There's still a lot of work to do, but I'm overjoyed to see the ways the Spirit is moving. 

communities :: links :: leaders

nadia bolz-weber // house for all sinners & saints (Denver)
mark stenberg // mercy seat (Minneapolis)
yehiel curry // shekinah chapel (Chicago)
russell rathbun // house of mercy (St. Paul)

+++++

Some questions that were asked:

What does "authority" look like in our communities of practice?

How can we document these stories from communities? What are they teaching us?

Who are we as a network? (Most who identify themselves as "luthermergent" are in conventional congregations)

How might we work with a broken denominational system? What might a network contribute that the ELCA can not/is not doing?

How can we better support communities and those working within conventional congregations?

How can we do this in conventional congregations anyways? (honestly, no clue)

coming soon: photo gallery from the annual gathering.

— tks

Waiting for fall (classes) to start

This has been an unusual semester so far. As a part-time student, I don’t ever have as many classes at one time as most of the students on campus do. Last fall I upped the ante and took three classes. My family has begged me to never do that again. “Crabby Mommy” decided to stay for the semester. With two part-time jobs (including a youth group), three kids, a Brownie troop to lead, a husband to love, and a skeletal social life (never mind a full fall T.V. schedule to TiVo), three classes just about killed me.

Things are different this fall. I decided to give up the Brownie troop (but I still help out) and my only classes this semester are a one-week intensive next week and a second six-week class starting the week after. This means I haven’t had any classes yet this fall.

I feel like an outsider when friends ask, “So, how are your classes going?” or “Tough semester?” and all I’ve been doing is reading fiction, keeping up-to-date on my pop culture and becoming addicted to Facebook games. At a place like Luther where community is such an important part of the, uh, Life@Luther, not being here at all makes it feel distant. While I know the class is going to be great, I don’t know that I would schedule my semesters like this again.

I’m excited for next week and my fall semester to finally begin. But I have warned my family that Crabby Mommy will probably come for a visit next week. An intensive is still an intensive.

Maybe I’ll buy a DVD when It’s over as a reward. I hear Transformers 2 comes out next week.

on my way to class...

The unusual sight I saw on my way to class this morning. Welcome Winter!

tree talk

I knew it...I work up this morning to a serious dusting of snow. Only, it stuck. An inch at least...all the trees are crying out for their season to return! Half of them groaning. Half of them have given up. They are spitting their leaves onto the ground in disgust! I have to admit, I felt like groaning too. I had 4 photo shoots scheduled today and two cancelled. Totally understandable. But, dang. What happened to fall? Are we going to lose our wonderful season of change and color? I sure hope not!

Winter again? Ugg

Well, I'm coming face to face with old man winter yet again. In my 30 years, you'd think I'd be used to it by now. But every year, it catches me unprepared again.

Don't get me wrong, I used to love winter...sledding, playing in the snow, snow days. It was great...but then I got a little older. That feeling has changed.

I often say that I hate winter...and this is true. Of the four holidays, it ranks in at #11 (and yes that is possible in Scotty's world). In fact, I hate it so much that it ruins fall for me. Fall is usually a pretty nice season, but I lose out on it because I know that winter is right around the corner.

Here in Northern Iowa, winter is about the same as it is on campus in St. Paul. I tell myself that, then I go to campus in January and we hit minus 30 degrees. I long for the tropics of Iowa. Truth be told though, we get the exact same weather. The snow, the wind, the artic blasts. So what the student experience at school is the same thing that I get here.

The forcast for the weekend was snow on Saturday, clearing through by SUnday, but then more snow Sunday night. What did we do? My wife and I trekked across, Iowa to stay with my sister in the NorthEastern portion of the state. All it did was delay the fury though. I see by some friends facebook posts that the snow hit at home overnight. And as I look out the window to the west here, I see some pretty dark clouds.

Ugg. I'm not ready for this again.

Scrapping windows on the car, shoveling the driveway, having to bundle up in 18 extra layers to go outside. Yuck...all I'm going to say.

But its reality...so I better get my winter groove on.

To quote the Joker (something I'm fond of)...And Here..We...Go

Getting ready for winter ... already.

As the weather gets uncomfortably cold too early for most of us, and the flashes of images of a long cold winter fast approaching scare the living lights out of many of us, I am forced to think again of what it is that I am doing in Minnesota for me to brave the Minnesota Winter again. A few of the new international students are getting worried. They hear a lot about the winter, and they have no idea what to expect. Certainly, the winter here deserves all the credit it gets. But that is just one side of the story. Minnesota Winter is beatable.

Today, I remembered an encouraging conversation I had with one of the professors in January. After going through the academic stuff that I had gone to his office for, I asked him, “How have you managed to survive these winters so far?” With a chuckle, he answered, “I enjoy what I do here, I am confident that I am at the right place at the right time.” And he added, “Three more months, all this will be over.”

I left the office with a refined attitude. There was no way the winter would ruin my stay here. I have my gloves ready. Just like the professor, I enjoy what I am doing here, I am confident I am where I am supposed to be. And true, winter is just for a season. Come March, the snow will begin to disappear and the ice will melt.

It is expected that we will wake to a snowy ground tomorrow. I will make sure I find one of the African students for an “Introduction to Snow.”

Within the week, many of the new international students wondered about the sports frenzy in the Twin Cities. I don’t blame them. I have been here for two years, and still can’t figure American Football out. Neither do I understand baseball. And then there is ice hockey. There are many sports teams here, the Vikings, Gophers, the Wild, the Twins, etc. Only now am I able to figure out which one is which. At least, I know Minnesota Thunder. Thunder plays soccer, (elsewhere called football). If you are like me, and love to watch a bit of soccer once in a while, you will be entertained. Not to mention our own soccer team, The Heretics. You are welcome to join the team during practices, normally on Thursdays at Sandgren.

falling in love with fall!

I have a feeling this is the last post you'll read for the year that will not include some mention of snow. It's coming tomorrow...so my nieces and I took some time outside to play in the leaves and play the fun game of "pick up sticks!" I hope you have a chance to get out and enjoy the cold (but snow-less) weather before we get dumped on!