And Now For Something Completely Different...

After a week of big news, waiting, frustration, stress, and turning another year older I did something completely different last night. I took a night off from homework, reading, writing, worrying, and stressing and I went to the Foo Fighters' show at the Target Center. It had been way too long since I had seen a live show and add to it the fact the Foo are one of my favorite bands and thus, made for the perfect escape. Plus, I had floor tickets!!!!!

So, I get there a couple of hours early and am pleasantly surprised to see that I am one of the first people there, therefore, I got amazing position on the floor. There were two separate stages: a main stage and then a smaller stage where they were going to do an acoustic set. There was a catwalk attaching the two stages also. So, I run once I get let in and get a spot right up against the rail in the middle of the catwalk. So it's only a metal fence thing and a very nice security guard between me and the show. It was awesome!

Needless to say, I took a ton of pictures, sang at the top of my lungs to some of my favorite songs including Best of You, One By One, The Pretender, Monkeywrench, Stacked Actors, and more, and got to completely forget about all the current stresses of my life. Oh, and the pictures I'm posting, I didn't even have to zoom for them!

It's times like these you learn to live again
It's times like these you give and give again
It's time like these you learn to love again
It's time like these time and time again

Also, I now totally have a crush on their new lead guitarist, Chris. :)

Dave Grohl making use of the catwalk.

The acoustic set on a separate stage. Also, the rock violinist, Jessie, is a native Minnesotan!

Closing it out with a kickin' encore of Long Road to Ruin.

Drafted! Part I

I feel like I should have warned you that I'm was going to/am going to be blogging a lot this week.

So, we got handed our envelops today that very much held a piece to the puzzle of our future. In this envelop was the region that we would be heading to for the first three years of our ministry. It was an exciting and scary time. Nobody really knew what to expect. Sure, we had all put in our preferences but whether or not those are honored is another thing. The seniors had spend most of the day fretting the results.

I spent most of the day working in the Student Services office and as the day went on, I couldn't help but get a bit giddy. It was a combination of true excitement and nerves. I think the "underclassmen" I talked to during the day thought I was nuts or just plain weird.

So, the time arrived and the seniors headed up to get our envelops. I got mine, took a deep breath, and opened the letter. It said exactly what I thought it would: REGION 3!!! I had no idea what I would feel when I opened it and saw the region. But I was surprised by the different feelings that came. There was excitement, relief, and a lot of hope. One of the great things about Region 3 is that a lot of Luther people end up there. So some of my close friends will likely be within close driving distance from me. Plus, I have family and friends and lots of connections in the area. And you know, the church is doing some exciting things in this area. So, as much as today could have been a disappointment, it was actually a day full of joy. I will find out exactly what synod/area I've been drafted to in about two weeks. Until then, I have plenty to keep me busy.

For the Record

My Official Guess for the Draft Tomorrow: Region 3 (the midwest)

The Dark Horse: Region 7 (the upper east coast) (I'm this number out there for no apparent reason. I basically picked an arbitrary number since I didn't even put it on my paperwork but I did tell our rep that I'm open to go anywhere as long as there's a good church)

The Long Shot: Region 2 (the southwest)

Making Lemonade

This has been a bad couple of months for my car. To say that I've had car issues would be a major understatement. In the past two months my car has been broken into, towed, and has not started a record number 5 times! Ugh! Never has the MN cold gotten to me and my car like this before. So I finally broke down after non-car start #4 and brought it into the shop to get my 90,000 and 105,000 tune-up done. Kill multiple birds with one stone basically. So I started out today, the first really cold day after I got all the work done on my car, fairly confident that my car would start up. And of course, it didn't....

You've got to be kidding me! I didn't have any class today but I was supposed to be a part of a student panel for prospective students. So, I give a desperate call to a bunch of my friends from seminary and am blessed enough to have a couple offer to bail me out and drive me to campus and back.

