Discerning my call to ministry...

It's one of those nights where I feel like I need to write before heading to bed. There's a lot of stuff on my mind. I guess I feel the need to share some things with people that know me, even if it's only through an online journal. I'm trying to seek God's will for my life and finding it a challenge. I came to PTS thinking that God was calling me to the dual degree program of Masters of Social Work (MSW) and Masters of Divinty (MDIV), but now I am not as confident in that. I've been thinking more and more about Youth Ministry--I found out that they have a dual degree for MDIV and Youth Ministry which would take as long as my MSW degree. I feel torn by this because I've wanted to be a Youth Minister for a while and love working with youth, but don't know how that would look as a full time job. And, I don't want to turn to the youth ministry program simply because that is an easier road than social work, considering I don't have the slightest clue how to make the SMW and MDIV degree work. I've thought about having a ministry in which I would combine the two, such as a social work agency that is a part of a church. Modeled like some community development corporations.

I just don't know what direction God is leading me. I feel like music should be a major part of my ministry as well, and am searching to find how that looks as well. I was hoping that my options would narrow once I got to seminary, but I am now thinking, well, what about camp ministry? Or, what about counseling? Or, what about writing books? Being a professor? Do I really want to be a minister? I know I'm here for something, and I know God's got a plan, but it'd sure be nice if He let me in on it! :-)

So, if you want to keep me in your prayers about discerning my call, that would be great.

Oh, does anyone remember a book from Heritage 22 called, Reinventing Paul by John G. Gager? It was the book that Todd Penner taught on and caused a ruckus. Well, I was looking at it today and started reading it again (all my books finally got here and I was noticing there a quite a few I never got around to reading or finishing that I really want to read). I say again because there are pencil marks in the first half of the book, so I must have read some of it... I'll hopefully have time (if only on the weekends) to read it and finish it. I'll let ya know what I think about it when I'm finished. Anyway, I noticed that Gager is a professor here at PTS. Craziness. It's amazing to think that I am going to a school with so many pretigious scholars.

Alright, it's definately bed time. I'm heading out to church in Philadelphia this morning so I better get some rest.

Peace, Shalom, Eirene

We can't stop or we'll blow up...

I've made it through week three of summer Greek!! Today's test was pretty challenging. I hope I did better than last week's, but something tells me not so much. Oh well, what can ya do? It's over and it does no good worrying about it. It's amazing how much people emphasize not worrying about your grades here. You'd think, "Hey, it's Princeton so everyone's obsessed about their grades", but it's more like, "Hey, it's Princeton and you're here to fulfill your calling, so, as long as you're doing as best you can, don't worry about grades." Kind of a refreshing way of looking at things.

The tests are 4 questions and we have 2 hours to take the test. Sounds great...until you realize that there are 3 or 4 Greek sentences per question and a lot of grammer/parsing questions for each question as well. 30 mins per question is about my average. Ouch. Anyway, as this guy Matt put it when I was frustrated last night because I couldn't figure out the translation for one of the questions on the practice test, "You got into Princeton. Everyone's made good grades and everyone's smart, but it's Princeton. So, if you're having problems with it chances are so is everyone else." And they are.

Gotta love the analogy Dr. Wagner made in class on Wednesday... "You know the movie Speed, where they're in the bus and can't stop or else they'll blow up? ...We're on that bus." Grrreat...We can't stop or we'll blow up. Lovely.

But enough of Greek. I'm going to hang out with some friends tonight--it's a catfish fry... :-D Maybe head over to the D-bar after that. Notice the consistently inexpensive prices...and that I can get my Guinness draft for 2 bucks...heh heh heh... The first time a bunch of us seminary folks went there I had my Scotch and my Guinness...the guys were standing in line to shake my hand. :) Alright, well, it's time to head out for the catfish fry!

Have a great weekend friends!

The rest of the national anthem with animal noises

They didn't let me post the whole song that I wrote in my profile...so here it is...


Compose the lyrics to a new national anthem that features an animal sound at least once:


Oh say can you hear
the ttttt of the little mole
as he scampers around
your house in flight of cats

And he's finally caught
and released into the world
the world that he loves
it just makes him want to sing...

ttttt t t tt
ttttt t t tt
and his freedom is such
of the rest of our country

New Journal Location/Link to Easyjournal Entries

I am switching to blogger.com because it gives the option for readers to post comments on my entries. Easyjournal was great, the guy that owns it is from Austin, TX so it must be, but I think I'm going to give this one a try.

If you ever want to read entries from the easyjournal site it's still up and running. Just click below.

Easyjournal Entries-->02-04-04 thru 07-26-04