Of the Way

Because my studies at Christus Rex Study Center have kept me busy, I haven’t had the opportunity to do much in terms of posting.

Blog changes

Last night I decided to redesign the look of my blog and rename it.   It is now called “Of the Way” which is a possible English translation of my last name.  I borrowed the structure of Chris Pearson’s press row theme and customized it.  I created the banner myself in GIMP while Shelley (an accomplished graphic designer and proprietor of Purple Line Design) only mocked my profound lack of skills a little bit.

Life

In the past couple of months we’ve gone on a couple of long-weekend trips.  Memorial Day weekend we decided on a whim to go see Shelley’s brother’s Jake’s family and her sister Amy in Carbondale, IL.  I got home from work and Shelley jokingly mentioned going to see them.  I thought it would be an adventure, and within a couple of hours we were on the road.  We drove all night and arrived at about 8:0o Saturday morning.  Janelle had a ball playing with her cousins and we thoroughly enjoyed the visit.

Because we’re gluttons for punishment, we took another “ground red-eye” trip (departing at 6:oo p.m. and arriving at 10:00 a.m.) a couple of weeks ago to visit my family in New Hampshire.  The visit went well.  My mom’s side of the family had a reunion, so I was able to see nearly all of my aunts, uncles, and cousins.  The night before we went back home, my grandparents came over and we played forty-fives.  The return trip was brutal.  We got to Cary at 3:30 a.m. and slept in the driveway of our friends’ vacant home.  Then I had class for the Study Center at 6:30 a.m. and work at 8.

Speaking of the Study Center, I just completed my first year there.  My last class was this past Wednesday.  I am very thankful to Christ Church of North Carolina for their investment in me.  The average cost (tuition and fees only) for an independent seminary’s M-Div program was $12,267 per year (and they are cheaper than university-affiliated and college affiliated seminaries).  I paid $300 plus books, which is about 2.4% of the average seminary.  Christ Church obviously didn’t profit monetarily from this.  I am grateful for the work of Gene Liechty, Dell Cook,  and especially Gregory Soderberg, who serves as the director of the study center.  All of these people worked for far less than the going seminary professor rate.

I am scheduled to preach my first sermon on Sunday August 1, 2010 on Psalm 148.  I’m not especially nervous in terms of the public speaking aspect of it, but I am a bit daunted by the weight of the responsibility.  The session of Christ Church is calling upon me, a sheep, to feed the sheep.  Who is sufficient for these things?  May the Holy Spirit provide illumination that I may speak truth in the sight of God in Christ and that I might be used as an instrument to feed the sheep of His pasture.