CPE is coming back to bite me

Sorry for those of you non-seminarians out there, but this post is mainly for my fellow seminarians who have been through CPE or at least know what CPE is. Let's just repeat my title line. It's coming back to bite me. One of the things I struggled with during CPE was keeping personal and professional separate while at the same time understanding how they can unite as well. It's something I still struggle with to this day. For those of you who want to hear the story which awakened this in me, please let me know and I will gladly send off an email to you.

As for everyone else, my MN teaching license is renewed and I have found an opening in Waseca for a junior high band director. I'm really excited to apply and hopefully interview for this position. I'll be close enough to Albert Lea that I can still go to church there and drive down for concerts and sporting events if possible. I'll be sure to keep you posted.

I hope you all have a

Happy Thanksgiving! I will be spending the day in Eagan with my parents and my mom's brother and his wife and whomever of my three cousins will be there. I just finished a bible study this past Monday at one of the churches I attend here in Albert Lea. It was definitely an awesome opportunity to take stock of my relationship with Christ and set some goals for the future as I continue to walk with Christ. Hopefully I'll post more about that study later, but until then, I'm praying that you all have reasons to be grateful this year.

A moment for the history books

Many of you probably watched the election returns come in last night. I still don't understand how it is a network can call a state for a candidate when no results have even been reported is beyond me. How do those exit polls work anyway?

Some people may say that John McCain lost last night, but this morning on The View, I watched 5 ladies (2 African-American, 3 Caucasian and only 1 of them is conservative) talk about Barack Obama winning the election last night. Barbara Walters immediately checked in with Elisabeth Hasselbeck to see how she was doing. Hasselbeck said she watched Barack Obama's speech with her daughter. Hasselbeck explained that Barack Obama is the next president of the US. Her daughter then asked who lost. Hasselbeck told her daugher that nobody lost the election this year. Everybody won.

Whether we agree with Obama or not, we all know that 45 years ago Martin Luther King Jr. gave his "I Have a Dream" Speech. Last night, any limits that African Americans had on their dreams were dropped from the table. As the ladies on The View said this morning, and as Martin Luther King Jr. said 45 years ago, I believe America did make a judgment based on the content of someone's character and not on the color of their skin.

Now if only we could spread those rights to Native Americans, such as those living on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

No title

I don't usually like to share with people outside of my parents who I intend on voting for, but this time, I want to share with the readers of this blog why I am deciding to cast my vote for Barack Obama in this election. It's a lengthy story, so it might actually come in the form of a couple of separate blogs.

During the primaries, I actually casted my support behind Republican candidate Mike Huckabee. When he ended up not getting the nomination, it put me back at square one where I had to beginning learning about the candidates who did get the nominations of their respective parties. Normally, I don't even know which way I'm leaning as I watch the conventions and the debates, and even the campaign stops that are televised on CNN and MSNBC. This year has been a little bit different for me however. Barack Obama hooked me during his convention speech. He said we may not agree on abortion, but we can at least agree to work together to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies. He said we may not agree on same-sex marriages, but at least we can agree that gays and lesbians should be allowed to visit their partners in hospitals and have some of the same societal liberties the rest of us have. In that moment, I saw him reaching out to conservative evangelicals like me. It also got me thinking about what I had learned about my own prejudices regarding homosexuality while in seminary. I can't force my viewpoints onto anybody, but can only pray for God to change their hearts and minds. My viewpoints come from my relationship with Christ and the change He has brought about in my life. I also started to think about something else I learned at seminary. Lutherans do quite the job of serving their neighbor and always watching out for those who have less than they do. While numbers throughout the denomination are in decline, their giving to organizations that deal with hunger and homelessness and the like has actually gone up and is at the top compared to other Christian denominations (at least as far as what I heard from professors at seminary). This led me to start thinking not only about abortion and homosexuality, but also about my parents who did everything they could to pay for my bachelor's degree, the people across the nation who are losing their jobs and having a hard time making ends meet. I found myself asking which candidate would best serve my neighbor. Needless to say, as this campaign season has progressed, I have remained on that hook and the line has slowly been reeling in.

To continue with the fishing metaphor (hook, line, sinker), I was still looking for that sinker. If Barack Obama hooked me during his convention speech, and slowly began reeling me in during the campaign season, there had to be a sinker somewhere. It happened on Wednesday evening. I got home from church that evening. I was able to see the last 15 minutes of the 30 minute ad. The real-life stories of the struggles people are facing almost drew me to tears. By the end, I really seriously almost cried. It happened when Obama said that he learns everyday that he's not perfect. He said he will never be a perfect president. Yet he said he would listen to us when we disagree and that he would open the doors of government so that people could be involved in their own democracy again. (I don't even know what that looks like). That was my sinker. Maybe it is all rhetoric, maybe it isn't, but for me, this election is not about me. It's about my neighbor.

