A rough day at seminary…

Friends, today was kind of a rough day. I hadn’t had enough sleep or coffee to get through the day. First class is two hours and twenty minutes (with a 10-15 minute break somewhere in the middle), and was really good today. The professor is engaging, the subject matter is interesting, and it is a generally fun class.

It was all downhill from there.

During the lunch hour, we had orientation for our Truett-mandated small groups. I’m still trying to figure out the difference between these and regular small groups, other than the over-bureaucratization (is that a word?). The lady tried to lead us in a meditative moment/centering prayer. As part, she had us think of the times we felt closest and farthest from God. Other than this question being absolutely sophomoric (we may “feel” close or far from God at any given time, but this has no bearing on our actual spiritual growth and development of the moment), the time when I felt farthest from God in that last week was that exact moment. When I was forced, in the middle of a room full of strangers with whom I don’t feel comfortable, to instantly be hyper-”spiritual” or something. I look forward to the small groups themselves and think that we can really do something valuable in them, I just wish that there wasn’t a need to quantify said spiritual growth.

And then my Intro to Theology class started. I want to give the prof the benefit of the doubt. I think part of the problem is that he is too smart (he always uses big words that I, nor anyone else in the class know the meaning of-within 10 minutes on the first day of a class entitled Intro to Theology, he had used the words ontological, epistemic, and polemic, all words that nobody knew), and tries to include all of the information in the reading into a class period. Information overload combined with talking a mile a minute without any pauses… It’s hard to get him to stop just to ask a question. And by the time he does stop, he has built an entire idea out of the idea that I didn’t understand in the first place, which means I lost the entire idea. Sheesh. My goal is to survive and pass. I’ve given up on the thought of getting an A. Just a C will do for me! I think he is doing his best, but at this point, I don’t plan on taking any more classes with him. Just isn’t worth it.

Then we had dinner with other Oklahoma people and our CBF state coordinators. It was awesome. Stacy and I were talking, and we really miss Oklahoma. The kinds of people. The community and friends. The fact I don’t have to worry about being killed or robbed every hour of every day. You know, just the uzh (as in, usual).

It is my goal to watch television and actively become stupider before the time I go to sleep. I had a prof who said we should set attainable short-term goals. Challenge accepted.

Tell me about your lives. Wherever you are, just talk to me. Uh huh. Yes. Good. And how did that make you feel? See, we all feel better now.

‘Night.

Yours for the community of God in the collection of all,
Rich

First Day of Classes!

It was a great day. Had a couple of very passionate professors and what sounds like some very interesting material, so it seems like it will be a good semester. The only problem was that everyone used some really big words that I don’t know the meanings of! So, it’s good that I know of some very specific things to work on and study. If you know a big word that you think I should know, please comment with the word and a definition that a fourth grader could understand. Hooray for mutual education!

Thank you for all of the well wishes, and I look forward to sharing more with you soon. Unfortunately, work for me starts in less than six hours, so I’m going to bed!

Yours for the community of God in the collection of all,

Rich

Homework for the first day?!?

So apparently, you have to do homework before going to class. And that even counts the first class. So guess who did his 42 pages of reading and one page (single spaced) of writing tonight? This guy!

One of the readings was about asking questions in our faith, and how that is okay and valuable. This is a message I wish that I could shout from the rooftops-ask questions and work out responses (not the same as answers) in community. These responses might not quite be what we wanted, but they are better than never being willing to re-adjust how we understand God. While we may say we want a childlike faith, if you’ve ever taught preschool Sunday School, you know that faith understandings evolve. Same goes for 7th graders. And college sophomores. And 80 year olds. So, keep questioning.

Mmmm. I think I’m going to like this seminary business, even if I have to suffer through homework before the first day of class.

Yours for the community of God in the collection of all,

Rich

This blog needs a disclaimer…

I know that most of you don’t read sports-related posts. This will be one. I don’t care that you won’t read it. It’s my blog, and I’ll write about what I want.

The Houston Texans won today with a rookie quarterback and good team play. As a Dallas Cowboys fan, this hurt. We have the quarterback, but he has nobody to play with or behind. See, I’ve been having this ongoing dialogue with my friend Phen about how Tony Romo would be held in higher esteem if he wasn’t expected to win every game for the Cowboys singlehandedly. If, for example, he had the same expectations as this rookie quarterback of the Texans, and the same level of quality players around him, I would be willing to bet that he would be thought of better.

