cc goes downhill

Hannah Johnson (mdiv senior) and I skipped church this morning (don't worry, we're going tonight) to take in an awesome day of cross country skiing on the U of M golfcourse. The most fun part was definitely going down the hills, and we got some amazing, high speed footage to show off our moves. Enjoy!

FREE Portrait Event!

Bluegrass at The Edge

This morning I headed down to The Edge coffeeshop and enjoyed the jam session of bluegrass. There were about 20 playing but it created quite an atmosphere. Listen in:

  
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Song of the Week

Martin Sexton, Wild Angels, from the Album "Seeds"

Even when the desert sands roll with thunder
Even when I know it’s all for gasoline
Even when the hole in my head lets me wonder it
I know I sing because I must

Even when the truth waters down way too quickly
Even when the storm blows down in New Orleans
I will still be dreamin when I know why this happens
But I know I love you and I trust

We are born with all this music in our heart
We tend forget a little each day right from the start
In a dream I rolled on back the clock and found another way
To remember the words

That we are wild angels
Believing in our childhood dreams
We’re just trying to find our way back to
The source of the stream
We are wild and free

Even like the hills these songs they last forever
Even though the singer will be forgotten in good time
Even that a song can unify or move mountains
This I cry we sing because we must

We all love the sound of music in our head
And feel the joy and pain cause we aint dead
We have the power and the duty and the means to change the world
And to remember the words

Cause we are wild angels
Sent down from our childhood dreams
And we’re just trying to get ourselves back to the source of the stream
We are wild and we are free
It’s where we want to be

Come and join us on the journey down the winding road
Doesn’t matter what you fear cause we are bold
We got the light inside us of the universe
Gonna let it flow like a raging river

As a way of getting some more music onto the blog, I am proud to introduce my new posting idea: Song of the week. Because I am a HUGE Martin Sexton fan (I met him when Kevin and I went on our first date to his concert), he is getting the honors of song/artist #1. Hope you enjoy.

Its All Getting Fuzzy

What week are we in?

Three right?

Its starting to blur together on me. Usually we are at least a full month into the semester before that happens.

Not this time.

Of course, I'm in RTA this semester. I'm starting to think that it is the most in depth class, at least from a certain perspective. Had you asked me what the most in depth class was a year ago, I definitely would have said Creation and The Triune God with Paul Sponheim. That was a crazy class...good, but very time consuming. A LOT of reading. A LOT of writing.

Now RTA is different. There's a fair share of reading in this one too, but nothing compared to Creation. There's also a pretty large amount of writing for this one, but its focused writing and it's not every week. What's in depth about this one is a congregational study encompassing three lengthy papers.

First we took a look at the congregation itself. Main goal, how does the congregation view itself in terms of being a missional congregation. That paper's done (thankfully). Round two, due Saturday night) takes a look at the community that the congregation serves and seeks to identify potential audiences for the congregation.

I've got a pretty good handle on this one. It's not done, but the majority of the legwork (aka research) is done on it. The two sections I have left to write at this point are mostly reflection and application. To put it in a nutshell, there's no more research to do for this one, I simply need to apply the brain and apply what I've learned into the summary.

But the big kicker is how worn out I'm feeling already. Honestly, it's been my experience so far that I pretty well run on adrenaline for the first half of the semester (though I usually am pretty tired by about Thursday or Friday), and then I manage to settle into a groove for the last half of the semester that takes me through the end. Still worn out, but more manageable.

I haven't found my groove yet.

Granted, this week leading up to the due date of the paper has been very nice. Hebrew, my second class, is in a week of no new lessons and no conference call (praise the Lord I get to have my Friday afternoon back this week), but rather reading and posting. Because of this, I was able to have my regular weekly work done by Tuesday afternoon, freeing up the rest of the week to focus on the paper.

Between quite a bit of work Tuesday night and then a fair amount yesterday, I was feeling pretty good about where I was at for the week last night, and since it was Wednesday and we had a Lenten service, I was leaning towards allowing myself to slack off from homework last night.

But first the service itself. It was enjoyable. I do love those worship services. The funny part occurred about midway through. We were standing for a song, which had just gotten done. I leaned down to clear all the kids stuff off my spot in the pew, and I must have been in a semi bent over squat with my head sticking forward over the back of the pew in front of me. All of the sudden I took a shot on top of the head.

As I was standing there, the lady in front of me was also sitting down and our head's collided. It was no harm-no foul though. Neither of us was hurt and we got a good laugh out of it. So I guess that's all good. Laughter is a good thing after all.

After church was done we headed home and got the kids into bed. I sat and debated homework but in the end decided against it. Instead, we sat and figured out what we wanted to do with our tax refund. A pretty healthy chunk of it is going towards paying off bills. Particularly my wife's medical bills from the ear surgery she had right before New Year's.

That's exciting.

To be honest, I don't think we're going to play much at all with this one. But that's life I guess.

525,600 minutes of pandora

For the last 3 days, I have been playing Pandora Radio non-stop. I would tune in (sounds silly saying that considering it's online) occasionally on internship when I was cleaning my room or writing cards. The inconsistency was so until 3 days ago when I discovered the Broadway Musical station! Chicago, Annie Get your Gun, Guys and Dolls, Anything Goes, The Lion King, Phantom of the Opera, Beauty and the Beast, Rent, Mary Poppins, I could go on and on. It's sheer bliss. Have ya'll discovered Pandora? If so, what is your favorite station? Is there another amazing one I'm missing? Gotta run..."Over the Rainbow" is on...la la la

pinecones??

