Done, Done and Almost Done

Yesterday it happened — I handed in my final paper.  I am officially done with seminary.  No more papers to write or books to read for my seminary education.  Unless I totally missed the mark on one of my papers I can say that I am done with seminary.  Graduation is on Sunday and I can’t wait.  My parents are coming down from Vermont and I have some good friends in the area that are coming up to celebrate.  It will be one of the greatest days of my life.

Like most blogs that I have read with seminary graduates the days leading up to graduation is a time of reflection on the last four years of my life.  I have spend the last four years working on papers, reading books and providing ministry to many people.  To think that I have been in contact with thousands of people between my field education site, CPE site, Internship site, and the church that I worked at my senior year.  There have been a lot of great memories and I have created a lot of great relationships.  It will be sad to say good-bye.

This past Sunday I worked my last day at the church I have been working at as a youth director this past year.  The first six months was very fusterating because nothing that I did worked.  We just did not have the kids to do anything.  But then in January kids started coming out and we have had a pretty successful program.  It was very sad for me to say good-bye. The kids are great and I am going to miss them for sure.

So two of the things that have taken up majority of my time is over….done and done.

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I am still in pain from my fall the other day.  It is my back that hurts.  I can’t sit at all and I finally decided to go and see the doctor this afternoon.  I am not sure what they will do — last fall when I had a constant pain in my back they just gave me pain medicine.  But this is a different type of pain so I don’t know if there is something else that they can do.  I am glad that all I have to do now is rest.

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There is not much news on the first call front.  I am waiting until the end of May for my trial sermon and interview.  I am very excited about it and nervous that it goes well.  Not only is this church a  great church but I am very excited to finally be settled and working on ministry.  As things advance I will keep everyone updated.

That’s all for now. I hope to catchup on my blogging the next few days.  There have been lots of things I want to blog on and reflections that I would like to share so come back and visit again soon.

My Accident

Saturday started off like a normal day.  I was up early with the kids and we were playing and watching some TV.  Eventually my wife got up and we all were just hanging out.  The plan for the day included my wife taking Baby Girl with her to the store to get some things that she needs for her new business while I was going to take The Boy with me to work to make some phone calls for the youth group.  I also needed to print some stuff out for my wife and for myself. 

After a quick lunch The Boy and I were headed off.  I was carrying a big bag of trash in one hand and my work folder in the other hand.  I turned to ask The Boy to close the door and when I started to head down the stairs I tripped and fell.  I really don’t remember how I tripped or actually falling.  The next thing I remember is waking up from the floor with The Boy looking down on me and yelling for me to wake up.  I eventually came to and I asked him to come down where I was at.  The first thing I needed to do was to call my wife and to get her there to help me.  I got my phone and called her.  Our connection was bad so I called again.  The next 10 min or so I don’t remember but apparently I called her again and then she told me to call a friend of ours to come and watch the kids because I needed to go to the hospital. 

The next thing I remember is thinking that I needed to get to the car, so I eventually got up and made my way to the car and sat there and waited.  I called my wife back and talked with her trying to figure out what was going on.  I knew she was going to be back shortly and it was going to be awhile for our friends to arrive to watch the kids so I made some phone calls to people from the church to help us out.  It was hard to find people in town and so the Pastor of the church where I currently work came over to help out.  It was a real blessing to have him do that.

We made our way to the hospital.  I was taking things one step at a time, I was still kinda out of it and I was taking my time.  Not only was my head in pain but my back was as well.  They got us to a room and the doctor came pretty quickly.  I had an abrasion on my head from when my head hit the wall but thank God I did not need any stitches.  I told her that my back was hurting and my right hip was hurting and so I got a CAT Scan for my head and some X-Rays for my back and hip.  She eventually came back and said that the CAT scan and my X-Rays all looked clear but it was obvious that I suffered a concussion.  She said that I should take it easy for a few days and to help with the pain she gave me some Oxycodone. 

This has been the first time that I have suffered from a concussion.  It is just amazing to me how my body feels right now from falling down the stairs.  I am in alot of pain but the medicine sure helps.  I can’t believe that this is happening during my last week of seminary.  I don’t have a HUGE pile of work but I have things that I need to get done.  The biggest is to read a 300 page book and every time I sit down to read it I get through 10 pages and then I wake up 20 min later trying to figure out where I left off. 

I have cancelled my regular shifts volunteering at the YMCA for the next two days and I am not going to class tomorrow which means I am clear until Thursday to get things done.  I need to kick it into high gear and work like a mad man. 

