Prepare Ye

It's been a while. I mean, a really long while. For those who regularly still have checked this, wow. Since you're probably friends, gee, get a life. If this shows up on a feed reader, you probably forgot about this blog. I did. The last real post from me goes back to March of 2011, and was about waiting for ELCA Regional Assignments. I think I stopped blogging because I was "concerned" about the wonderful Synod staffs & congregations sniffing this out and hitting the big DENIED button.  Well, too late. Since that last post , I got assigned to Region 5 (Illinois, Indiana, the UP of Michigan and Wisconsin). Then I was called to the North West Synod of Wisconsin. I flew out to meet the Bishop & the Synod staff on my birthday. Got profiles of the churches which eventually called me.  Just before graduation, on the day I was putting on my play, "Four Voices, One Passion" (I'll get back to that in a future post), my mother was hospitalized....

It is eerily quiet on the grounds of The LTS. There are only a few people on campus doing their CPE, all of the Seniors have left and gone off to their calls and careers. Then the people of my class, the Middlers/Interns have been taking off, moving to their internship sites for a year. I'm one of the last ones left here, planning on moving to the Garden next week to start in August. I'm dealing with the hidden dilemma of the Seminary process, packing and moving. This is one of the dirty little secrets of the call process they don't tell you about. Well, for those of my readers who are in the discernment process, let me clue you in on this. From the time you leave your home, sweet home until your first call, you will probably move at least 4 times, possibly as many as 6 times in 4 years. Here is the breakdown: 1) From home onto campus - Depending on if you are a pipeliner, pseudo-pipeliner or second career person, this will entail either moving some stuff, gathering so...

I've noticed that ever since I told people that I was going into the ministry, I've been forwarded EVERY religious e-mail they get. I appreciate the sentiment, but I'm tempted to sell all of the addresses to spammers. Sometimes, I get them with comments. Here is an email that I was forwarded by one of my laped Catholic friends. ORIGINAL EMAIL When God leads you to the edge of the cliff, trust Him fully and let go, only 1 of 2 things will happen, either He'll catch you when you fall, or He'll teach you how to fly! 'The power of one sentence! God is going to shift things around for you today and let things work in your favor. If you believe, send it. If you don't believe, delete it. God closes doors no man can open & God opens doors no man can close. If you need God to open some doors for you...send this to ten people. ...Have a blessed day and remember to be a blessing... MY FRIENDS COMMENT (either she was upset, or didn't notice the Caps Lock light...

Well, I realize it has been quite a while since I've had a significant post. Hopefully, this will be the dying quail (baseball term) that ends the slump. I'm on call at my CPE hospital tonight and am hoping a warm first day of Summer evening, with a bonus of a full moon, will be quiet. Yeah, right. So far, CPE has been what I thought, heard and feared it would be. It has made me confront some of the nasty boogymen who live under my mental bed. (I never liked the monster's in the closet; under the bed was much scarier.) I posted about having a hard time getting the flatline tone out of my head when a patient passed away. I've had to deal with a couple of other families who have been dealing with a loved one passing away. In my mind, I was remembering being on the other end of the conversation and not hearing anything useful or helpful. So since my expectatitions were low, I think I met them. I knowingly chose an area of the hospital that would cause me to confront the mo...

Well, it's 4th and 1. It's the bottom of the ninth. It's sudden death overtime. It's time to put up or shut up. End of the semester means not so much reading, but LOTS of writing. Oh yeah, I'm supposed to remember all of that stuff I read. The Greek final is over, but is the p stand for pastor or for repeat? So, I've decided to chuck it all and open the first Taco Bell in Gettysburg. I think I can fill out the staff with some of my classmates. Can we serve Guinness with the chalupas? Now if someone can pull my Mom off of the ceiling, I'm just playin'. Until the dean calls me in for a "meeting." Until then, it's time to play tag. Here are three questions of three. What are your three favorite Christmas songs & who sings them? O Holy Night - Martina McBride I think this song is the test of singers. If you can hit the note (and if you know the song, you know the note) you can SING. Martina hits it, kicks it and drops an elbow off the top...

Dan, a Lutheran Southern Seminary senior, from Here I Stand tagged me with a 10 random things about me. So, here we go. 1. I was my high school valedictorian. 2. The farthest west that I have ever been is Dallas/Ft. Worth. 3. I was once given the title of "The Holder of the Most Useless Knowledge." 4. The candidate I have voted for has never won the election for President. 5. I wanted to learn to play the piano, but my parents wouldn't sign me up for lessons. 6. I have a hard time hitting a nail in straight. 7. I am a huge space/ NASA nerd. 8. I once drank a quart of beer in 4.68 seconds. The fact that it was timed says a lot about my time in college. 9. I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die. No, wait, that was Johnny Cash. Who was the headliner at the first concert I went to. 10. Sometimes I suffer from writer's block, and

I'm fighting through the middle-of-the-semester blues . I miss home. I miss getting to coach in a playoff game after 12 years of getting my a$$ kicked. I miss my big ol' bed. A care package only reminds me I'm away from home. I'm getting frustrated with some of my classes. I'm frustrated with my teaching parish. I'm upset with my lack of getting it. I'm upset some of my friends are getting dumped on since I'm not there. I'm pi$$ed at the idiots in my hometown blaming everyone for a kid getting a gun EXCEPT the family. But, on the other hand. I'm having an "Oh Wow!" moment about twice a day. I'm getting care packages and emails. I'll get home in a few weeks. I enjoy a bunch of my classes and am doing well (so far -- I reserve the right to edit this post.) I'm not at work getting dumped on. I'm not having to deal with the cow crap. Being here is like eating caviar with dirt. But hey, there's better days shining through...

Sorry for the lack of posts, but I've been up to my eyeballs in work. Another week, another 250 pages to read, 10 pages to write, 20 sentences in Greek to translate, 2 songs to learn and a new church to attend. Such is the life of a first year seminarian at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg. But, here are some things to get off my mind to clear shelf space. Notre Dame should be preparing to fire Charlie Weiss. They fired Tyrone Willingham in his third year for going 6-5. Weiss will get NOWHERE near that. Did he not realize that his offensive line was going to be horrible and not recruit any HS All Americans or transfers? I really like my classes. I'm not so fond of all of the reading, but I enjoy what I'm reading. I especially enjoy the readings in Homiletics (Preaching) and Worship. Discovering more about the practices of the Church is enlightening. Being able to read (almost) the original writings of the New Testament in Greek shows a layer of complexity and...

I'm going to be moving to Gettysburg the next few days, so there won't be any positing for a few days. (Not anything earth shattering.) The next time I post, it shall be from my apartment. Before I go however, its time to empty the mental mailbag . I'm glad I didn't order the Big Brother feeds. I've been watching the shows and following the feeds and this year's housemates aren't that interesting. Maybe they're not interesting because there is a jerk/bully who's dominating the show. Dick (his real name) is a tyrant who seems to have a 3 year old's fit anytime someone has an opinion or does not follow his directives. I'll pay attention when I see someone has the spine to nominate and evict him. The Tigers (MY Tigers) are in a funk and can't seem to get out of their own way. But fortunately, the Tribe is right there blowing games along with them. I'd love to see them trade for a relief pitcher, but it doesn't look like it will happ...