Then, I make good use of my AAA membership and give a call for help starting up or a tow depending on how things go. My starter can tend to be tricky and thus, some people are often able to get it started after some tricks that I'm still trying to master. It turns out that the person who comes to help bail me out had done so about two weeks ago right before I brought my car into the shop. We both remember each other and in the midst of trying to get my car started, we strike up a conversation about life. All of a sudden I find myself being treated as a friend and confidant as I get a serious prayer request. I of course oblige and say that I will definitely keep her in my prayers and find myself exchanging numbers and email addresses. By this time my car has started and is running.

Part of me really hates cliches such as "when life hands you lemons, make lemonade." But in this case, life handed me lemons and somehow, God was able to turn it into a situation where I got a chance to really connect with someone and support someone who has bailed me out twice now. Now, do I attribute my car not starting to God? No, that's simply the nasty, cold MN weather. However, I think God was able to use me and this crappy situation in a completely unexpected way.

And I can't help but take this to heart at times such as these. The fate of my next three years in ministry will be decided as the bishops et al. get together to assign all the outgoing MDiv seniors tomorrow. I honestly have no idea where I'm going to get placed and that scares me. I hope and pray that I get placed somewhere that makes sense for my abilities, talents, passions, and gifts and that also happens to be a place where I want to live. However, I know that this might not all come together. It might seem like I'm ending up out in the cold with a car that doesn't start. But, at the same time, I've been reminded today that God can take bad situations and use it for good. I've been reminded that the kindness and generosity of friends can go a long way. I've been reminded that ministry can happen in even the oddest and most frustrating of situations.

So, my solution for my car. I've got a garage leased for the time being which will keep my car warmer and thus make it more likely that it will start. We'll see if this actually works tomorrow morning. If not, well, I guess I'll just have to make the best of the situation because that's all we can do sometimes.

The Great Draft

Draft season is upon us. And no, I'm not talking about the NFL or NBA draft. I'm talking about the Great Draft of all the graduating MDiv seminarians in the ELCA. It's the time that we're all assigned to go to different parts of the country for at least the first three years of our ministry. This year the draft takes place on February 19-20 and my friends and I at Luther will find out at approximately 5:20 on Wednesday, February 20 what our future holds. It's a crazy time and there's a mix of excitement and worry in the air.

The craziest part about this whole deal is how the whole draft system works. It seriously resembles a regular sports draft. First, let's get your updated on some of the ELCA terminology. I'll be talking about Regions and Synods a lot. A Region is the bigger piece of the pie. There are nine Regions in the ELCA. For instance, Region 2 is the Northwest which includes Washington, Oregon, Alaska, etc. A Synod is smaller piece of the pie and covers a particular area. For instance, in Region 2 there is the Oregon Synod, Alaska Synod, Northwest Washington Synod, etc. These synods all have multiple churches within their area that they "oversee" and coordinate with. All the graduating students will be looking to fill vacant positions at various churches around the country. There are also Bishops. The Bishops are like the CEO of the synods but they're also the "pastor of the pastors" in their synod working to move people, keep order, and resolve conflict.

All the graduating 200 some candidates have profiles already filled out. These profiles tell bishops their basic info and includes where we are interested in going in the country, and what type of ministry we're interested in doing (solo call, working with a large staff, specialized ministry like youth ministry). The bishops have access to these forms and read over them to get an idea if the candidate would be a good fit and whether or not their needs would be met in the synod and region. Most of us put down preferences about where we would like to go and those are generally respected. People are also allowed to restrict which means they are guaranteed a placement in a certain region due to children, spouse with job, house, medical condition, etc. However, the restrictions must be approved. That's a whole other story though.

The said profiles are laid out and it essentially goes down just like any other draft. Nine Bishops are there representing their nine regions and drafting for their particular region. Each seminary also has a representative who speaks for the students (in our case, our Dean of Students). The Bishops have already established an order and the first Bishop to go takes five candidates his region is interested in (five is just an arbitrary number, we're not sure how many but it seems close enough). However, each candidate doesn't just automatically get assigned to that region. Each candidate is held up before the entire crowd and are asked whether they are contested or not. In other words, if more than one region is interested in a candidate, that candidate's profile is marked and the bishops will address this later.

