Yeah, sorry about that. It's been a little while since the last update.
Short recap: School happens.
Back into the swing of things, I now realize how little time I have. If I'm not in class, I'm reading for class. If I'm not doing that, I'm working at church. If not at church, I'm probably asleep. Wedged in there are random segments usually occupied by friends. That seems to be my current day-to-day cycle. I usually forget all about this thing.
This week was, well, kinda crappy. On Tuesday I was walking to class, stepped off the edge of the sidewalk and fell flat on my face. Just...BAM! I landed awkwardly and nearly dislocated my shoulder. To top it off, I broke my phone. So that sucked.
Tuesday night I was actually going to go to IHOP with some friends. Got in my car, tried to turn the key... nothing. Stinkin' thing wouldn't start. This is the third time it has happened. It made me angry. So I messed with it for about 30 minutes. Getting nowhere, I decided to call it a night, so that I wouldn't get totally frustrated and push the thing off a cliff.
Woke up late Wednesday morning, and missed the shuttle to class. So, I was walking back to my apartment. Decided to try the truck, merely for curiosity's sake. It started right up. It's like the miraculous car-fixing fairy came by during the night. Anyway, I decided to drive to class, when on the way, the truck died. I was able to get it started, and I drove it back to my apartment (definitely missing class). So I spent the day reading for class and doing homework.
Wednesday night was good. Our SHIFT meeting went well, and it only took a couple hours. Now we have a good plan which should help shorten our Wednesday night meetings.
Spent the better part of this afternoon building a bookshelf and cleaning my room. It was a mess. I could barely walk through the place. My mom's obsessive cleanliness must have passed on to me- the mess was really starting to bother me. Now, the room is clean. And I have a bookshelf, which means no more random piles of books all over the floor.
Looking ahead- the Catalyst conference is this week- Wednesday through Friday. I'm really looking forward to that, for several reasons. Primarily, it will be an excellent opportunity to hear some great speakers and hopefully learn something. For those who don't know, Catalyst is for young church/religious leaders. They bring in relevant authors, teachers, church people, etc. to talk about all kinds of stuff. Secondly, it will get me out of school for a couple of days, and I'll get to hang out with some people from Briarlake, which is something I miss quite a bit. I'm definitely looking forward to the latter half of this week. Not so much the first half, since I have to do all my work for the week in advance, since I won't be in class on Thursday or Friday.
So that's what is going on, and what will be going on.
I'm really going to try to be more consistent in updating this, as a challenge to myself. And as a reward to all my loyal fans- all two of you...haha.
I think I'll try to update maybe late tomorrow (since I'll be at church all day and most of the night) or Monday. Maybe I'll have something to talk about instead of just telling you what I've been doing. I need a muse...
Peace...
Saturday, September 30, 2006
Friday, September 08, 2006
My future homelessness and other assorted musings...
Yeah, so I'm going to be homeless soon.
Emory has "other plans" for Turner Village starting July, 2007. Which means I've gotta find somewhere else to live for next school year (I'm cool this year). It would have been REALLY nice if they would have told me this before I signed a lease for this year. I would have went ahead and moved somewhere to get it over with. ARGH! I'm just frustrated right now, about this housing crap, and school stuff, and just other stuff.
School started on Tuesday. It's going to be an intense semester. Essentially, the only classes I am taking this semester are requirements- I've got Intro to New Testament, Systematic Theology, Ecclesiastes, Intro to Judaism and Con Ed. Notice the lack of youth ministry-related courses. That's kind of a bummer. Oh well. C'est la vie, n'est-ce pas?
Anyway, I'm still getting back into the school flow, which is in no way related to the ill flow I have when I step to the mic... wait. What? Yeah... sorry. I'm trying to get used to reading, and writing papers, and going to class. All that stuff they expect you to do in grad school. Who's idea was that, by the way? I'm ready to be done with school. I'm ready to get into a full-time youth ministry position. But, I've got two more years here, and I plan on making the best of them. I'm at one of the top schools in the country, both Emory and Candler, so I just need to be thankful for the opportunity, even if it does seem ridiculous at times.
SHIFT is going well. We've had a great couple of events, and I have a feeling this Sunday is going to be great as well. We've got all kinds of good plans. Of course, it means nothing if God's not working there. But I feel God has been, and will continue to be, there. We've all been praying for SHIFT and Momentum, and so far it's been awesome. So for those of you who read this, keep us in your thoughts and prayers.
Let's see, what else is new? Got a new roommate. Todd. We have a lot in common, and we act quite a bit alike. We're going to get along pretty well. He's a cool cat.
Mentally, I've been lost in thought as of late, my mind working overtime trying to figure some things out. I don't even know. Thought I had it figured out, now I'm not so sure. So many things are beyond my control (Obscure and vague, I know. Just let me keep this one to myself).
