Oh how the corn grows!

It is now Sunday afternoon and I am enjoying some down time, something I have not experienced much of, this past week. Despite my status of "returning student", I participated in just as much of the first week festivities as the incoming class did. Being part of the first week crew, I was expected to be available for any questions and pretty much just hang around and be hospitable to the new students (in seminary we call this, ministry of accompaniment). As I have taken the time to get to know the "newbies", there is a sense of appreciation for all of those who were available during first week.

Despite the lectures of academia, and the usual "What to expect when you are here at Luther Seminary" break out sessions, there are couple of moments that really stand out in my mind. The first one being one of the service projects. I was on the crew that helped with tornado clean-up.

Early Thursday morning, about 50 individuals piled in big yellow school buses and drove down to Le Sueur County, about an hour and a half down yonder from the Twin Cities. Our first task was pretty general, pick up debris from the soybean fields and pile them in a more accessible place. Things became a little more interesting on the second task, at least for me they did. We traveled a short distance down the road, and were asked to "walk the cornfield" and look for any debris from the tornado that may have landed. Now to many of the students, this was not a huge deal. They have either lived on a farm or know someone who does; they can even tell you about times that they played in the corn fields. However, to those of us who experience farm life from a car seat or an airplane window, walking through the cornfield was a very novel experience.

As my group first entered the corn, it wasn't too bad; the corn was as tall as my shoulders and I could still see the sky without having to look straight up. Yet, only a few strides later did I find myself in a corn closet. On all four sides and even above, there was corn. Apparently, as one of my fellow "corn walkers" pointed out, due to the tornado the fields were much more difficult to navigate than usual. I thought to myself, "That's great, the next time I feel the need to travel through a jungle of corn, I will be a pro!" But seriously, this was some heavy duty stuff. I mean, someone should market it as a new exercise program, they could call it "Corn-the new way to walk". It definitely was a new experience and has been added to my list of things I never thought I would do. Overall, it was a blessing to help the families in need. Next time I may just stick with raking lawns.

Now that first week is over, it is time to get back to business. Classes start tomorrow, and many of the returning students will be back on campus. I welcome this change very much so. One of the struggles of summer was not having a set schedule. I am looking forward to getting into a routine and planning out my weeks.