I'm BK (just for you, boB). I'm a conservative evangelical Christian, and I approved this message.

another job

I found another job. I will be an accompanist for the contemporary worship team at United Methodist Church in Albert Lea. Should be fun.

Christian first, American second, Republican, Democrat or Independent third

Long title, but as this political season is now in the last month, I have some comments about what I've been reading and hearing. First off, I think it's high time that I officially refer to myself as an Independent. Yes, I am conservative. Yes, I am an Evangelical Christian, but that does not mean I have to always vote for the Republican ticket. This year I am more educated about what is going on around me and have come to the conclusion that if I vote for the Republican ticket, I would be voting for myself instead of people like my parents who have done everything they can to make sure their children and grandchildren have more. I am frustrated with my fellow evangelicals who believe that abortion is the only issue they should be voting for in this election. It seems like it's the only issue in every election. Yes, I do believe life begins at conception, but I also believe that it's the church's responsibility to pray for people they meet who are thinking about having an abortion. Body of Christ, it is our responsibility to work to make the change, not the government's. When I think about people in this world who consider having an abortion, I wonder if they believe God's Word, where we read that God formed us in our mother's womb and knows the number of the hairs on our head. I am worried that many of us within the Body of Christ want to force our conservative convictions onto the rest of society. I don't believe that's the right thing to do. Until God changes the hearts of those who wish to have abortions, all I can do is love them just as they are and pray that God, through the power of the Holy Spirit, will be at work in their hearts to draw them to Himself.

Just my thoughts and my thoughts alone. These are not the thoughts of any other person that I am aware of.

I found a job, and 9/11

As of last Friday, I have a part-time job with our local YMCA in Albert Lea as a School's Out Site Coordinator at one of our elementary schools. It's something I'm very excited about as it will allow me to teach but not have to grade anybody based on what they're learning. I'm continuing to look for something else to do during the days, so keep praying that God will open doors for a job where I can work during the days but leave on snow days to go teach kids after school.

Last week, I meant to post my memories of 9/11. A fellow blogger and college friend of mine posted about how she heard about the events of that horrific day and I wanted to post about mine. I was a junior in college and I was actually at home that day. I friend of mine had died of cancer just 5 days earlier so I was at home for her funeral. My friend Laura showed up and told me about what had just happened. I didn't really think anything of it and we went to breakfast and then to the funeral. I got back to my parents' house at 2:30 and left to head back to Brookings, SD. When I drove into Brookings, I saw major long lines at gas stations and I was like, "What on earth is going on?" I tried to call my dad, but couldn't get through on my cell phone. I finally did, and he told me to put gas in my car before it went up to $4 a gallon. (I didn't put gas in my car until November and it never got that high.) I got back to the dorm after a bible study and was sitting in a neighbor's room. A bunch of us sat in front of the TV watching what had happened earlier that day. Needless to say, my mind was so not in tuned to anything that happened in NYC. I was still remembering a friend and former schoolmate and the huge blessing she was that previous summer.

This year, on 9/11/08, I was awaken to a phone call from somebody who had the wrong phone number. MSNBC replayed the Today Show's coverage of those events to the exact minute. I watched for more than 2 hours. I have nothing more to say.

Still in the quest for a job

I am still in the quest for a job. I know I just restated my subject line. I'm sorry. I'm allowing myself some extra time for discernment regarding my call to ministry. Now that CPE is over, I can put more of my energy into my job search. In the meantime, I can also work on going through all of my stuff that I've collected from my years of school and teaching and throw away the things I don't need. I've already started to do that. Let me just say that my bedroom is more of a mess right now than it ever has been. My closet is in the process of being gutted so it can be totally cleaned. We shall see how long this process takes. While I am doing all of this, I am also enjoying watching my fellow Americans compete in the Olympics. As much as I watch them compete, I enjoy hearing those human interest stories more than anything. Especially the man from Togo who won a bronze medal in whitewater kayaking. Very cool. The comeback by the Americans in the 400 freestyle relay was amazing. Have a great day! I hope to write again soon.

It's been a month

Yes, it's been a month since the last post, but once CPE is done, I will have more time to actually think about doing the things I haven't been so good about doing this summer, like blogging. I'm sure that next Friday I will want nothing more than to spend oodles of time in the public library in Albert Lea and just type away. I cannot tell you how much I've learned this summer, but let me just say that it's been good, rewarding, but I'm ready to be done and move onto the next chapter of my life. What that is, we'll have to wait and see.

Taking care of myself

Sometimes I find myself forgetting some important things. In my wanting to be there for other people, I forget that sometimes other people want to be there for me. I'm only beginning to learn that lesson. I'm beginning to learn that in its own weird way, allowing people to get to know me is a way for me to take care of myself (if that makes any sense). All I need to do is apply this lesson to my life. Knowing that I have a group of people who can and will hold me accountable in this brings some comfort to my putting this lesson to use.