So, this basically happens until all the candidates are assigned to a Region in the country. And now the fun part. They wheel and deal for the contested candidates. They trade other candidates and shuffle people around until everyone is satisfied.

And that's how it is decided where I will spend the next three years of my life! Whew! It sounds scary, especially since unlike the pro-athletes I'm not signing up for a six figure contract. But, I have to trust that God is able to work through this messy paperwork and this crazy process. Somehow, just somehow, the Holy Spirit shows up there and works through all of the paper, the needs, the wants, and the hopes of everyone involved. And you know, it might be foolish for me to put my hope and trust in the system and frankly, I've never really had a choice in this matter either. But, this process gets me one step closer to being in a church and being ordained. And I do trust that God is working for the good in my life right now, even though it may seem scary and not quite right at the time. So, next week, you'll probably get a very freaked out blog entry stressing out about this whole process because I'm placed in Western North Dakota or something. But, at least I'll know someplace in the country thought I'd make a good minister there and hey, I'll take that. ;)

Checked Out

It's only the third day of classes and already I feel like I'm behind. And I'm only taking three classes right now as opposed to the usual five. Weird. I think I'm going to attribute this phenomenon to the fact that these are a big couple of weeks in the life of an M. Div. senior at Luther Seminary. We've started our final semester of seminary (Woo-Hoo!) and the Great Draft is in a measly nine days. Whew! I'm tired already. Add to that a lot of heady subject material covered in my classes, especially my final theology course on the Holy Spirit and the Trinity (it seriously takes me a good hour to read 15 pages of one of our books, that's right on par with how long it would take me to read 15 pages in my plant physiology textbooks). The finish line is in sight and I think many of us seniors are finding it hard to concentrate on the here and now when the end is in sight. And it doesn't just seem like it's the end of school, it's the beginning of the rest of our lives as pastors, God-willing we don't suffer burnout.

Therefore, I'm finding it a little bit harder than usual concentrating in class. I'm finding it a bit harder to buckle down and read my textbooks. I'm finding it more frustrating when an assignment isn't as practical or applicable to ministry as I'd like it be.

But at the same time I'm finding things to look forward to in my final semester. The seniors are finally preaching in Chapel which has proved to be a breath of fresh air. I'm so proud of my friends and know that one after another will bring it in the pulpit. Many of us are realizing that this is indeed our final semester in this sometimes equally amazing and frustrating community that has given us so many chances to grow and learn and doing all we can to take advantage of this gift. And of course, there is the promise of the life after seminary, when we finally get to truly walk the walk and be in congregations all over the country and all over the world. Even as a face my apathy toward my coursework I can't help but get excited about all the possibilities. It's always a delicate balance. I'm not quite ready to be completely checked out of this community and this learning process. There is too much at stake to not keep learning and discerning, to take this community for granted, and to not work to strengthen these friendships and ties that have meant the world to me and carried me through so much already.

So here's to what I hope, pray, and know will be an memorable and amazing final semester!

Yay Giants!!!

It's only fair that I post a blog entry in honor of the Giants Super Bowl win since I posted about the Colts last year and wrote about this game in a previous entry! What a great game! The Pats have now officially been shut up. Eli has shown that he is a quarterback for the ages and has MVP to add to his resume. They were the underdogs. They took down the "giants" by playing their hearts out. How do you not love that as a sports fan??? At the end of the game as the seconds ticked down, I felt like yelling "do you believe in miracles" 1980 USA Olympic hockey team style. I'm kind of a dork and I know that nothing will quite beat that upset but this is pretty close. So, like I said before in my earlier blog post, GO GIANTS!!!!!!!!