So today I was working on more wedding projects. I have Tuesday's off the first half of the semester, and I can't lie, wedding projects are WAY more fun than homework right now. So...my mind went to pinecones. We're going to use them in our decorating theme, and I got to thinking: where can I find some sweet pinecones? I looked out the window of my room in Stub and here's what I saw:

Does anyone here have a tall ladder I can use? :)

Noncord & Baseball bats...this place is amazing.

I love Luther Seminary. Really...its true. I have an institutional man-crush on the Seminary. Why? Well a whole host of reasons I suppose, but things like the Noncord and the Campus Security baseball bats sure do get to me in a special way.


the latest issue of the Noncord (in COLOR!) — my fav? what the faculty are giving up for Lent. Fretheim is giving up trips to Middle Earth. Its about time.

2010_02_17_Noncord

and here's a post from my personal blog about the Campus Security baseball bats:

Disclaimer: I have friends that work for Campus Security and I truly appreciate all that you guys do. Keep up the good work, boys.

The other week my car was broken into. Nothing was stolen because the alarm went off, but entirely frustrating. As it turns out this sort of thing happens fairly frequently down the hill on the lower campus of Luther Seminary. This evening I was walking through the campus center when I saw my friend, Ben Durbin, working the info desk. I stopped to see how his night was going. And that is when I say this: a Luther Seminary Campus Security Baseball Bat! Seriously? That's amazing. Do you mean to tell me that there was even the possibility that a Campus Security guard (also a seminarian) on patrol could have clubbed that guy/girl who broke into my car? I don't even know what to think of this...

If one of these bats disappears...it may or may not be at my apartment. This is just funny.

update: View the Noncord in COLOR!

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where do you SEE God?

For years I have been interested in hearing where people see God---visually. Where do they experience God most often? Is God in an object? In another person? In a strong wind? I know readers cannot respond in photos to these posts, but I'd really be interested to hear where you SEE God with your eyes. Please reply and let me know!

Luther Seminary Baseball Bats...seriously?

Disclaimer: I have friends that work for Campus Security and I truly appreciate all that you guys do. Keep up the good work, boys.

The other week my car was broken into. Nothing was stole because the alarm went off, but entirely frustrating. As it turns out this sort of thing happens fairly frequently down the hill on the lower campus of Luther Seminary. This evening I was walking through the campus center when I saw my friend, Ben Durbin, working the info desk. I stopped to see how his night was going. And that is when I say this: a Luther Seminary Campus Security Baseball Bat! Seriously? That's amazing. Do you mean to tell me that there was even the possibility that a Campus Security guard (also a seminarian) on patrol could have clubbed that guy/girl who broke into my car? I don't even know what to think of this...

If one of these bats disappears...it may or may not be at my apartment. This is just funny.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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Noncord // the "onion" of the seminary student paper!

So at Luther Seminary we have a student publication called Concord. It's good and I've enjoyed writing for it in the past. But even better is our parody version (think The Onion) called Noncord. For many of us the recent weeks as we've begun classes have been difficult in the midst of staff transitions, etc. This most recent version is probably the best one yet — "This one's for you PLull!" (our outgoing Dean of Students / my adviser!) Highlights: The Hiring of a student named "Dean" to take on the vacancy of Dean of Students! (classic!) and the faculty responses to what they've given up for lent: Trips to Middle Earth (the legend: Terry Fretheim), Hope (Skip Sundberg) and 2 Faculty, 3 staff, 2 degree programs... (President Bliese).

Just to be clear...this is 100% made up, but utterly hilarious!

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hammer dulcimer

I think I got one of the most random/cool Valentine gifts ever this year: a hammer dulcimer. A few weeks ago, I had supper with Beth. Beth's husband Bob was my inspiration for starting seminary, and my pastor from High School until now. They've been (unknowingly, perhaps) mentors/parents/coaches to me for years. Anyway, Beth has had a hammer dulcimer for a few years, so when we met, I asked her how her playing was going. Much to my surprise she said she was thinking about selling it because it wasn't getting played enough! What??

Long story short...after the shock of her selling such a precious heirloom wore off, I told her if she wants to sell it, I'd like first dibbs at it. Of course, with a wedding 6 months off, and bills to pay, I realized it might be a bit of a stretch, but to own a treasure like this from two of my favorite people in the world was an opportunity I didn't want to pass up. I consulted Kevin, and it took him about 15 seconds to say, "We should get it!" I wanted a day or two more to think about it since it was a relatively major purchase, but before I got a chance to solidify it all, Kevin snuck down to Lakeville and picked it up as a Valentine gift for me! He showed up with a huge carrying case, and a grin from ear to ear! Lucky me! I've only had it 4 days, so I realize my rendition of "Now all the Vault of Heaven Resounds" has a long way to go, but I wanted you to hear just how amazing this beauty sounds. If you ever want to play it, c'mon over to Stub and I'll be happy to share! Thanks sooo much to Kevin, and of course, Beth and Bob for entrusting us with such a beautiful gift!

Lent

Once again, Lent has arrived.

