Life of late
Well, it's been quite a while since my last entry. Let's see...
I went home for three weeks over Christmas and New Year's, it was really great to be there, except for a pesky back injury. Now I'm mostly feeling back to normal. I just need to make sure I stay active so it doesn't tense up on me again.
I came back here to Chicago just in time to start my January-term class on urban latino ministry. It was an awesome class. We focused on the Mexican community here in Chicago, and most of our classes were held at two churches where we listened to a lot of different community leaders talk about the work they're doing and learned a lot about the situation in those neighborhoods (Pilsen and Little Village).
This week we had vacation, which was lovely. I've spent some good time with friends, cooked some yummy food, and just relaxed and caught up on sleep. It's been great. The weather's been unseasonably warm, which has been awesome as long as you don't think too much about the probable causes for said warmth. Yesterday it got up to 51 degrees here, it was incredible. It's funny how quickly my understanding and definition of "cold" have been changing.
I've been studying for the first of five ordination exams I will eventually have to take. The first one is Bible content, 100 multiple-choice questions testing our knowledge of Bible trivia. It's great. If you're looking for something to do, you can try taking the tests from past years at http://www.whitneyhq.com/biblecontent/ It's tons of fun, I promise. :-) I have to take the test on Friday, February 3, otherwise known as My Birthday. Oh, well. There are worse things. At least I don't have to take the other, much harder exams for a couple more years.
Spring semester starts on Monday, and I'm actually looking forward to it. The scariest things are: facing the music for all the Hebrew I've forgotten in the past two months, and learning how to preach. I don't know why, but the idea of preaching really intimidates me. I have plenty of public speaking experience, and I have plenty of thoughts and stories and ideas to share. I think the thing is the responsibility of it. People tend to put their ministers in a certain category of knowledge and wisdom and holiness, and I'm not sure what to do with that. I guess we'll find out!
Anyway, I hope everybody's doing really well. I know I haven't been in touch with some of you for a while, so please feel free to say hello!
I went home for three weeks over Christmas and New Year's, it was really great to be there, except for a pesky back injury. Now I'm mostly feeling back to normal. I just need to make sure I stay active so it doesn't tense up on me again.
I came back here to Chicago just in time to start my January-term class on urban latino ministry. It was an awesome class. We focused on the Mexican community here in Chicago, and most of our classes were held at two churches where we listened to a lot of different community leaders talk about the work they're doing and learned a lot about the situation in those neighborhoods (Pilsen and Little Village).
This week we had vacation, which was lovely. I've spent some good time with friends, cooked some yummy food, and just relaxed and caught up on sleep. It's been great. The weather's been unseasonably warm, which has been awesome as long as you don't think too much about the probable causes for said warmth. Yesterday it got up to 51 degrees here, it was incredible. It's funny how quickly my understanding and definition of "cold" have been changing.
I've been studying for the first of five ordination exams I will eventually have to take. The first one is Bible content, 100 multiple-choice questions testing our knowledge of Bible trivia. It's great. If you're looking for something to do, you can try taking the tests from past years at http://www.whitneyhq.com/biblecontent/ It's tons of fun, I promise. :-) I have to take the test on Friday, February 3, otherwise known as My Birthday. Oh, well. There are worse things. At least I don't have to take the other, much harder exams for a couple more years.
Spring semester starts on Monday, and I'm actually looking forward to it. The scariest things are: facing the music for all the Hebrew I've forgotten in the past two months, and learning how to preach. I don't know why, but the idea of preaching really intimidates me. I have plenty of public speaking experience, and I have plenty of thoughts and stories and ideas to share. I think the thing is the responsibility of it. People tend to put their ministers in a certain category of knowledge and wisdom and holiness, and I'm not sure what to do with that. I guess we'll find out!
Anyway, I hope everybody's doing really well. I know I haven't been in touch with some of you for a while, so please feel free to say hello!