On the Edge

We're sort of on the edge. Tomorrow we move into Holland, Michigan, where I'll be Associate Pastor for Youth and Christian Education. Tonight we sleep at my folks in Lansing; Tomorrow we'll sleep in a parsonage. Tonight I'm my parents children, bumming food and shelter; Tomorrow I'll be a responsbile, grown-up, pastor-like person...maybe ;)

Since the last post we've had eventful times. Here's just a few notes:

- Graduated from Concordia Seminary May 22, 2009. Yay!
- Amie finished teaching at Missouri School for the Blind. Already misses her kids. They are some of the sweetest people you'll ever meet.

Vacation: 2 weeks out east visiting fam, friends, and seeing the sights

- Hiked, camped, rafted in the Smokies
- Drank Mt. Dew in Appalachia (sp?)
- Toured Monticello & Univ. Virginia. got caught in huge storm at The Rotunda.
- Waterskied w/ Uncle Jeff and cousins Adam & Ethan in Maryland
- Saw DC United practice
- Visited Independence Hall, ate Cheesesteaks, visited cousins and Steve Miller in Philly
- Was in audience at Letterman
- Caught a game at the new Yankee stadium...had to work the scalpers hard to get a deal.
- Wandered cool streets of Brooklyn

Sleep time. Big day tomorrow. Have to grow up overnight ;)

Tour de Sem

Yesterday was the annual Tour de Sem, the 90-mile bicycle ride down to the original Concordia Seminary in Altenburg, Missouri.

It was a good time. My power breakfast surely gave me an unfair advantage. Custard-filled donuts pack on calories better than anything I know! The ride was quite fast as we all enjoyed a strong tailwind.

After 90 miles in the morning, I thought I'd lay rather comatose on the couch in the evening. Hardly! I went out for 11 more miles yesterday evening to make it a century ride for the day. Oddly enough, I felt pretty good for the 11-mile cool down...much better than the hills of southern Missouri around mile 80.

Then I had a pumpkin pie for dinner.



Top pic is Concordia Seminary. Bottom is the original log cabin, built in 1839, now covered by a shelter.

My Preaching Idol

I thought and thought about how I could possibly follow up a post about being called into full-time ministry. You know, brilliant little thoughts. Nothing of the sort came to me. So, I give you a glimpse of my great aspirations in life: the farting preacher. You may have seen it already. He's pretty popular.



Ok, so really, he's a kook who's been investigated for bad money stuff.

Call Day - We're Going to Holland, Michigan!

Five years at Concordia Seminary led to a climactic service last night in which the fine young men in my class received our Calls to serve in churches in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.

I received a call to be Associate Pastor at Zion Lutheran Church in Holland, Michigan, where I will focus on areas of Youth and Discipleship/Education. Amie and I are really excited to be going back to Holland.

Michigan is a wonderful state, Holland a wonderful city, and Zion a wonderful group of godly people. We feel blessed/lucky to get to go there. Before we can go, I still have a month until graduation. So, I better keep up the (good) work, passing exams and writing papers!

Here are some pics with family who came.

the 'rents


Aunt Dee, Cousin Hannah & (husband) Dustin


Joseph Byrd - good friend and staff member at Zion

Waiting Game

Once again, all my brilliant ideas for fun posts just go to the wayside amidst my busyness and/or laziness.

But we do have exciting news! Well, not yet, exactly. On Wednesday, I will officially be called to a church to serve as a pastor. So, the exciting news up to this point is that I have successfully completed all the requirements to be a pastor in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. I "passed" the certification interview with 2 faculty members, and then was recently approved by the entire faculty. It's not as glamorous as it sounds. I think they just go around the table, looking at our pictures in the directory, and give a thumbs up or down. I got a thumbs up, either do to my amazingly good looks or my theological astuteness. Either way, I'll take it!

Until Wednesday, we play the little waiting game. The "higher ups" in the church body that do the actual assigning [by the direction of the Holy Spirit] met this weekend to sort it all out. So, Amie and I just do what we've been doing for a while: pray, trust, pray more, trust more, wait. Wednesday at 7pm CST is the service at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri. Feel free to watch on the internet. My folks are coming down. It'll be an exciting day. We just have to play the waiting game until then.

Apparently, St. Louis has the 5th-ranked St. Patrick's Day celebrations in the nation, behind Chicago, Boston, DC, and New York. So, today I decided to go down to Dogtown to check out the parade and festivities. It's just over a mile from the dungeon, but I managed to do an "endo" on the bike, paying more attention to people-watching than the curb/pothole combination that did me in. Just a scrape and a bit embarrassing.

I sort of felt lame, walking around by myself, but I couldn't get any friends to come along. The people watching was entertaining, but I came away with more questions than I went with. I wonder why it is that people take such a liking to the day? It's like every one wanted to be Irish for the day. Irish music was blaring. People were wearing, draping, and waving Irish flags all over. It seems that people want to connect themselves to something beyond American, beyond a few hundred years of tradition, and latch onto something deeper. Perhaps this says something profound about our culture that the church needs to realize, namely, that people are looking for roots, for meaning, for history, for something to live their life by.

Another thought I had was that maybe St. Patty's Day is like a wedding. Many people get married at a church because it seems "right." They have a pastor do the obligatory message and marry them, but they really don't care, because they just want the pomp and flair of the day without the greater significance of being married before God?

Many folk I saw enjoying beer after beer most likely do not know the story of St. Patrick, other than he chased away some snakes. Today is the church's day of celebration for the man who boldly shared the message of Jesus with Ireland, and we honor him by getting piss-drunk and then doing who knows what other stupid things? Just seems a bit odd.

St. Patrick was an outstanding person of faith boldness, and his name has always been unique to me, being that my brother's name is Patrick (without a "St." in front of it).

Here is St. Patrick's famous prayer:

Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me.

Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, and in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

Fish in my Orange Juice?!?

So, there's fish in my orange juice. That's just plain weird. We got a carton of OJ - free - from the Seminary Food Bank. It was only slightly past the "best used by" date. It claims to be high in Omega 3's. Investigative Amie curiously looks at the ingredient list and finds the source of those Omega 3's: Fish Oil. Not that I can taste it but it just seems weird. I mean, the day I have an Orange-Fish Smoothie...