For me, this means many things. First and foremost in my mind (which admittedly is sad) is that I've climbed the ladder to change the drape hanging from the cross in our narthex for the last time in awhile...at least until Holy Week.

I think I've talked about it before, but somehow I inherited the job of changing the drape to correspond with the color of the church season. I just happened to walk in at the right time about two and half years ago, said that I didn't mind climbing a ladder, and its been my job ever since.

I often wonder what's going to happen on that day when I exit stage left.

Honestly, they'll probably take the drape down and leave it down. A lot of people don't even realize that its hanging there in the first place, giving a touch of irony to me climbing the ladder over and over again.

But, long story short, for the time being, the drape is purple. It will remain that way until Palm Sunday. White then, and then on Friday I'll pull it down and we'll leave it empty (as we don't hang a black drape), and then that Saturday I'll put up white again. Holy Week gives me my exercise lugging the extension ladder around.

Wow, I have taken that way farther than I meant to.

Lent means other things as well. Preparation most importantly. Preparation for the death and resurrection of Jesus. At least that's what I preached about last night. I had the opportunity to preach at our Ash Wednesday service, which was a new one for me.

Additionally, with Lent comes my congregations Lenten portrayals. In lieu of sermons for Wednesday night services, we have dramatic portrayals of Biblical characters. This is a popular practice each year. Additionally, about every 4 years, we present the living last supper during Holy Week. You can always tell when that's going on because a dozen men from the congregation suddenly start sprouting beards. Fortunately I've been growing mine since last fall, so its not that big of a switch for me, but I was kidding around with the director last night about the different guys that are starting to look pretty scruffy. They'll be happy when Good Friday is over and they can shave again.

Truth be told, I will be too. I always grow a beard in the winter, but by this time, I'm getting tired of it and am ready to shave it off again.

Is it Easter yet?

All you need is Ubuntu Theology

In September of 2006, Bill Clinton was invited as keynote speaker at the Labour Party Convention in the UK. As expected, he gave a brilliant speech under the theme "All You Need Is Ubuntu," playing off the Beatles' song, "All you need is love." Until that day, Ubuntu was largely an unknown word in Britain. Many people wondered what it meant, and therefore it needed proper definition (which I think Bill did well). All the major papers run an article on Ubuntu in the ensuing days. One paper said, " [Ubuntu] is not left-leaning sudoku. Neither is it U2's latest album. Still, it is not fish-friendly sushi." Certainly, Clinton was not even talking about Linux.

Ubuntu is a long-standing African worldview (made popular by Desmond Tutu) that makes community the launching place for personhood (which in turn builds better communities and livelihoods, etc). Yes, in a nutshell, Ubuntu is built on the philosophy that says "I am because you are." Or, as some interpret it, "I am what I am because you are what you are. I need you to be what you are in order for me to be what I am."

Indeed, I know of the old days when this philosophy provided the rationale for the communal life in our culture. "You all need one another, even the strangers need you as much as you need them." Part of the initiation rites (rites of passage to adulthood) was to engrave it in the children's minds that without community, personhood is not possible. The rich need the poor just as much as the poor need the rich.

I can still hear the shaking voice of my great-grandmother, very close to her death at 95, passing on the wisdom to her many children and children's children that "If I am not, pretty soon you wont be also. You stop living on the day that you stop caring about others." That statement left an indelible upon my worldview.

Now, in recent years, a whole new genre of theology has come up, known as Ubuntu theology. The bringing together of Ubuntu and theology has caused serious implications to the field of theology, especially the Western theology that has been partly shaped by Descartes' individualistic "I think, therefore I am."

Margaret Obaga will be discussing some of these implications at this week's Mission and Ministry Forum in the Auxiliary Dining Room in the OCC at 12 on February 18. Come to hear more.

envelope night

If you've ever wondered what it's like the night seniors get their regional assignments, wonder no more. Thanks to my willing interview participants, you can get the inside scoop on what happened last night once the envelopes were distributed!

Holiday's

Have you ever noticed that being in ministry can often times put a bit of a damper on family celebrations of holidays?

I've noticed that lately. Valentine's day over the weekend. Ah Valentine's day...a Hallmark holiday if ever there was one. But my wife like's it and rightly so...it's a time aimed at reminding those that we love that we love them. Good chicken...or at least tolerable chicken.

The point of this little foray is to talk about the fact that we ended up celebrating...very low key...on Friday night. Normally we would have tried to celebrate on Saturday night, but this was not meant to be. My wife had to be at church to help host a Valentine's dinner along with her high school youth group.

This is not the first time this has happened. Another example...Easter. This one is certainly a tough one. Because what does every youth group do every single Easter? Easter breakfast. Therefore, we don't really sit together during Sunrise service. Although a year ago, I was just as strongly to blame on this one. My monthly preaching gig at the small country church happened to fall on Easter Sunday. So while she was serving up Easter breakfast, I was doling out an Easter morning sermon.

