An Intro and A Tough Day

For starters, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Scott Dalen. I've actually been blogging on Life at Luther for a year now, and am glad to be back again this year. I'm currently a member of the Distributed Learning program, which means that my Masters of Divinity degree with take longer to achieve, but the vast majority of my school work happens online rather than being on campus. At least at the moment. I posted earlier this week that my family and I are moving to the Twin Cities about the first of the year. She has accepted a job at a church in Plymouth and I'm planning on going to to school full time.

So my perspective currently comes from the distance learning direction, but only for a few more months when I'll be more of a full time commuter.

All that being said, today's a tough one. We have a funeral at church for a beloved member of our congregation and community. It hits close to home for me because he was such an outgoing guy and always joked around with my son at church.

Something else is going on for me personally which doesn't make today any easier. My aunt died last night. She's been fighting cancer for a long time, but we knew that she's been losing the battle. God called her home last night.

So now I sit here, trying to figure out how to offer any sort of comfort to a grieving family, at least in a support role along with my partner pastor, when I'm experiencing my own grief. Grief for a man that I respected and enjoyed, and grief for my aunt. It's certainly a mixed bag.