I would like to hand in quality work but more importantly I want to hand in finished work.  I want to at least finish all of my projects and papers and if there is time left over then the quality police will come out to play.  Otherwise as long as I pass I will be happy. 

Thank you to those of you who have shared your concerns the last day- I really appreciate the well wishes and the prayers.  The church sent over the flowers from the alter today which was very nice.  This has been the second time that I have received alter flowers, the first was when I had a ruptured appendix.

Most of my writing will be dedicated to papers, projects and presentations this week and not so much for blogging.  But after that I will be hopefully blogging more often with some reflections on the last four years of ministry/education.

 

Ninja Pastor

This is a picture of me as a Ninja Pastor

Like it?

Coming to an end

My time at the seminary is quickly coming to an end.  I can’t believe it!!  I have two more papers to write and one to edit.  I have one more week of classes.  I have been wanting to blog and keep everyone up to date on my life happenings but that seems more and more impossible.  I do have an hour before lunch so I am going to generally try and give you the full picture.

I am interviewing for a potential church in May 28th.  It is not as soon as we would of liked but schedules did not permit a sooner time.  If everything goes well and as I would expect I hope to be in place by July 1st.  In between then I will take some time to rest and relax, move out of our apartment, find a place to store our stuff, move in with my parents (thanks mom and dad) and get some kind of part time work which I hope will include supply preaching, and some other well paying minimal commitment job (which should be easy to find……right?)

I don’t mind waiting as much if I have a plan and we are trying to come up with that now.

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Classes are ending well - I am glad I took a class last summer to get things out of the way.  I don’t think I have as much work as some others, but I still have things to do.

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Graduation is on May18th - I am excited about that.  I think I am ready to move on.  Living off campus has been a blessing and curse.  We are far enough away (about 45 min) where we are not able to come to campus for a party or a night event (having two small kids doesn’t help).  I miss that community that I experienced my first two years of seminary. But it has been a good transition for us– since we are not as close to the community as we once were we are ready to move on.  The boy will have enough trouble separating from his friends at the day care.  But I hope he will like where we move too.

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The family is doing well - with the change of weather there are some coughs and stuffy noses in the house but nothing terrible.  I just hope it gets warm soon and we can start packing up all the winter clothes.

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I need to catch up on some emails before lunch.  I don’t know when I will get on here again in the next week.  Most of the words that will be writing will be about the Book American Jesus (I have not read that yet) or about using the 10 commandments as a basis for pre-marriage work.

To all the other seminarians out there - Good luck the next few weeks!!!!!

Pounds for People

You can count me as one of those people who has tried many diets over the years. I have to admit that I have not had much success. I have lost a few pounds here and there but they never seem to stay off and I have not lost as much as I would like or need.

After much prayer and discernment I have decided to try a new “strategy.” I have decided that I am not only going to lose weight for me, but I am going to lose weight for other people! That’s right– I am going to lose weight for thousands of people, young and old who have Autism or Autism related disorders.  I hope that you will consider to sponsor me  (that is you who is reading this) during my weight loss journey.  I would like all the money to go to Autism Speaks.

There are many ways that you can do this.  The first way is that you can sponsor me for every pound that I will lose.  Another way is just to give a flat rate and sponsor me that way.  Either way the money is going to a good cause and I feel supported and challenged.

I have spent most of my life sacrificing myself for others.  I always put the needs of others before myself. This is most likely one of the reasons that I have ended up where I am with my weight.  I realized that’s who I am and that is not going to change, no matter how hard I try.  So why not build upon my strengths and challenge myself to do this –  not only for me but for the thousands of kids that will benefit from your donation.

Why Autism Speaks?

Well I realized that I have never connected myself with a charity.  All the money we have given has gone to the church or to Calumet.  So I researched different charity’s.  I found four or five charities that I really liked including this one.  I chose this one because it is connected to us in more ways than one.  See, the last year or so we have been working with our son “the boy” with different disabilities.  We are not sure if he has any or how deep they go.  There is a chance that he will be diagnosed with something on the Autism Spectrum.  Weather he is or not this money will go and help people like us with research to help uncover the to uncover the cause(s), prevention, treatments and cure for autism.  It is a long road and anything that can help will benefit  thousands of people.

Another reason that I chose this organization is that there is a walk in September that I would like to participate in.  I think September a good point to regather and see how this is working for me.

The walk is in Rochester, NY on Saturday September 27, 2008.  If you would like more information about it you can visit the Walk Page.

My hope is to lose at least 50 pounds by then which figures to be about 2 pounds a week from now until then.  I think that is a reachable goal.

If you would like to sponsor me please click on this link and sponsor me.  If you would like to sponsor me in another way either leave a comment here or send me an email.