These are just a few examples. Imagine what it's going to be like when I'm ordained. Hopefully we end up living close to family, because we'll never be able to get away for the holiday.

senior PHUN night

A HUGE thank you to Hannah Johnson, Brian Ward, Kira, Scott Egbers, Nina Joy, Judy Hedman, and all the other senior helpers who decided to put together a night of fun for seniors the night before assignment! A cupcake walk, pizza, build your own ice cream sundaes, games, popcorn, palm reading (by the super creepy Chris Scharen), and raffle prizes! An attempt to distract us from the reality of envelope night tomorrow night! Ahh! Praying for all my fellow students as we get a first glimpse into where God is calling us to go. Here are a few photos of the PHUN.

love me TENDER

This is the time of year for community! I feel like there are TONS of activities going on right now on campus that allow us to take a step out of the load of homework and step into friendships and fellowship. Tonight was Kate Schruba's annual Valentine Dinner! She's either hosted or helped host (while she was on internship) for the last four years. I can tell it brings her a ton of joy. Here's a group shot from the night! Thanks to everyone for coming, and thanks to Kate for her four years of faithful service!

Mission & Ministry Forum: Holy Land Reflections

Yesterday many of us who were on the JTerm Cross Cultural Trip to the Holy Land presented at the Mission and Ministry Forum. It was a great opportunity to share our experiences, our reflections, our impressions, our photos and even a bit of our nonsense.

Here is the PowerPoint presentation we used:

Holyland

Here is an expanded slide show of pictures:

And finally a group photo we took on the steps of the Church of the Holy Sepulcre:

can I get a WOO-WOO?!

Final Semester!!! I'm not gonna lie: this is pretty stinkin' exciting! The last first day of class. I can remember back in 2006 when I started seminary, thinking to myself, '2010 is sooo far away!' Now looking back, the time flew.

My credit load is down from 5 to 3.5 this semester, so I'm hoping that gives me lots of extra time to do all the things I wish I had more time to do: make jewelry, read for fun, take pictures, wedding plan, and play cello. To all my fellow seniors: enjoy it! We'll be in the real world before we know it! AHH!

Yet again

And here we are, 3 days into the new semester already. Holy cow...how'd that happen?

It's been an interesting start. As most of you know, I'm at home. As a DL'er I don't need to be on campus right now and so I'm plugging away at work and at school and at contextual work...all that jazz.

Monday morning I was at a funeral. It was a big funeral for a well liked member of my congregation. As I sat in the pew, different things were running through my mind. I was emotional because every funeral I attend puts me in mind of my grandfather's funeral and my cousin's funeral, both of which were sad times. I watched my partner pastor leading the service, and found myself getting analytical. I pondered on if he experiences the same type of emotion when at a funeral and if so, how does he control it.

That's my speed, I find myself projecting myself into future pastoral situations. Maybe that's not a bad thing though.

I actually discussed this situation yesterday with my partner pastor in our weekly meeting. As it turned out, we started to break down the service so he could gain perspective from an outside source. It was an interesting discussion.

But I've gotten ahead of myself.

Monday night, technically the beginning of the semester (though I had started in Sunday night). We returned home from our weekly Bible study and put the kids to bed. At this point, I realized that the internet connection was down at the house. Turns out it was the modem malfunctioning. Its done it before, but I've always been able to get it to reestablish connection. This was not the case Monday night...it was done.

Perhaps that was a sign that I should take the night off and get to bed at a normal time.

Because of the issue continuing Tuesday, I was cranky Tuesday morning and short with my family. Never a good thing. But I discovered at lunch time that exercise is a great thing for improving the mood and breaking stress. I should have listened to everyone telling me that in the past.

Everyone who has told me that...you can tell me "I told you so." Because you are much smarter than I am.

Fortunately, the cable company got the modem fixed yesterday though, and I was able to work on stuff last night. My first foray into Hebrew has begun.

I found it frustrating.

I took Greek with the majority of my cohort back in the fall of '08. I remember getting frustrated at the beginning. I had the thought "I am used to looking at the page and knowing what the writing says. I can't do that with this stuff...I have to think to hard." Eventually, the knowledge came. I can still look at Greek and read it. I have to work to translate it, but I can read it.

Now, a year and a half later...I'm back in the same boat. Add to it, that I have to get used to reading right to left.

NIAP A SI TI

Can you read that? Right to left...right to left.

Oh and turn it into a bunch of chicken scratches that look like nothing I've ever remotely seen...except maybe Samech which looks like sigma only backwards.

Welcome to Hebrew.

Coming back to life. Well, sort of.

On January 01, at 8pm, while having dinner with friends, I started feeling some strange pain in my stomach. By 10pm, the stomachache was made worse by a fever, 102 degrees, and I was beginning to have breathing problems. Having been relatively healthy all my life so far, I thought this was just one of those things that come and go. I was wrong. At midnight, I was rushed to the ER. The pain was unbearable. And there was now no way of telling what the problem was, apart from my speculation that it was food poisoning.

At 3am, the doctors came in announcing that my appendix had swollen really badly and needed to be removed as soon as possible. That meant surgery. I was scared. But also I was hungry and I was thirsty. In addition, I was in terrible pain. And yet, a surgeon would be found six hours later (after I almost died of thirst!)

Surgery went well. By 9:30pm on January 02, I was home. However, one thing had been overlooked. The fever had been put down to the appendix problem, but that was not right. After 14 days of strange fevers and migraines, I was rushed again to the ER (on the 16th of January). I did not know what was wrong this time, but the fevers had been getting worse and more frequent. After rigorous tests, etc, they found out I had pneumonia. Yes, right from January 01.

