First Semester Reflection

Tomorrow afternoon I will get together with some of my peers and our mentor to talk about seminary life, work life, home life, and all the happenings inbetween. Between now and then I am suppose to reflect on my first semester in seminary and impart some gracious words of wisdom from my reflections. So far I have nothing. I feel as though the "happenings" in daily life do not allow for reflection or for time to think about the important things in life. Really it's a shame that I feel I don't have enough time to consider how to apply what I am learning on a daily (or weekly) basis.

The rule I have tried to live by during my first semester in seminary has been to manage a sustainable pace. What is a sustainable pace? First, I feel as though I have the appropriate amount of credit hours, which in turn provides me with just the right amount of homework each week. I don't think I would do very well with more work at this point. Second, I consider how things are at home. My family is one of the reasons I'm here and they are the most important people in my life. In light of the amount of school work, I have to ask myself is my family getting enough of my time? Third, do I and my wife have adequate time to establish friendships and develop relationships with those around us?

As I reflect on my first semester in seminary I would say that overall I have pretty well managed a sustainable pace in the first two areas of my life and that I definitely should make more time to develop friendships. As a new year quickly approaches, I should make a purposeful resolution to see this through.

Extreme Ironing...not Irony!!

As some of you know...I am pretty good at ironing. I have been ironing my own clothes for 10+ years. In fact, I do all the ironing at my house--I iron my clothes, my wife's clothes, and my kid's clothes. I'm not ashamed to admit that I rather like to iron. It's something unique (or quirky...or weird if you will) about me.

I have found the perfect club to join! The Extreme Ironing Club!! Sounds exciting doesn't it? I think I would fit right in. Here's a picture of me ironing at the bottom of the Gulf.

(Just kidding! It's not me!)

Rrrrrribit!

The Community of a Church -- Food for Thought

Theological professor, Cornelius Platinga, Jr. wrote, "Thus the summit of church membership is being membered with others not only by common love or loyalty for the same Lord, but also by having the divine mind--the servant mind, the deferring-to-others mind. Membership in the church implies the high goal of imitating the divine life by glorifying and exalting other and so doing by "taking on the form of a servant".

Philippians 2 says, "Do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility count others better than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interest of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which you have in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likenss of men".

It's All Greek To Me

I have completed my first two weeks of class at seminary -- whew! -- two weeks down and many, many, many more to go!!! I should share that I am in four classes this semester, and I think that four (10 credits worth) is a good number for me. It seems, so far, I have enough work to keep me busy learning yet it doesn't take away too much from my responsibilities at home or else where. My four classes are:

1. New Testament Life & Witness
2. Introduction to Greek
3. Introduction to Theology & Worship
4. Practice of Christian Ministry (which is essentially a practical internship experience)

For the last two weeks, I have enjoyed my NT class the most. Greek is Greek. And it's all Greek to me. I'm making my way through Greek class well enough, but I am a little bogged down. I hope in the next couple weeks, the fog of confusion will become clearer.