As an aside, my Ecclesiastes class is going to be good for me I think. When I read the book, I feel like I could have written it. I can feel the author's frustration with the way things are, his angst when he says "Meaningless, meaningless, everything is meaningless," (or "Vanity" depending on the translation. Both are accurate). It just seems like no matter how much I try, no matter how hard I work, things don't ever seem to work out. I was looking at some lyrics from Thrice the other day, and the song "Stare at the Sun" stuck out. The chorus goes like so:
"'Cause I am due for a miracle
I'm waiting for a sign
I'll stare straight into the sun
And I won't close my eyes
Till I understand or go blind"
I feel like I need God to do something in my life (notice "I feel like I need," not "I know I need"), something miraculous. Things are going well. This summer was awesome, and I learned so much, and I was able to do so much with the youth. All that was excellent. It really was. I loved it, and it's the main reason I don't want to go back to school. But all that stuff was somewhat external. I don't know; my thoughts on this are running as I type. I just feel like I could use something in my life; I feel a void, an incompleteness, like a huge part of me is just missing. Hmm...
Back to Ecclesiastes... yeah, this class will be awesome. The professor is brilliant (most of them are at Candler. Brilliant, but strange.), and he's funny. And I love the subject. So, hopefully that all adds up to me reaching a deeper, tripartite understanding: more understanding of God, of the book, and of myself.
Alright. I've babbled long enough. No one is reading anymore...haha. I kid, I kid. To anyone who does read, I appreciate it. Feel free to leave me a note, to call me out on something, whatever. Let me know what you think.
Until next time.
Peace...
Emory has "other plans" for Turner Village starting July, 2007. Which means I've gotta find somewhere else to live for next school year (I'm cool this year). It would have been REALLY nice if they would have told me this before I signed a lease for this year. I would have went ahead and moved somewhere to get it over with. ARGH! I'm just frustrated right now, about this housing crap, and school stuff, and just other stuff.
School started on Tuesday. It's going to be an intense semester. Essentially, the only classes I am taking this semester are requirements- I've got Intro to New Testament, Systematic Theology, Ecclesiastes, Intro to Judaism and Con Ed. Notice the lack of youth ministry-related courses. That's kind of a bummer. Oh well. C'est la vie, n'est-ce pas?
Anyway, I'm still getting back into the school flow, which is in no way related to the ill flow I have when I step to the mic... wait. What? Yeah... sorry. I'm trying to get used to reading, and writing papers, and going to class. All that stuff they expect you to do in grad school. Who's idea was that, by the way? I'm ready to be done with school. I'm ready to get into a full-time youth ministry position. But, I've got two more years here, and I plan on making the best of them. I'm at one of the top schools in the country, both Emory and Candler, so I just need to be thankful for the opportunity, even if it does seem ridiculous at times.
SHIFT is going well. We've had a great couple of events, and I have a feeling this Sunday is going to be great as well. We've got all kinds of good plans. Of course, it means nothing if God's not working there. But I feel God has been, and will continue to be, there. We've all been praying for SHIFT and Momentum, and so far it's been awesome. So for those of you who read this, keep us in your thoughts and prayers.
Let's see, what else is new? Got a new roommate. Todd. We have a lot in common, and we act quite a bit alike. We're going to get along pretty well. He's a cool cat.
Mentally, I've been lost in thought as of late, my mind working overtime trying to figure some things out. I don't even know. Thought I had it figured out, now I'm not so sure. So many things are beyond my control (Obscure and vague, I know. Just let me keep this one to myself).
As an aside, my Ecclesiastes class is going to be good for me I think. When I read the book, I feel like I could have written it. I can feel the author's frustration with the way things are, his angst when he says "Meaningless, meaningless, everything is meaningless," (or "Vanity" depending on the translation. Both are accurate). It just seems like no matter how much I try, no matter how hard I work, things don't ever seem to work out. I was looking at some lyrics from Thrice the other day, and the song "Stare at the Sun" stuck out. The chorus goes like so:
"'Cause I am due for a miracle
I'm waiting for a sign
I'll stare straight into the sun
And I won't close my eyes
Till I understand or go blind"
I feel like I need God to do something in my life (notice "I feel like I need," not "I know I need"), something miraculous. Things are going well. This summer was awesome, and I learned so much, and I was able to do so much with the youth. All that was excellent. It really was. I loved it, and it's the main reason I don't want to go back to school. But all that stuff was somewhat external. I don't know; my thoughts on this are running as I type. I just feel like I could use something in my life; I feel a void, an incompleteness, like a huge part of me is just missing. Hmm...
Back to Ecclesiastes... yeah, this class will be awesome. The professor is brilliant (most of them are at Candler. Brilliant, but strange.), and he's funny. And I love the subject. So, hopefully that all adds up to me reaching a deeper, tripartite understanding: more understanding of God, of the book, and of myself.
Alright. I've babbled long enough. No one is reading anymore...haha. I kid, I kid. To anyone who does read, I appreciate it. Feel free to leave me a note, to call me out on something, whatever. Let me know what you think.
Until next time.
Peace...
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