As if that was not enough, while they started treating the pneumonia, the migraines got worse. I have had migraines for a long time, but what I had this time was beyond anything I ever had before. I screamed all the way to the ER on the morning of January 19. And this time I had decided I am not leaving the hospital until they figure out exactly what was wrong. Sure, in a few hours, the migraine was gone, (and has stayed away ever since).

Then begun the slow process of recovery, from the surgery, the pneumonia, the migraines. Before I could say I am doing well, January was gone. I had collected 12 books to read through the month, and I had read only half the first one. But the worst was yet to come: the hospital bills. Oh my gosh! The sangomas could have great businesses here!

Nevertheless, God's grace is sufficient. I survived January. I am still here.

Alt. Worship Research Writing

This afternoon I'm hoping to wrap up the first draft of my research paper that has been birthed out of my study in London, York, Liverpool and Manchester in January. The song on this video was the inspiration for the title of a Grace service called "Wounded in All the Right Places." // quite a beautiful song and so I've been starting each writing block out by listening to it a few times.

Oh, right...and lectures began today for the spring semester at Luther Seminary.

Posted via email from curatingthejourney.org

fraid to fly

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome aboard Delta connection flight 4591 with services to Denver…” To tell you the truth, I don’t remember a whole lot after these opening remarks. Staring blankly at the flight attendant during the safety instructions, imagining every possible worst case scenario, I am a bit of a scaredy-cat when it comes to flying. As the plane is making its way to the runway, my heart starts pounding. The feeling of being pushed back in my seat—amazing. The feeling of helplessness as two pilots take control of my life—terrifying. I usually choose a window seat, because for some reason, I imagine the scenery will distract me from the sinking feeling in my stomach. I’m actually writing this entry from a plane. About 30 minutes ago, I gripped my book with sweaty palms, felt the plane lift off the ground, and silently recited prayers for safety. A few seconds ago, the airliner took a dramatic dip for the ground (so it was probably a 20 foot air pocket, but it was enough to bring thoughts of death to mine), a big dip, and no one but I flinched. Before I let out a scream, I look to the flight attendants. If they look calm, I stay calm. I’m still alive. For now.

As I was waiting in the airport for my flight to Denver from Salt Lake City, I came across a Minnesota Public Radio story about a woman who I did CPE with my first year of Seminary. Her name is Renee, and she recently lost her husband Ben in the earthquake in Haiti. She was interviewed a few days after Ben’s funeral back in the United States, and sadly, I hadn’t heard her voice since we finished our summer of CPE. I was reminded as I listened of how incredibly strong she is, her faithfulness to the Gospel, and her love for her husband. She tells the graphic story of the earthquake as she experienced it, her last sight and sound of Ben. Hearing her recall those details broke my heart, but hearing her love for him, and for God in the words she spoke made me so thankful I knew her at one stage of my life, and made me think about my fear of flying in a sense that I was in one of the safest places to be--on a plane. My thoughts and prayers have been going out to Renee since we heard word about Ben's death at Convocation. Please continue to pray for the Larson family. The earthquake is over, but the devastation is far from over.

24/28 Books

I'm reading this semester. But more than excited about all my classes. Let's do this.

Sent from my iPhone

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rule breaker

So, I have a confession to make! Fearful this violation of Visions and Expectations might get me kicked out of seminary, I withheld it until now. About 8 months ago, I had a child. Well, I adopted one; a son. Rather than keeping it secret, I decided to make this public information. When Kevin and I were out in Idaho speaking at a camp, I adopted a moose child from the Spokane Airport. His name is Max-a-moose. This probably seems silly to you, but Kevin and I are pretty serious about bringing him with us to cool places, even out to eat sometimes, and he sleeps next to me in my neck. Of course, when he heard I was taking a trip to Utah, he begged me to take him, so today (day three on the slopes) I fastened him into my coat and he spent the whole day skiing with me. He acted as a neck-gator at times protecting me from the wind. Erin even adopted him as her God-child and wore her brown moose jacket to show her love for him---until she fell asleep in the dining room during lunch. All this skiing wiped her out! You may think I'm crazy telling you about all of this, but he brought a lot of happiness to the hill today. Everyone asked about him and greeted him! He's one popular moose!

Park City Mountain Resort

Sorry I didn't get a chance to report in until now. The last two days have been an absolute blast out here at Park City Mountain Resort in Park City, UT. I met Erin at the airport in Salt Lake City, lots of excitement as she found me at baggage claim. We took a van out to the place we're staying; National Ability Center. This place is amazing. During the summer, they offer tons of outdoor activities, horseback riding, high ropes courses, and a whole bunch of activities at PCMR. The NAC is a place committed to helping people of all ability levels develop lifetime skills. When we walked in our room, there were to bouquets of flowers on the dresser. We both got pretty excited, and got close enough to read the card. One for me, one for Erin. Kevin sent us flowers to enjoy during our stay! What a guy!

