This is in the syllabus of my Systematic Theology course I'm taking this fall:
"...write a one to two-page, double-space paper that explains the meaning of life as you currently understand it."
Umm...Love God, people, and creation, and let God use you to bring as much heaven to earth as you can. What size font should that be?
Since I've been off from school this summer, one would think that I would have sat down more to blog. Guess I've disappointed people in that regard. So after some of my friends crying out for me to write, I figure I'd better get a move on.
Obviously, lots of things have been happening over the summer, so I'll highlight a few:
1. I just got back from speaking at a conference in PA called Impact. It was a place that I have spoke out two times previously. They have been one of the most affirming groups for my teaching gifts. I had a good time. I spoke on "Embracing the Wilderness," which of course, has pretty much been my life story the last 2 years. Amazing conversations from many in regards to it.
2. This summer has also been great in affirming some of my calling as well. I'm still trying to find out exactly what my niche is. I know that teaching/preaching is one of them, but I just don't know where that is going. One adult in particular (and this is the very brief version) called me the "pastor-prophet." He said he usually doesn't see those two sets of gifts put together in a person, but it works really well for me. He encouraged me to continue down the road I was going on and celebrated what God is doing through me. It was a very powerful clarifying moment for me.
Along with that was a comment from many of the adults at this last conference in PA. For the first time in a while, I had many adults telling me that they could sit and listen to me teach all day and ask if I had aspirations for leading or teaching at a church. I was struck odd by that. I'm still processing that a little bit, but it's something I'm paying attention to.
Along with that, thanks to my good friend Jim Keat I will be team-teaching with him at Fifty6, our 5th and 6th grade ministry this fall. Jim and Josh Bishop have been the other group of the most affirming people of my gifts, always giving me an opportunity to express them. I am humbled and grateful at the opportunity and I am seeing God start to make clearer the path he's forging ahead for me.
3. I have a huge load this coming semester, and I'm really looking forward to it. I'm starting Greek, which I haven't taken since college, and I'm actually really excited for it. I know it's going to be really tough, but I'm excited at the insights I will gain because of it. I'm also taking Systematic Theology I (which is going to be brutal by looking at the syllabus already), Teaching and Learning for Christian Nurture (which is a class on creative teaching of the Bible, sounds like a lot of fun work!), and Program Introduction Seminar (which is a initial class for MDiv students on how to study, research, and basically be a good seminary student). I just shelled out a boatload yesterday for books, but thankfully some of them will be books I will be using for a while.
That's pretty much it, I've been working, cooking, and being dad to Grace in the meantime. I can't believe in 3 weeks school will start up again for both of us (and Julia actually started school toward her MBA in July). It just feels like yesterday she was off.
That's all for now, and I'm sure I'll write more on stuff I'm reading, stories, and the like.
Julia and are in Chicago through tomorrow, as we are seeing the Swell Season in concert! If you have never heard of them, the main couple is from one of my favorite new films, Once. It was 100k Irish doozy that has incredible music and intriguing storyline. Pretty much a modern folk musical.
Julia and I arrived here yesterday to chill. We had planned to go to Ikea yesterday but ended up going to see Ironman instead. AWESOME FILM! Loved it. I wasn't sure if Robert Downey Jr. could pull of Tony Stark but he sure did a great job. We're deciding to go to Ikea this morning, chill for a little, then head to downtown Chicago late this afternoon for dinner and then the concert. We just don't want to spend too much time downtown, Julia's feet would be killing her if we walked that long.
It's nice to getaway. We are right before the madness for me, as I have 3 camps in the next 6 weeks that I will be a part of. I'm really looking forward to them, but it's always taxing on the family since I can't take them with me.
Don't know if I'll have some pics from tonight, but we'll see.
We opened up our training for Group Workcamps Foundation last night, and we had a moment where the founder, Thom Schultz, did an exercise that was powerful for me. He asked us to recall the first workcamp we ever went to. Of course, many memories came up. He also asked about a time where we learned a huge life lesson. He then asked if it came from something we read, heard, or experienced. Most people said that it came from something that happened to them.
He then asked about one sermon we remember at that time in our life. My experience came when I was 20, and I couldn't recall anything at all.