I started a new blog called Pounds for People where I will update on my progress, how I am doing this and all the other ins and outs of my thoughts, feelings and progress about this.

Thank you for your support and I look forward to hear from you.

The Patriots Schedule Released

The NFL Schedule is out, I wish it was the sole thing that plans my fall but it doesn’t.  However, it certainly gets me excited about the fall and the possibilities of another perfect regular season.

Overall, I think the schedule looks pretty good. I like the match-ups that we have.  However, the Pats are on the road alot to the west coast.  A few times it might make more sense for them to stay out west during the week!

Week One: September 7th - vs Kansas City Chiefs 1:00pm (CBS)
Opening Day at home.  This is not the flashiest match-up for a team who played in the Super bowl last year. But the great mind of Herm Edwards (former Jets coach) vs. the genius of Billicheck

Week Two: September 14th - @ New York Jets 4:15pm (CBS)
Always a good game. Perhaps there may be more Jets fans where I am going than Pats fans (But I think Buffalo will be overwhelming) But Mangini and Company are coming to play and wanting to win.

Week Three: September 21st - vs Miami Dolphins 1:00pm (CBS)
This will be the first of two meetings between Bill Parcells new look Dolphins.  We will see if Bill can get them to win more than one game this year.  Not this one I can tell you that.

Week Four: September 28th - BYE WEEK
I don’t think I have seen this early of a Bye week in a long time. Too bad it was not between their travels out west.

Week Five: October 5th - @ San Francisco 49ers 4:15pm (CBS)
First of the four trips to the west coast.   The 49ers might get a look at what could of been if they kept their 7th pick.

Week Six: October 12th @ San Diego Chargers 8:15pm (Sunday Night NBC Game)
I would of thought this might of been the opening weekend game.  A rematch of the AFC Championship game. Should be a good game but this brings back to back West coast games. Will the Patriots just stay out West all week?

Week Seven: October 20th vs. Denver Broncos 8:30pm (Monday Night ESPN Game)
Should be a good game. Denver gives us a run for our money when we play them. After the two trips to the West the Pats I am sure will be happy to be home.  Plus it is a MONDAY NIGHT GAME!!

Week Eight: October 26th vs St Louis Rams 1:00pm (FOX)
Back to back home games– the Rams are doing good things in the off-season. Should be a good game.

Week Nine: November 2nd @ Indianapolis Colts 8:15pm (Sunday Night NBC Game)
The Super Bowl of the regular season every year.  We will see who comes out on top this year.  Just to note: The Colts will also be coming off a prime time game with the Titans the week before.

Week Ten: November 9th vs Buffalo Bills 1:00pm
I hope my church does not kick me out if the Pats beat the Bills- which I think they will.

Week Eleven: November 13 vs New York Jets 8:15pm (Thursday night NFLN Game)
Short week for the Pats.  They will be facing their old foes on a Thursday night.

Week Twelve: November 23 @ Miami Dolphins 1:00pm (CBS)
Going to see the stadium that Parcells build. Well maybe not but we will see how the Dolphins are doing at this point.

Week Thirteen: November 30 vs Pittsburgh Steelers 4:15pm (CBS)
I wonder if this will be a flex game.  It all depends on how Ben’s arm is doing. I am sure it will be tired when they come to our house.

Week Fourteen: December 7 @ Seattle Seahawks 8:15pm (Sunday Night NBC Game)
Sunday night - Prime Time out West — Glad it is not me :

Week Fifteen: December 12 @ Oakland Raiders 4:15pm (CBS)
Once again, do the Patriots stay out West somewhere in between the Seahawks game and this one?  We will see how Russell holds up against our D

Week Sixteen: December 21 vs Arizona Cardinals 1:00pm (FOX)
Back home for another 1:00pm game.

Week Seventeen: December 28 @ Buffalo Bills 1:00pm (CBS)
Closing out the schedule at Buffalo, the Bill showed improvement last year, could they be vying for a playoff spot here?  Will I be able to see them? Who knows?

I am excited for the season.  I think it will be good. Now we will see how things pan out in the draft.  I am looking forward too it.

Friday Five: Moving Time

With thoughts of Youth and Stewardship, Pre-marital counseling and the Catechisms, and the book American Jesus swirling around in my head.  Added with the fact that I think I am getting sick and it looks like my first call interview might be in the next week or so…..I decided to answer questions to the Friday Five that I found on Lutheran Zephyr’s blog.

1. How many times have you moved? When was the last time?

During College I moved back and forth between college, Calumet and Home.  So not counting every time I did that I have about 10 moves under my belt.  I hope that the next move will be my last for a long time.