I am not advocating lowering our expectations of him however. I am advocating raising the quality of players around him and our expectations of said new players. Drafting and developing offensive linemen for a change. OU committed to doing so a couple seasons ago, and the quality of the linemen went up significantly-now, OU loses more than I think we should, but now it’s for reasons other than the offensive line. Cowboys, take notes.

Play as a team. Work together. Sometimes, build a campfire and sing Kumbaya. When everyone does their part, you win.

I love things that are sports truths that seem to crossover into “real” life.

Yours for the community of God in the collection of all,

Rich

Good friends, good food, and good wine…

…make any day better. This morning, the morning of anniversary number five, Stacy and I did the most romantic thing we could think of. We went to Truett orientation. We are just as excited, if not more, to be starting now, as we were before. We began making some new friends. One of the things that surprised me is how many different kinds of people there are, and how many different places they come from. I had no idea that Truett was so well-known nationally.

After eating lunch there, we had some more business to attend to. Then, some of our oldest friends came in town, and we shared food, laughs, wine, and board games. It was the perfect end to an evening. I don’t care that I’m supposed to have spent “quality” time with Stacy, because to us, we did spend quality time together. We just got to be around some other people all day. In doing life together, we are learning what’s really important and what’s not. Friends and attending orientation-that’s important. But more important is doing it together.

I hope you had as great of a day as we did, and that tomorrow is even better.

Yours for the community of God in the collection of all,

Rich

A marital year-in-review…

As of tomorrow, January 6, 2012, Stacy and I will have been married for five years.  According to gifts.com, the traditional gift that I am supposed to give Stacy is something made of wood, while the modern gift that I am supposed to give Stacy is silverware.  While these seem like interesting suggestions, we already have incredible silverware and don’t need anything else, so instead, I’d like to do a marital year-in-review.  Kind of like all the end of the year lists or retrospectives that are done every year, but this one pertaining to our marriage.

This year, we literally and figuratively went further than ever before.  Literally, we went to Turkey, a place that ended up with us only having each other and a small set of things.  A place where we learned what it meant to be the foreigner.  A place where we had to rely on each other more than ever before.  Figuratively, we were able to experience what it was like to both be working full-time jobs.  And we were able to experience what it was like to both make the decision to go to Truett, beginning in four days.

For us, it has been a year full of experiences.  Some of them we would love to have back, or at the very least, do differently, but there is no doubt that we would still have them together.

Wifey, here’s to you.  I have made the choice to love you since we got married, and I will continue making that choice, till death do us part.

Yours for the community of God in the collection of all,

Rich

A Good Story…

I’m reminded how much we all enjoy a good story.  It doesn’t matter where we hear it.  We all want to hear the story of rags to riches, people who overcome long odds, and issues that have been overcome.  In television shows, characters are never vanilla.  They are never the most normal individual who ever came down the pike.  Instead, they are different somehow.  They have disabilities, bad childhoods, tough socioeconomic situations or somesuch.  The same goes for the movies, books, anywhere there could possibly be a story – these stories are even told about individual players during sporting events!

But I wonder how often we consider the stories of the individuals we come into contact with on a daily basis.  Are we as willing to give them a chance as we would if it was us in the same situation?

Working at Starbucks, sometimes I meet individuals, and I wonder what makes them feel the way that the feel – whether it is grumpy, encouraging, entitled, excited, angry, happy, or any feeling in between.  Sometimes I wonder if I would be able to handle their “stuff” as well as they do.  I try to give them the benefit of the doubt.  But it’s the individuals who give me the benefit of the doubt who I appreciate the most.  Sometimes, the job is tedious.  And sometimes the tedious-ness of the job makes me feel like I would rather be anywhere but there.  But the people who come in, and you can tell who they are, with the purpose of making the world around them a better place (of which my world is just a part of that), they are the ones who I remember most.

And as such, they are the ones I want to be.  At church.  At a restaurant.  At work.  At home.  At H-E-B (and even Walmart).  Everywhere I go.  I want to make the world a better place because maybe, just maybe, what I do can influence what others do, and they will influence what others do, and…

Yours for the community of God in the collection of all,

Rich

Relaxation

Turns out that my life in Waco is pretty boring. Work. Home. Walk the dog. Go to church.