This is something we hear a lot, and please don't think I'm bashing preaching here, but the way you live your life in those moments, those relationships, are what people remember. I agree that even though what you my preach is what might spark the memory, but it's mainly the relationships you have and those moments that people remember.
With that time of reflection, something that I want to commit to is writing down one memory I want to capture every day. It's great to carry something with you anyway, to capture quotes, truths, and such that you want to remember, but what about a story? There are so many that are great that I wish I could recall, but takes a while because I never wrote it down.
I hope I can continue to be a memory maker with those I contact with (and I hope they're good ones!)
Ok, so my daughter continues to amaze me. I already know that she is extremely creative, but it's getting to the point that it is something way beyond the norm. I'm sure some would think I might have "daddy bias," which I'm sure I do, but these poems she wrote were just classic. I scanned both of them so you could see them. The first one is entitled "Dogs" that she wrote for her 1st grade class:
It was very Dr. Suessish. Even the symmetry was pretty scary.
The second poem she wrote came today while I was meeting with my friend Steve. She was writing in my journal, and I remember Julia saying something before that she was bummed Grace didn't write about cats (since we have three and no dogs). So Grace just spits out this poem in my journal entitled, "Cats."
I about peed my pants laughing. I told her she had to pick a line to stop the purring, and she ended on the exact line she showed me.
I definitely need to encourage her to do more writing. Heck, because of this, I think our whole family should have a "writing time" for our family time and just make up stuff. It'd sure be a hoot!
I am awed at the many talents Grace continues to display. I pray that I will not be the type of parent to hinder that type of creativity.
| What's your theological worldview? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| You scored as a Emergent/Postmodern | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| You are Emergent/Postmodern in your theology. You feel alienated from older forms of church, you don't think they connect to modern culture very well. No one knows the whole truth about God, and we have much to learn from each other, and so learning takes place in dialogue. Evangelism should take place in relationships rather than through crusades and altar-calls. People are interested in spirituality and want to ask questions, so the church should help them to do this. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Well, I just saw my grades for my first semester...all As! I got one A-, so I ended up with a 3.9 GPA. Feels good for all that hard work to pay off in the end.
Next semester, I'm taking four classes, which will be a stretch (esp. considering Greek is one of them), but we will see how it goes. If I do the 4 in the fall 3 in the spring schedule, I will be done hopefully by spring of 2011 with and MDiv. Right now I'm trying to see if I can a find a refresher Greek course online to see if I can test out of the first two years of Greek. I took it ages ago, but I forgot a lot of it.
I also went back to my Torah study last night, which was refreshing. It was great to see the group again and get right back to discussing Torah. I have learned so much from that and from the people in it.
I also wrote down my tentative reading list this summer that I hope to plug through. It's hard to read these books when you're in school providing you're reading a thousand other books.
NOOMA Shells is now on preview on Facebook till Wednesday. Go check it out.
We also got to preview another NOOMA, "She" during Mother's Day on the feminine qualities of God. Really well done, and looking forward to when it comes out.
This one is great too, I remember the message when he preached it. Hard core on when you say, "I'm too busy."
Ok, this is a follow-up to my previous excursion with Grace and public restrooms if you want to remind yourself what happened.
We were at an opening dinner for a new local food share co-op at Trillium Haven Farm when all of the sudden Grace runs to the common area, dancing up and down, saying, "I have to go potty!" Everyone is laughing. The only one available is a porta potty about 500 feet down the way. So, we fly over there I let her go in, and she starts taking about all of the "weird" things in there. A line starts forming behind me as I'm waiting, and thankfully I didn't tell her to lock the door, so I could open it myself. She starts saying, "Daddy this toilet doesn't flush, and what is this weird thing?" So I open the door, and she's flipping up and down in her hand, this:
Yup. That's right, a urinal cake, covered in pee. She's tossing it up and down like a coin saying it smells weird. Of course, I'm totally grossed out, and thankfully we had some hand sanitizer. So, if you have kids, or will someday, here is lesson number two with public restrooms, and in this case, porta potties:
Please educate your children not to touch anything AND about urinal cakes.
Ok, I'm done...I'm going to go wet my pants now.