Day one on the hill was awesome. Snow fell all day long, sometimes more slowly, and sometimes in big chunks, as you can see in this photo. So picturesque. Erin rides in a special ski called a "bi-ski." A teacher tethers webbing behind her ski and basically controls her ski. Erin is in control of turning and maneuvering where she goes down the hill. Leaning, and core strength guide her safely down the hills. She has lessons twice a day for two hours each. Let me be the first to say, she stays as far away from the easy hills as possible. There have been times I followed her down the hill and seriously feared for my life. I have become a much better skier thanks to her! The very first day we rode close to 15 different runs, one through narrow trees so close I could smell the pine. I tried videotaping as I went down the path and foolishly dropped my mitten mid-way. When we went through a second time, it was gone! Sad. It was incredible to see people from so many different countries, states, and ages filling the slopes! One of the craziest sights today was when we made our way to a run called "blanche." The air temp was warmer than the snow, so there was a ridiculously thick fog that we ran right into. We couldn't see more than 20 feet in front of us! I was passing black diamond hills on my left named "widowmaker" and "naildriver." Thank goodness Erin's teacher knew the way to the blue hill, or it could've been ugly! Check out the first photo in this post to see the crazy amount of fog in the middle of the mountain. It looked like we were skiing into the ocean! In bed by 9:00 yesterday and now again tonight! Hard work!

Kristen, Erin, and I ready for another lesson!

Mixed Emotions

I'm sitting here at 7:30 in the morning feeling mixed emotions about a lot different things.

Last night, my wife and I went on a date. It was her idea, and a good one. We are about the begin a new semester, and as usual it will likely be a busy one. Roughly translated, evenings I'm going to have my nose buried in the computer screen or a text book. So we thought it was a good time to spend a little time together. Dinner and a movie...it was a good time. Now this morning, I'm up fairly early because my kids were (as usual) being fairly noisy. Irritating to say the least.

But here's the catch, I still get to spend time with my family.

A couple days ago, a well known/well liked member of my congregation died from cancer. He was 53. I knew him fairly well. A few years back I was the council secretary and he was the treasurer. We served together for 2 years. I wouldn't necessarily say that I knew him well, but I knew him and liked him.

I'm sitting here mildly irritated with my kids for being so noisy, but I'm still here to enjoy them. He's not.

Mixed emotions.

Yesterday I managed to finish up my first congregational review paper for RTA. Those of you that have taken it can relate to how monumental of a task this is. On the one hand, I'm very pleased and happy to have it finished. I feel like I can slack off...for today anyway. On the other hand, as I mentioned earlier, the new semester starts Monday. I'm taking Hebrew. By the end of week one, so essentially a week from now, I need to be able to recite the Hebrew alphabet. I have even looked at it yet. I'm feeling guilty about that, like I should start in today.

I want to relax for a day, but I feel like I should get to work.

Mixed emotions.

I sit here looking out the window at the light snow falling, and I know that I need to get out and shovel the driveway, but I'm not in too big of a hurry because we dodged the bullet of the big storm that we expected to get, and that's a great thing. On the other hand, the east coast is getting hammered. My sister in law lives in northern Virginia. Her husband just left for job training that is going to last 3 months. Her daughter is actually here in Iowa for the next month staying with my wife's other sister. So she is by herself, and called this morning to say that she has to dig herself out from all the snow they've gotten.

We missed the storm, but others weren't so lucky. I don't have to worry about getting dug out while others are completely blanketed.

Mixed emotions.

Long story short, for the most part I'm feeling relieved this morning. Relieved to have a BIG project done, relieved to have gotten a very satisfying score on my RTA midterm (from a couple weeks ago that just arrived in the mail yesterday), relieved to have missed the big storm, relieved to have a break (though a short one) before starting another semester.

I'm trying to take joy in that relief despite the things that have me a little down today. A day or two ago, fellow blogger Jenni wrote about answering the question "where is God in this." I think that's a very good question to ask ourselves. I've been asking myself that very thing the past few minutes as I'm reflecting on these different things.

The man from the congregation isn't suffering anymore. He went home to be with Jesus. That has to be a relief for him. God gave me the opportunity to get my work done with a couple days to spare, because God knows that I need a break before diving into another busy semester. My sis in law's husband is gone for a few months, but he arrived safely even through the big snow storm out that way and her daughter is safe with family while she's out digging through the snow. God is giving her the ability to do what she needs to do.

Yep, God's there...I just need to remember to look. And when I see Him, I need to be thankful for it.

Maybe those emotions aren't so mixed anymore.

DO talk to strangers!

I just landed in Denver after a 1 hour 36 minute flight. I don’t know about you, but when I step foot in an airport, I turn into an introvert. I spend most of my days as an extrovert; talking to people about church, my faith, praying with people, smiling a lot, sharing ideas about church, reading Christian books, capturing sermon illustrations and praying I remember them, playing cello tunes out of the ELW, even browsing the Internet for fresh new ministry ideas. I wish I could turn off the majority of them, but even as my forehead stuck to the window on the plane I couldn’t help but see the circular crop patterns of Colorado and think about the percentage of non-Christians, the farm homes with driveways at least a half-mile off the main road made me think of unintentional loneliness some people may experience based on where they live, the book in my lap They like Jesus but not the Church, by Dan Kimball made me think about the fact that my 96 minutes in the air may be my only chance for the week to interact with non-Christians. I’m reading the book for one of my spring semester classes, “Ministry with Young Adults” with Dr. Andy Root. Kimball begins his argument by talking about how most Christians only hang out with other Christians. He says the only perspective we get for ministry and mission come from a bunch of people just like us—living in a Christian bubble. I’m not sure about you, but I get exhausted hanging out with Christians all the time. In fact, I don’t blame non-Christians for their negative view of us, because we suck as humans just as bad as everyone else. Take a step into a seminary classroom (the place where, I naively thought would be filled with a bunch of prayerful, Spirit led, positive, encouraging people) and the negative energy is enough to gag even the strongest stomach. Poison. Poisonous people. Sometimes even, poisonous professors. Trust me, I am not an exception. Even today, I was tempted this afternoon to make a snide remark at the woman who walked into the women’s bathroom and let out a gasp at the odor. I wanted to say, “Yeah, bathrooms smell, your poop smells! Get over it!” I kept that one to myself. I realize I have days where my pessimistic attitude, tiredness, family relationships, and faith create a green cloud of smoke around me, but thanks to the powerful working of the Holy Spirit, those days eventually give way to ones where the smoke dissipates and I find myself loaded with spools of cotton candy to hand out. The point of this entire post is me reflecting on a day of wasting the pink carnival treat. Today is a good day, and yet I didn’t speak a word to the (seemingly) kind couple on the plane who sat next to me reading their iPod messages and kindle books. Fortunately, there’s another flight today that will bring me to my final destination, Salt Lake City, UT. I’m praying I get seated next to a non-Christian. I’m praying my own agenda will take a break and I can meet and learn about someone new. I’m praying the Spirit will prompt me to remove the ear plugs, the books, and the camera so I can be present to someone today the way Jesus was two thousand years ago! I’ll let you know how it goes!

