Randomness

I'm done with my fourth full semester of grad school, seminary, whatever you want to call it. Four down, two to go. Not too shabby. Sometimes it feels like its been forever and then other times I stop and think "what the heck...where did the last two years of my life just go?" My life is so different now than it was two years ago. For starters, I have picked up a bit of a southern drawl again from Kentucky just after I thought that living in both the St. Louis and Chicago areas had corrected the years of damage done to me by living in southern Indiana. After being in seminary I am now critical of every church service I attend and know how to put those thoughts and feelings into words. As a counseling student, I now know exactly what my parents have done to ruin me and my personality; and after years of cramming information in my head, I think I am just beginning to realize that I really know nothing in actuality of how to help people. Yes, seminary has corrupted me! But on the bright side, I have become interested in politics, further broadened my musical tastes, and developed an affection for good fiction and good film. Oh yeah, and I've overcome my irrational fear of the phone and actually kept in touch with some people. I have made good new friends, actually successfully enjoyed participating in two small groups, and managed to stay in love for almost a year and a half straight (and counting).

I am starting to like rainy days a bit. Call it adaptation if you will. It puts me in the mood for good music. Over the Rhine, Ryan Adams, Iron and Wine, Whiskeytown, Elliot Smith... I could go on and on. Even though I think it's kind of gloomy and sad, there's something pretty and refreshing about it. Kinda like the music I just mentioned.

I really want to purchase Ben Harper's new 2-disc set, Both Sides of the Gun. I listened to the 30-second clips on Itunes and it sounds like good stuff.

I have two weeks before I start my practicum or internship at The Ridge. I'll be assessing and interviewing people who come for psychiatric treatment and stabilization. I am so excited about actually putting knowledge into practice instead of writing papers about fake people and problems. I'm also excited about working with people who actually cuss and smoke and live in the real world. I am so tired of being surrounded by Christians and only Christians. I am craving the chance to be around people who don't know Jesus and to be "different" than normal people. I want to be challenged with how to act and respond to the world in a way that's consistent with the life of Jesus. I want to be able to say I am not "conforming to the pattern of this world" but that's difficult to do in a town that has a cross on top of its watertower!

So what will I do with these two weeks? I plan on watching a lot of the Price is Right, reading some Anne Lamott, finishing up Jim Wallis' God's Politics, trying not to spend too much money shopping, visiting my family, and maybe even brushing up on my childhood and adolescent disorders in the DSM so I'll be ready for employee orientation. Oh yeah, and my personality class starts soon too. Gotta stay on the ball.

So The Davinci Code comes out Friday. I guess I don't get what all the stir is about. I saw this commercial on television this morning that the CBS evening news is having a special report on how the mystery of the Davinci Code is living in a remote French village. Excuse me, but I thought it was just a fiction book. Since when did fiction become the national news and the reason for millions of Americans to invest money and resources to prove it's not true? I thought that was the point of fiction: it's not true! I guess I see the need to promote awareness in people that it is not truth and that Jesus wasn't married (and all the other things about it that I don't understand because I never finished the book on CD) but that it's just a story. I'm not going to let some fiction story shake my faith, because if a story can do it then I guess I'm just in trouble in general. I am not sure if I am going to see it or not, but if I wanted to see it I wouldn't have any qualms in paying a dollar for it at the dollar theater.

Well, I am all out of random thoughts. Time to relax and take a deep breath.

Almost there

This is one among many of the beautiful pictures I took while hiking at Shaker Villiage this weekend. It's just one of those places where I feel overwhwelmed at how beautiful and how big all of creation is. It was so nice to be out in the open pastures and to feel totally free and at peace.

It's a nice contrast to how I feel with one week and 3 days left of the semester. I am trying hard to stay focused, but you know how that goes sometimes. I find my mind wandering, wanting to be back on these green hills again instead of sitting and staring hopelessly at my computer screen.

I have about 10 pages of church history left to write, a 15 page research paper to do some heavy editing on, a presentation to give, and two tests left to study for and take. And then it's time to feel at peace again. Ahhhh....