I finished my last class of the semester on Tuesday night and left for Tennessee on Wednesday morning. A trip to visit Rachel means hiking at Frozen Head State Park. Here are a few photos:
Archive for April, 2008
This image was first posted on February 11th, 2008 after yet another Springfield ice storm. I’m posting it again for Photo Friday. 
Me and my man.
[He was still in uniform because I made him come straight from work... just so I could get this photo.]
I’ve finally gotten a few opportunities to pull my ACU’s out of the back of the closet. Friday was Seminary Day at AGTS. Lunch and dinner were provided for prospective students by the Army, Air Force and Navy. Chaplain Candidates wore their uniforms all day and answered questions about the chaplaincy and about our Chaplain Candidate Fellowship Group. We also nabbed some swag from our recruiters. 
Dr. George O. Wood, General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God, [aka the head AG guy in the USA] preached during chapel. This was my fourth time to hear him speak. He’s hilarious, intelligent and insightful. Really, he makes me happy to be in this denomination.
Saturday I spent the morning hanging out with single moms while they got their oil changed for free at Central Assembly… no uniform… but free donuts.
This morning our church focused on missions. We filled the lobby with tables representing many of the Assemblies of God foreign and U.S. missions ministries. Nicole and I manned the AG Chaplaincy Dept. booth. We shook hands, handed out pens and dog tags, and heard about EVERYONE’S couisn/brother/nephew/neighbor who has served in Iraq or Vietnam or Korea or the Civil war… People love to tell these stories.
We had several cheerful men come tell us how important chaplains were to them when they served their country.
I also had a few interesting characters insist on saluting me… I know you’re not generally supposed to salute indoors… but really what could I do? Sometimes I just smile, but sometimes it’s just better to place people over protocol and salute the crazy old guy eccentric gentleman.
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Well… now I need to recover from all of this mandatory fun and start writing some papers! I only have 25 or 30 pages to write by Tuesday.
After happening upon one of his songs a couple days ago, I’ve become a big fan of Dustin Kensrue. I purchased six songs off of his Please Come Home album. Good stuff… not your average Christian music… In fact, it isn’t listed in that genre — though the lyrics reveal a deep current of theology and scripture. It’s rock… folky, earthy blues with an acoustic guitar.
Quote from a recent IM conversation. [Recreated from memory because logging was turned off...]
I really love this album.
I love the sound. I like folk.
I don’t like the overly processed music of late.
It sounds like Velveeta.
Bonus: 5% of his proceeds goes to Two Write Love on Her Arms.
It’s my favorite twin sister’s birthday today. No time for a heart touching post. Here are a few past birthday posts written by both of us complete with cute photos.
A year or two ago, my recruiter sent me the Every Soldier’s Battle kit for women. This kit includes the book Every Woman’s Battle. I never got around to reading it until now. We have a 1,200 page reading requirement for our Military Chaplaincy class. Some of that reading is left for us to choose. We can read chaplain, ministry, and military related books. Since this one came straight from my recruiter, I think it probably counts. I’m only to page 71. Much of what I’ve read so far doesn’t seem to relate to me personally… I think that makes it even more useful. It’ll help me understand and minister to women who deal with different battles than I do.
Coincidently, I just found a song by Dustin Kensrue that seems to fit some of the things I’ve been reading today. If his words touch your heart… you might want to buy the book.
Dustin Kensrue - I knew you before
P.S. I’ll let you know what I think of this book and the others I’m reading after the semester ends.
Good Morning friends, I have this faint recollection of writing to you about my days. Not that anyone necessarily needs to know about my days. But hey, God wrote them in His book, I’ll write them in this blog.
Mondays: Spiritual Formation of the Leader Class.
The best part of this class is the small groups. Dr. Jay seemingly randomly split us up into groups. We spend from 20 minutes to an hour with these groups each Monday. In January, the three women in class were all placed in different groups. I wondered at the logic in this. It didn’t bother me to be in a spiritual formation small group with four men, but I wondered if it would mess up the group dynamic for them. How could they share about certain challenges with a woman in the room? I realized that there weren’t enough women to make up our own group, but Jay could have put all five or six chaplain candidates together, that includes all of the women. We all share common concerns…
A few months later I find myself so very thankful for this small group. These guys make Monday something to look forward to. They’re not the guys I would have picked out of the crowded classroom to share my semester with. I would have picked the future chaplains. I was wrong.
A few weeks ago, I realized that this is the perfect group for me right now. I didn’t need another group of women to share all my secrets with. I needed a male perspective on specific issues. Not just any male perspective, but these male perspectives. I didn’t need more time to hang out with future chaplains. I spend almost all of my time with those wonderful men and women but I couldn’t have shared certain concerns with people I intend to work with for the next two decades… I’m sure they probably would have felt the same about me.
That’s all… there’s no big fancy close for this story. I’m just amazed that even in randomly selected small groups, God has his hand on me. He knows my days. He knows what I need.
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Tuesdays:
Christianity to the Reformation
The second class in a series of three covering church history. I love these classes, partially because the subject interests me, partially because I love Dr. McGee. I imagine decades from now young seminarians turning green with envy when they hear that I got to study under Dr. McGee. I’m sure they won’t envy his legendary exams though… I better start studying.
Military Chaplaincy Class
I should have blogged about this class all semester. It’s an amazing opportunity. Our ecclesiastical endorser teaches the Tuesday night class. He brings in amazing chaplains and experts to help prepare us for the chaplaincy. I really need to tell you about each guest speaker. Maybe I can do that when the semester ends.
This week, I got to give the devotion at the beginning of class. That’s a basically 10 minute field sermon. I really enjoyed it. Really. I spoke on Psalm 139. That’s the passage I’ve been reading over and over and over to get me through these last few days of concern for my friend facing miscarriage. I should write out my devotion and share it with you all. I’ve preached it myself countless times in the last 24 hours. While you’re waiting for that post, I encourage you to read Psalm 139 in the ESV and NIV…. a lot.