Photos from the Holy Land

Here's some pics from my trip to the Holy Land with Luther Seminary. Nothing fancy...but it'll give you an idea anyways.

 

— cheers!

ts

Photo Gallery: Holy Land 2010

Here's some pics from my trip to the Holy Land with Luther Seminary. Nothing fancy...but it'll give you an idea anyways.

 

— cheers!

ts

Posted via web from curatingthejourney.org

Where do you see God in this?

I figure I must be about two-thirds of the way through my seminary career. In my time here, I have learned a lot. I have looked at the creation story in ways I never expected. I’ve learned about the Gospels and prophets. I read through stories in the Old Testament that are ignored in Sunday school. I have learned about educational models and bringing faith into the home (I have a children, youth and family concentration). I have focused on relational ministry and the church’s mission in the world. I have found myself beginning a lot of conversations with, “Did you know…” And over and over, I have been asked to answer, “Where do you see God in this?”

If I’m honest, of all the things I’ve been asked at seminary, I have the most difficult time answering this question.

Let me explain. Over the last six months, I have been watching my mother die. Last summer, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. With an astounding speed, the cancer metastasized to her bones and eventually to her brain. She has been fighting, but the cancer and the medication have been taking their toll and my mom is increasingly unable to take care of herself. I’ve watched my dad—her husband of 40 years—deal with doctors, dozens of medications, treatments and watching his wife slowly drain away. My family and I live with my parents and every day I find myself asking, “Where is God in this?” Because I can’t seem to find God in any of this.

This past week, I received my answer.

My dad had been at work all day. My mom was having an especially difficult day. Because the cancer is in her bones, she is in constant pain. She sleeps a lot. She has lost her hair and lost a lot of weight. She cannot walk on her own but with help can move from the living room (where she sleeps on the couch) to the adjoining room (where she sleeps in a hospital bed). Dad was helping get mom ready for bed. I watched as my dad gently lifted her to stand. Gently washed her up and changed her clothes. Helped her to get into bed and he sat next to her in the chair he moved from the living room and squished into her den-now-bedroom. He held her hand and stroked her face. I don’t remember them talking at all.

Things have been messy and confusing at home. Our days are filled with more bad news from the doctor than good. We cry. We’re angry. We fight. Family issues rise to the surface. My mom doesn’t say thank you. I’ve thrown my share of tantrums. And still my dad loves his wife and he will take care of her as long as he needs to. He will get her prescriptions filled. Take her to the hospital for treatment after treatment. Sit with her for hours holding her hand and reading to her. Dad is constantly stroking her face which I see is comforting for both of them.

My mom is still sick. We’re all still struggling under the burden of it. Nothing is fixed, but my mom isn’t going through this alone. That is where God is.

preparing for departure

I haven't been on a plane since last summer. Seems like a long time ago given the number of hours I spent in the air last year going to and from internship to a speaking gig, and to a few weddings. The task of balancing your carry on, actual suitcase, blended chai, boarding pass, and ID were a breeze. Tomorrow I am flying out to Park City, UT to meet up with former Luther Seminary MA student Erin Diericx. She was around on campus my first two school years (06/07-08/09), and got her degree in New Testament studies. I met her my first year when she lived in Stub Hall for a few weeks before getting settled into her room in Bockman Hall. I eventually lived in Bockman with her my second year and got to know her the best that year during a few classes. Anyway, long story short, Erin goes skiing in Utah every winter and likes to have a buddy come along to help her out. Luckily, it worked in my schedule to join her, so I am super psyched about my first ski trip to the mountains to see my old friend. Please pray for our safety as we fly, ski, and compete in the Olympic Trials!