But the last couple of weeks have been incredible. I have been sleeping better and waking up happier. Part of is is that I have been able to finally relax a little bit. See, my heart has been hurting for roughly the last six months. (No, I haven’t seen anybody. Yes, I know I should’ve. No, I didn’t have health insurance-such is the problem with many other people in my income bracket, not going to the doctor because of lack of availability of insurance or lack of being able to have insurance and be able to eat.) And the last few weeks I have been in places and situations that have been relaxing. I have started and finished entire books over the course of a week. I have been able to sleep in, and then done it a couple days a week.

And I have been able to spend quality time with family. It’s always better for me if I have an opportunity to be around people who are comfortable. Pretty sure I’m not the only one who feels that way. Stacy’s parents’ house is one of the most relaxing places in the world for me right now. It’s a retreat. Life makes sense there.

And in talking to a friend today, he mentioned that he was feeling relaxed. Reading. Taking deep breaths. Taking a day to do nothing. Turns out I’m not the only one who has trouble getting everything to slow down.

So friends, new year, let’s resolve to remind each other to slow down. Take deep breaths. Look for the roses, then stop and smell them.

Yours for the community of God in the collection of all,
Rich

One week away!

Stacy and I start Truett in one week. One week from now, we will be reading what we have to read, writing what we have to write, and sleeping only when we have to sleep.  

I.  Can’t.  Wait.

We are getting books and beginning to read them, collecting the syllabi that are available and beginning to do the assignments, and just generally are excited to be back in school.  

If nothing else, we will be into a norm that we know we will be able to keep.  We will be meeting some new friends in a place other than the church we have been attending.  We will be being challenged by others who are head and shoulders more brilliant than us.  We will be frustrated by situations, classes, professors, and cohorts.

And we will love every minute of it.  

On the job front, for now, we will be staying employed at Starbucks.  There are some church jobs out there that have both of our resumes, but even if we get them, we will probably still stay working part-time there.  And then again, who knows what happens.  I really want to serve at this one church.  I really like them, but, as should happen, the process is just so long.  So, church, this is me telling you I like you.  Do you like me?  Check yes or no.  Oh, this isn’t 5th grade?  Okay.  I’ll just sit by my phone waiting for a call…

Goodnight.  It’s 9, and I work early-ish in the morning, so that means it’s bedtime.  

Yours for the community of God in the collection of all,

Rich

Writing again!

I’m back. Not that anyone knew I was gone, but I’m back. Writing here was always more for me than for you all, but my head has been in some very negative, unproductive, still-processing places for the last four-ish months, and I am just starting to feel like I’m breaking out of the funk.

See, Turkey happened. And then it wasn’t anymore, and it was a mad scramble to put together something resembling a life. I really wish I would’ve been able to spend the last few months in Norman, but if that would’ve been the case, Stacy and I wouldn’t have had the experiences that we have had in Waco with new jobs, friends, and opportunities.

Turkey happening changed some things for me. It made me more compassionate for people in strange cultures, surrounded by people speaking strange languages, who are aching for some sense of their “normal” while trying to be productive members of society. It changed how I view my wife. It changed how I view my stage in life. It changed how I view the world as a whole. I want to go back at some point, but not anytime soon, and not the way we went there this most recent time. See, this most recent time, we had been told we would be there for a number of years. We were preparing for that. And then, stuff got sideways. Turns out years really meant months (or came to mean that for the individual putting together our trip). And they didn’t bother to tell us. I won’t lie to you-that’s been the cause of my four-month funk. Having gotten rid of everything only to be incredibly disrespected, lied to, and made to feel like we were the ones who messed things up. I’ve tried to be positive and not place blame, but in reality, I’m still frustrated, bitter, and more than a little bit angry.

But I realistically would’ve never gone to seminary if Turkey hadn’t happened, something that starts up in 8 days now. I never would’ve thought about what I was called to, and come to the conclusion I now have. And I would’ve stayed comfortable in my incredible church, what I’m finding out was a well-paying restaurant job, and with some really great friends. But instead, I’ve been forced to make some new friends who are so very caring and thoughtful, have learned how valuable a good job is (and swear that I will never take it for granted again!), and have seen a few churches around this area and thought about how great they can be. It’s been a little bit surreal. But it’s definitely been interesting.

My friends, I’m back to blogging. Between sleeps (as in, roughly every 24 hour period). My prayer is that we will be mutually encouraged as we live our lives. And that these lives may be full.

Yours for the community of God in the collection of all,
Rich