Journal

Let's see. Just a couple of check-in things right now, I guess.

First of all, school is going well. To be honest, I've had a difficult time getting my writing back in the groove. I'm really hoping that I can end the semester in strength, though. I'm working on my two main papers very early, and the 10-page summary of my thesis shouldn't be too bad now that I actually know where I'm heading with it.

Church is going really well. I'm very much enjoying being back at Praise, even though it is busy as ever! I continue to be confronted with my own shortcomings as a youth and children's pastor, though. I still have a lot to learn, and I may just have to accept the fact that it won't matter how much I learn, I will always be lacking in this area of ministry. However, as I say that, I also have grown in the faith that God is in control. Specifically what I mean by this is that I know that God knows who I am--God is the one who has given me my personality with all its interesting quirks. God made me the introvert that I am. And, while God may sometimes expect me to stretch myself and move outside of where I am comfortable, at the end of the day, I trust that God has not called me to a place where my particular individual traits are not appropriate. In other words, I am comfortable with myself and my shortcomings (while nonetheless continuing to strive to be a better "me") because I know that God made me who I am, and that means that God can use me as I am.

Some fun facts:
1) I finally finished Resident Evil 4 on my Gamecube. This was a great game. I'm really glad that I finished it, though, because now I won't have to feel guilty playing my Gamecube for an hour when I know I should be reading.

2) The farmers are starting to harvest the corn out here. I was driving back from the store yesterday, well past dark, and a farmer was busy harvesting in the combine with his flood-lights blazing. It made me a little sad. I would have loved to be home to help out with our harvest. It made me wonder, though, if I stick around for the next year (as is my current plan), if maybe I could get a job helping some of these local farmers out during harvest or planting season. :-)

3) I had a wonderful time meeting up with my old small group from Seminary this past weekend. I am just amazed by the group of people who I can call friends. They are all just incredible--and the way God is using them and working in their lives makes me a little jealous, but mostly just glad.

Well, I think that's a pretty good update for now. I hope everyone who reads this is doing well, and is preparing for a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.

Yeah. I'm really not dead. I've certainly been busier than I would like, what with school and especially church work. Unfortunately, I'm not looking for this to change much until mid-December. However, I think I am going to try to be better about giving small updates via the microblag (over there on the right). This way, at least you won't have to worry that I've been transported to some parallel universe, or fell into a giant pit, or was sucked up by a black hole created by the Large Hadron Collider. Because I know that's what you all were worrying about. :-)

I think thesis and dissertation titles would sound much more interesting and infinitely less snooty if, instead of saying what the paper is about, we titled it based upon what we hoped to learn during the process of writing it.

For example, my thesis topic: A Japanese Buddhist Missiological Response to Barth's 'True Religion'

What I want to learn: What is the essence of the gospel, and how do we pass it on without getting in the way?

See what I mean?

Well, I just turned in my thesis proposal. I'm really hoping it gets accepted as-is since I have to have it officially endorsed by the registrar and my adviser by Friday. Yeah...Friday. I would say that its my own fault for getting it in so late. But, really...its not. My adviser was out of town until the beginning of classes, and then he wasn't able to meet with me until last Friday. So, basically, I did all my preliminary research, and wrote up my proposal in the period of 5 days. Yeah. Not too shabby, I think.

Of course...now there's just that one sticking point of not knowing if it will be accepted or not.

Here's hoping!

Things have already started to get busy here. It's not too stressful yet, and it shouldn't be in the long run, provided I can keep on top of all the tasks at hand.

Last weekend we had a church leadership retreat. Retreats are always nice...except for the fact that you can pretty much assume that you will be catching up on sleep for the next several days.

This week things are heating up. I have a paper due on Thursday, quite a bit of reading, I'm preaching on Sunday, and I have to get a rough bibliography approved by my adviser for my thesis. I also need to work on developing the Saturday night program at church, and I will do some of that, but probably not until the end of the week, when some of these other tasks are (hopefully!) completed.

So, I guess that's the general feeling of things right now. Sorry for such a matter-of-fact post. Hopefully I'll be feeling more creative in a day or two. :)

So now that I am once again a full-time student, I've had to go to classes. I know, it's surprising. And even more surprising, now that I'm going to classes, I'm having to take notes! Can you believe it?!

The tough thing is...I've found that in my two-year absence from the Academy, my note taking skills have severely diminished. So, since I feel like I'm almost starting from scratch anyway, I've been trying to experiment with different note-taking methods. (Mostly deciding whether I prefer the old, and reliable handwritten notebook method, or the more cutting-edge, computer-aided method.)

So far, the good, old notebook has been my preferred method, even though I'm not able to write quickly enough to keep up as well as I would like (sometimes I really wish I learned shorthand). But, as I'm beginning to recall, there is an art to handwritten notes--making elegant summaries and highlighting only the key facts.

The computer offers several alternative methods. There's the standard electronic parallel to the handwritten notebook by simply typing notes up in Word (or in my case, OpenOffice). But I've also found that a Wiki-like note taking scheme can be useful. (You could actually use a Wiki for this, but I've been using the most excellent Tomboy, which is, unfortunately for all you poor proprietary slobs out there, only for Linux.) The Wiki method is interesting because if allows for links to be made automatically between different subjects and courses. Say, for instance, you're writing notes in a theology course about the Christology spelled out by the Chalcedonian Creed. Well, Tomboy could then make a link back to your church history notes about the Council of Chalcedon.

Anyway, my main question here is--what is/was your preferred note-taking method. Any trade secrets you wouldn't mind sharing? Lend a poor student a hand!

So, I guess it's about time I gave everyone an update as to what is going on with my life.

First of all, I'm back out in New Jersey. I drove out from Oklahoma last week, got moved in on Monday, and have spent the remainder of the week getting settled in and taking care of miscellaneous business.

I'm really going to miss Oklahoma. I was living out in Boise City with my grandmother after coming back from Japan, and that was a really good experience for me. Farm life is great, and was a much needed change, and the Boise City community is really something special. My one big regret is that I was not able to take the time I had hoped to see my friends who were in Oklahoma before driving out to New Jersey. It was just one of those annoying things that the proper timing just never seemed to be there. I'm making a pact with myself that from now on I will be better about making time for seeing friends (new and old) even if it means having to put aside other tasks or being rushed to get something done. Friends are worth it. I just wish I'd taken this time while I was still in Oklahoma. But I will be back!

As to excitement here in the garden state, I'm really looking forward to working at my old church, Praise Church, again. I had a lunch meeting today during which we went over all the changes in the ministry in the two years I've been gone (there have been a lot!), and made some plans for what my roles would be. Basically I'm going to be designing the youth's Saturday night ministry, but I'll also be involved with the Children's Church on Sunday. Working in the Children's Ministry will be a new experience to me, so I'm both a little terrified and a little excited. Hopefully excitement will win out when the time comes.

Classes begin at PTS on Monday. I haven't yet pinned down my permanent schedule with my advisor, but I'll be heading to one theology class and one missiology class on that first day. It's not much, which will be nice so that I can get my classroom "sea legs" again.

Well, that should be enough of an update for now, anyway. Hopefully that will be enough to keep you all informed. So how about you? What's been going on? I would love for any of you who read this blog to feel free to leave your own blog addresses in the comments. If you give me permission, I'll even put them over in the "Felix.Friends" column so that others can check up on you!

Many blessings!

...II...