CPE: Days 2 and 3

Day 2 (May 28):
Day 2 of CPE began with a 3 hour orientation, most of which consisted of stuff we chaplain interns had already heard and discovered on our first day there. As I sat there, I thought even more in depth about how we are all absolutely scared about whether or not we will know who to call in desperate times of need when dealing with patients. It dawned on me that this is not something I am just supposed to push my way through because it's a requirement (though it's not anymore and I'll explain why later, hopefully tomorrow). It's something I'm supposed to experience. It also dawned on me how much I'm going to hate being professional. I feel like who I am as a person and who I am as a professional are two completely different identities. I don't even like the thought of integrating them. Why don't I? Because I don't consider myself a professional person. Hopefully this doesn't become a problem of mine for the entire summer. P.S. Happy Birthday, Jayna!

Day 3 (May 29):
I have a funny feeling I missed the surprise for today. Why? Well, I got a phone call from the pastor at Atonement Lutheran Church in Jamestown, ND at 11:39 this morning. Unfortunately, I was eating lunch so I could attend something called Spiritual Ground Round (I think that's right). This is something that happens once a month. Today we listened to the music group SeVy. (I'll post a link to their website tomorrow. I strongly encourage you to check it out. They're due to release a CD this coming November.) This afternoon, I also got to make my first set of rounds on my assigned floor for the summer. I'm in the geriatrics unit. I had the opportunity to visit with 3 people while on the floor. Everybody else was elsewhere and half of the patients on the list were getting discharged today.
Back to the Jamestown, ND thing. I didn't get the message until about 7p.m. when I turned my phone on. The pastor will definitely be hearing from me tomorrow. It's 50/50 whether or not he is calling to offer me the position. I'm nervously excited right now because I walked out of the interview not knowing one way or another whether or not it was God's perfect fit for me at this point in time.

CPE: Day 1

Today was my first day of CPE, and I realized that it's exactly where God wants me this summer. I am hoping to blog about my experiences (the non-confidential ones, that is) on a daily basis. My goal is to wake up every morning and ask God to surprise me during each day of my chaplain internship this summer. Feel free to join me on the ride. For those of you who have had CPE before, you can also feel free to join me on the ride.

It's been more than a week

It's been more than a week since the last blog. I don't really have time to write anything right now except to say that my interview in Jamestown, ND was great! I discovered that one of my former pastors from home was the pastor at Atonement before moving to Albert Lea to become a pastor at my home church. It was one of those things that shocked me, but then made wonder even more what on earth God is up to. I will update more later.

Another door shut

Today, God confirmed that He shut the door for Sioux City, IA.

Two doors are left open: Jamestown, ND, and the back door option. I'm trusting that God will reveal to me which door I need to walk through in His perfect timing.

Sleep #2

For two nights in a row now, I've been able to sleep without getting up in the middle of the night praying about where God is leading me next year. Which makes me wonder even more about the back door option.

As far as school goes, I officially have one final left and three days to get ready to move back home for the summer. I'm doing hospital chaplaincy at Rochester Mayo and am looking forward to a different chapter for a while.

My apologies for these lackluster posts, but I've got absolutely nothing profound to say, which is probably alright. On that note, I pray that you are all having a wonderful May and may God continue to bless this season of spring.

Pray for the people of China and Myanmar, and our weather

Global warming is having a crazy effect on places like China, Myanmar and the southern portion of the US. Please keep all those people in your prayers.

Sleep?

I'm not sure what that is these days. I was up for an hour and a half in the middle of the night a couple of weeks ago when a back door opened for next year. After I found out about my Jamestown interview, I couldn't sleep very well from 2 a.m. until 8 a.m. the following morning. Last night, I went to bed at 10 p.m. and woke up twice, once at 1 a.m. and again at 6:30 a.m. before my alarm went off at 7 a.m. What will tonight have in store? I think that tonight, if this happens again, I'm just going to have a conversation with God because I think there are some things He wants to say to me. Maybe I should just wake up and listen.

Interview #4 around the bend

UPDATE!!! - Interview #4 is officially scheduled for May 22 at 5 p.m. I can't wait!!!




Yay!!!!!

I have finally been contacted by the pastor from Jamestown, ND to set up an interview. Of course he called when my phone was off, so I need to call him back after class today. This interview is going to clarify a lot for me, Lord-willing.

I'll keep you posted.

Thoughts from Martin Luther on Galatians 6:15

A new creation, by which the image of God is renewed (Col. 3:10), does not happen by the sham or pretense of some sort of outward works, because in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts; but it is “created after the likeness of God in righteousness and holiness” (Eph. 4:24). When works are performed, they do indeed give a new outward appearance, which captures the attention of the world and the flesh. But they do not produce a new creation, for the heart remains as wicked and as filled with contempt of God and unbelief as it was before. Thus a new creation is a work of the Holy Spirit, who implants a new intellect and will and confers the power to curb the flesh and to flee the righteousness and wisdom of the world. This is not a sham or merely a new outward appearance, but something really happens. A new attitude and a new judgment, namely, a spiritual one, actually come into being, and they now detest what they once admired. Our minds were once so captivated by the monastic life that we thought of it as the only way to salvation; now we think of it quite differently. What we used to adore, before this new creation, as the ultimate in holiness now makes us blush when we remember it.
Therefore a new creation is nora change in clothing or in outward manner, as the monks imagine, but a renewal of the mind by the Holy Spirit; this is then followed by an outward change in the flesh, in the parts of the body, and in the senses. For when the heart acquires new light, a new judgment, and new motivation through the Gospel, this also brings about a renewal of the senses. The ears long to hear the Word of God instead of listening any longer to human traditions and notions. The lips and the tongue do not boast of their own works, righteousness, and monastic rule; but joyfully they proclaim nothing but the mercy of God, disclosed in Christ. These changes are, so to speak, not verbal; they are real. They produce a new mind, a new will, new senses, and even new actions by the flesh, so that the eyes, the ears, the lips, and the tongue not only see, hear, and speak otherwise than they used to, but the mind itself evaluates things and acts upon them differently from the way it did before. Formerly it went about blindly in the errors and darkness of the pope, imagining that God is a peddler who sells His grace to us in exchange for our works and merits. Now that the light of the Gospel has risen, it knows that it acquires righteousness solely by faith in Christ. Therefore it now casts off its self-chosen works and performs instead the works of its calling and the works of love, which God has commanded. It praises God and proclaims Him, and it glories and exults solely in its trust in mercy through Christ. If it has to bear some sort of evil or danger, it accepts this willingly and joyfully, although the flesh goes on grumbling. This is what Paul calls “a new creation.”

God is in the business of opening and shutting doors

In my process of discerning where God is leading me next year, I now officially have one door that has shut. My interview several weeks ago in Dresser, WI did not lead to an offer which was fine with me. I knew after the interview that I was not the person for that position and was firm in that belief.

Last night, I had an interview with a church in Alexandria, MN. This is one of those open doors that I believe God shut last night, but I am now waiting for confirmation on that belief.

Interview #3 is Sunday afternoon in Sioux City, IA. I'm still waiting to hear from Jamestown, ND. And then there's this stubborn back door that I have to deal with as well. More on that later.