2. What do you love and hate about moving?

I love the feeling of complete organization when things are packed up. I actually know where everything is and I am amazed by what I find when I do pack things up.

I hate the actual moving part. I do not like carrying the boxes, straining my back and how fast hours turn into days, which turn into weeks.

3. Do you do it yourself or hire movers?

I have never hired movers but I heard they rock and I hope that might be an option this next move.  But there are lots of the bigger stuff we are going to throw away.  Including the couch, desk and dining room table that we paid a total of $100.00 about four years ago. I think we got our money’s worth

4. Advice for surviving and thriving during a move?

Start early because you always run out of time and you will find yourself throwing stuff in boxes when you could of thrown it away.

5. Are you in the middle of any inner moves, if not outer ones?

I am moving all over the place.  We will be moving to my first call site in a few months (I hope) and I feel like I am always learning and growing as a person and individual internally.  So yea we are pretty busy moving wise.

Bonus: Share a piece of music/poetry/film/book that expresses something about what moving means to you.

Ever since I read what Lutheran Zephyr wrote “on the road again” I can’t get that out of my head.  I think that is appropriate but if I think of something more meaningful I will put it here.

Trip to Upstate NY

This past weekend we took a trip to the area where our possible first call is going to be.  It was pretty exciting.  It made this process more real to me.  To be able to see the church in which I will be serving, to view the town and see the culture was really cool.

Before we made it to the town we met a friend of mine from college and her two kids for lunch.  Her two kids are the same ages as mine, and our four year old boys really got along.  It was nice to catch up with her and have her meet my wifey. My friend and her family live about an hour from where we might be so that was exciting.  At least we will have someone we know who lives close by who is not part of the church.

After lunch we made it to our little town.  It is actually bigger than I thought it was going to be. But it was nice.  We drove around and looked at things and took some notes about the area.  We really enjoyed it.  We were even able to talk with a daycare director about possible employment for my wifey as well as openings for the kids.

There were many things that we did not see.  It is hard to fit everything in with just one visit.  The next time we will be up in the area will be for an interview.

As of right now my name will go to the church within the next week and then things should move pretty quickly after that.

It is hard for the waiting but on the more praticle side we need to start giving notice to people as to when we are leaving. Our landlord wants 60 days, my wife’s work wants 30 days notice.  It is hard to give them that notice if we do not know when we are going to be leaving.  But that will all come into place soon.

That’s the update as to where we are at.  It is an exciting time that’s for sure.  But in order to make sure all this happens I need to pass my classes so I am off to study.

What is a Vicar?

For the last two years of my life I have been called “Vicar” — No I did not change my name, but I have been put in a position in ministry where I had a title. The church where I am currently serving has had a “Vicar” the last three years.  Not in the capacity of internship but as a senior seminarian that works with the youth of the church. Most people do not have any idea what this means, in fact there were a number of people (youth and adults) who thought it was my first name!  So here are some reflections as to what the title Vicar means in the past and today.

The word vicar comes from the Latin “vicarious” meaning substitute, or one who has authority to act in the place of another.

The Church of England used the term for a clergy-person who serves a parish as its minister. A vicar in the Roman Catholic faith refers to a bishop who is sent to a diocese without a bishop.

In the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America),  the church in which I serve a “vicar” normally refers to a seminarian who has completed the first two years of academics, clinical pastoral education and a year of field education, who is assigned to a congregation as an intern for one year. This typically involves the student working with a senior pastor and a committee of the church to support the development of the seminarian.

Typically at the end of the year of vicarage, the candidate returns to seminary and completes a final year of studies. After being issued a call or assignment, the candidate is ordained as a pastor in the ministry of Word and Sacrament.

Now I am not an intern but the pastor of the church I am working at wanted me to have a title.  I guess Vicar is the most appropriate title for that.  However, I think there needs to be education on what Vicar means and why we use that title.

I am getting use to having a title before my name.  Soon enough I will be “Pastor” - I have not thought about that much until recently and I think that is a very cool thing.  I will see what the culture of the church is before I decide if my first or last name will follow Pastor.  I am sure that everyone will have their own comfort level and I am open to that. I think that what is comfortable for someone I will be okay with that.  As long as they don’t call me late for dinner!  (sorry I could not resist)

For those who are seminarians or pastors or even those in other professions - what is the “proper” way that one should be addressed in the work place? What is the most professional way we should be called, or does it really matter?

April Fool’s

For those who did not know- and for those who might of known.  The last post was an April Fool’s Joke. Even though baby girl is a real cute kid she is not looking to be a model anytime soon.