preparing for the spring semester

Headed into my second long semester as a full-time student I'm quite excited about my course of study this Spring. During this week off in between Jterm (January) and the spring I am reminded of what a blessing it is to be able to study full-time...to be at least given the opportunity to focus (though I'm frankly no good at that) and to dive deep into these conversation, these relationships and these practices of education. I remember while I was discerning the transition to full-time study at Luther Seminary I had a conversation with one of my professors from Texas Lutheran University -- Phil Ruge-Jones. Dr. Ruge-Jones is an alum of Luther Seminary and I remember him saying (paraphrase): The thing about seminary is that if you go for it has the potential to transform you. You may be confirmed in your deepest convictions, but you may also change your mind about significant things too. It should change you. That was a prophetic insight perhaps. This past semester has been a whirlwind and over the past three months I've been discerning where this is all leading me. This semester will be filled with many changes. Just a few weeks ago the Seminary announced that Patricia Lull, my adviser and our Dean of Students would be resigning at the end of January. Your adviser at Seminary does much more than help you choose classes. They are also your discipleship mentor, they guide you and advocate for you in matters of candidacy and they walk along side you in vocational discernment. It will be hard to find an adviser quite as amazing as Dean Lull. Every week our discipleship group met in her living room and shared in prayer and spiritually significant conversations (that means we laughed and shared our burdens/hopes/frustrations). There will also be some changes for me personally...more on that soon. For those of you as nerdy as me, here are the courses I'm taking:

Worship // Profs. Scharen & Lange
Reading the Audiences // Profs. Zscheile & Scharen
The Ethics of Martin Luther King, Jr. // Prof. Simpson
Ministry of Evangelism // Prof. Simpson
Pentateuch // Prof. Fretheim (the Legend)
Church Leadership // Prof. Zscheile
Ministry with Young Adults (audit) // Prof. Root

Posted via email from curatingthejourney.org

The Wonders of Technology

When it comes to new technology...I am, admittedly, a 12-year old boy.

A little over a year ago, our old tv was going out of commission and we decided it was time to upgrade to a flat screen. We brought it home and I was working on setting it up. My wife said I was giddy. "You are like a little boy."

She was right.

Flash forward to the past Christmas. My in laws had let us know that their plan was to get a Wii for all three families (us and my wife's two sister's families). I admit it, I was excited. We got the Wii on Christmas morning. While my son was ecstatic, I was pretty pumped too. She commented again. "Yep, you're a little boy."

She was right.

Flash forward to last Saturday. Our mini-van had reached the point when it was time to trade it in on something a little newer and little more reliable. We went car shopping and found a pretty nice one. It's got a lot of features, each is totally unnecessary but we like them anyway. There are two that I really like. One is a memory feature for the driver's seat position along with the pedal position. I haven't figured out how to program it yet, but I will. The other feature that I'm really enjoying is heated seats. In wintertime Iowa, heated seats are a Godsend.

Cue my wife's statement...because she's right.

All of this information is really a lead in to my newest little toy. I just got it yesterday.



I'm pretty pumped. Finally, after eons of wanting one, I have a touch screen phone. The LG VTouch...with flip open full key board. I'm still getting used to that one but I like it.

So now I'm in the process of learning the ins and outs of the new phone. I will miss my old Motorola Razor...I always liked the flip phone, but it was time to move on to a new phone. As I was messing around with it yesterday, she said the same thing.

"You are such a little boy."

I try to play it off, but as with every other example...she's right.

Movin On Up

Feel free to interpret that title anyway you like...and if you are hearing the theme song to the Jefferson's in your head now, congrats...you have reached the same mental level as me...of course, that's not always a good thing. I do wear a blaze orange hat around after all. How sane can I be?

But I digress.

I sit here thinking about the past and the future. I'm reminiscing because right now Ah-ha's song "Take on Me" is playing on the radio, which makes me think of the 80's. Thinking of the 80's puts me in the mode of remembering the piano bar that several of us went to a couple weeks back during our time on campus. They played 80's music all night, which was cool.

I'm also thinking back to times when I wasn't quite so busy. It is with a heavy heart that I made a phone call today ending a period in which I served as a lay minister on a monthly basis. There is a small country church outside of town that I have served once a month for about 18 months as worship leader. I greatly enjoy it, but between my regular job, school work, contextual work at church, and attempting to have something of a family life, I just can't swing it anymore. It's actually been several months since I've been able to be there, and after a lot of prayer and percolation (of the mental variety) I made the call today.

Side note, now that Ah-Ha is done, Bon Jovi just came on. That makes me think of my friend and classmate Lisa, who is obsessed with old Johnny boy. I sent her a text just to let her know he was on the radio. I think I was able to hear her exclamation of joy from 100 miles away.

As far as the future, I'm pondering on what my next few semesters are going to look like. I have a pretty good handle on spring semester, but after that things are up in the air. I've mentioned before that my cohort is not slated to be on campus in June as we are "scheduled" for cpe this summer. However, several will still be around. I'm trying to decide if I will be one of them. I can spare 1 week of pto from work, so in the very least I know I won't be there the full two weeks. However, I'd like to try and take something while I have the opportunity.

One possibility is to take Systematics 2...aka Jesus and the Triune God. It is on campus for a week then finishing up online through the summer. The kicker, we're supposed to take that class next fall along with foundations of pastoral care. I've already taken pastoral care, and if I manage to take Systematics, that would leave the fall wide open for me to try and knock out CPE, which is sort of my tentative plan right now.

Hold on a second...did I just say "my plan?" Yah, I did. Seriously, I know better than that. Every time I try to plan something, God throws me a curve ball.

I think He's trying to teach me to sit back and follow His lead.

I'm still working on learning that lesson.