Category: Stuff (Page 37 of 65)

Just yesterday I posted about seminary. Now I’m posting that I really don’t enjoy writing papers. But the two go hand in hand. I knew at the first of the week that I had a 8 pager to turn in on Friday. I thought, I can write two pages a day Monday through Thursday and get it done. Wrote a page on Monday, but it was junk. So then I thought, I can write two pages a day Tuesday through Friday and get it done. But I watched the Olympics yesterday. So now I’m thinking I can write 4 today and 4 tomorrow and it will be done, or roughly 3 a day from now til Friday. Or something like that.

I’ve written 2 and a half. And about 3 or 4 of the upcoming pages will be fairly simple. But it is so much easier to do something else.

So I spent a week in Kentucky. I was taking a class at Asbury Theological Seminary. I’d taken a class through their excellent online program during the spring semester and I will be taking two more this fall. But I needed to get another class taken care of and at least 1/3 of the coursework needs to be done on campus to graduate from there.

Do I want to graduate from there? I think I do. I had been throwing around the idea of seminary for a while though. Mostly just looking at it from afar wondering if I really want to do it or not. I had a handful of people encouraging me to do it. But I had (and still have) no intention of being a pastor of a church. I fully understand that God can change all that in a heartbeat though. But I realized that it (seminary education) could better equip me and educate me for ministry in general. But I was always hesitant.

When I found out about the ExL program through Asbury, it seemed perfect. It is one of the only seminaries in the country that allow much online coursework to be done, I think. And it’s still quality stuff.

I kept flirting with it until last winter I get the notice that my job description is changing. My position now requires either a degree or current pursuit of a degree to the tune of 12 hours a year. I almost went to Memphis Theological School, driving up there for one day a week. That would be lots of miles, hours, and schedule changing to make that work. And I would much rather have a degree from Asbury anyway. Call me conservative if you must.

Last Spring Semester was a good experience. I didn’t do awesome in that class, but didn’t tank it either. I still have a paper to write for the class I took last week. And the two classes I will take this fall will require a lot of reading/work/writing too. Yippee!!

But being on campus, in class last week was good. And it’s actually gotten me to thinking about doing that full time. Being a full time, on campus, in residence student. But that’s such a big change in my life. But I enjoyed being able to participate in classroom discussions. Have face to face contact with the prof. Meeting new people who seem to be people I’d like to hang out and connect with better. All that combined…then leaving after a short week. It left me wanting more.

And Wilmore is in the middle of nowhere. But w/in 15 minutes you can be in the heart of Lexington. Lex isn’t huge. But it’s big and seemed clean too. But going up there would mean no Kidd Kraddick or Southern Sports Tonight on the radio. I’d have to find a way to listen online. It’d mean having to wait til 11pm to watch the nightly news. It’d mean not getting to see Miss State play ball in person unless I championed a road trip. It’d mean saying goodbye to a church I’ve worked in for the last 7+ years and the kids I’ve actually watched grow up. It’d mean having to figure out something to do with a house that you still have years and years and years left on a mortgage. It’d mean trying to find a part time job to support my wife and kids while in school too. It’d mean finding a place to live. It’d mean not having parents and parents in law all w/in 30-60 minutes.

BUT….if I hear God calling me to that, then I know He’ll prepare the way. He knows all the details much more than I do. And to be clear about it, I’ve not really prayed a ton about this. It’s just been bouncing around my head the past weekend. Being on campus in class was nice. Do I really need an MDiv? Would an MA be just as good for me right now?

Gotta get to praying…

:: Give me some advice, please ::

There’s a shed in the back yard of one of our neighbors. A big one. Maybe it’s a small apartment. Depends on how you look at it. But I think there’s been a man living in it for the past few months. I see his big red truck there all the time. And he turns his headlights on when he wants to grill some hamburgers.

Then I started noticing a red car next to the red truck. Tacky cute, maybe. Two weeks ago I come home from work and my mother in law is watching The Kid. I have a paper to write for my class at Asbury so I come in and get on the computer. Mom-in-law stays around for a bit and takes The Kid and the dogs outside. They swing or slide or whatever for a bit, then they come in…with guests. Two girls who say they live nearby. One’s 10 and the other’s 5. They go to The Kid’s room and play in there for a bit, then my mother in law leaves. She chuckles at me and leaves them all here.

They play with dolls and all that stuff for a while, then run around the house, then go to the kitchen. My daughter is really, really excited to have guests over. “Dad, these are my friends!” She’s being the perfect host of these girls I’ve never seen in my life. She offers them something to drink. So I follow them to the kitchen. They’re pouring Gatorade. So I clean up a bit, then I realize they’re sharing one cup between the three of them. Whoa! Gotta stop that.

But then I tell them that The Wife will be home in a short bit and we’ll need to get ready for supper. I ask where they live and they point to the shed/apt. in the back yard next to us. Interesting, I think. Didn’t know that many people lived there.

The next day they’re back. And the next. Turns out they, along with their mom, have recently moved in with their mom’s boyfriend. They apparently get left there during the day sometimes while they go to men’s softball tournaments and stuff. Sort of a sad situation.

We go to KY last week…get back on Friday about 3pm. School has started for the next door kids and they get home just after 3pm. They walk up and you’d think it was Christmas. Turns out the 5 year old girl is living with her dad, so it’s just the 10 year old girl and her 7 year old brother. They come by and play for a while, then The Wife does some errands and The Kid and I do some separate errands away from the house. So we say goodbye to our friends.

After going to Wal-Mart, the movie store, and picking up one of our dogs we head back home. Get out of the car. Head to the door. And *BOOM* there is the 10 year old girl.

It’s become overbearing. Any time they’re home, they are like hawks on the lookout for us to be here. They came home today from school and came to our house to play even before going home. If we leave, they ask how long we’ll be gone. When we say that play time is over for the day, she asks about tomorrow’s schedule. How do we handle this?

I realize that kids are going to make friends and want to play together. But all the time everyday? And I understand that maybe this 10 year old girl might not have a very stable home life right now living in a big wooden shed in someone’s back yard. But my daughter is less than a third of her age. How do we set boundaries? Where should we draw the line? How do we show the love of Jesus here without being swarmed every time they think we’re home?

Well, we’ve actually been home since Friday afternoon. We left Wilmore Thursday afternoon for a quick jaunt into Lexington, and then we headed south to Nashville. We stayed the night at Greg and Angies (btw, that’s Greg’s pic that sometimes appears at the top of the blog, not me) to break up the drive home. After breakfast and all on Friday morning we left for home. The Kid slept the whole way and I drove the whole way. That meant The Wife either slept or talked to me. But it was an easy drive.

Got home, had a visit from our new 10 year old friend from next door’s back yard (long story), ran errands, mowed the yard, got supper, ate supper, watched Olympic opening ceremony.

Yesterday was The Wife’s 10 year high school reunion. I didn’t even want to go to my own 2 years ago. So imagine my enthusiasm about going to this one. Turned out not to be so bad. There were some husbands there who could talk some SEC basketball/football. Vandy, of all schools. We both suck at football right now with a hope of surprising some folks this year. And we both do pretty well at basketball. So it made for good conversation.

After hitting two bookstores we made it home to grill out. I went for the big, cheap steaks last night instead of the smaller, more expensive ones. Good flavor, a little tough though. The read to The Kid, put her to bed, and watched 13 Going On 30. We shoudn’t have rented it. We should have bought it. We’ve already seen it in the theater. Know we like it. Why waste a rental on it? It has good DVD extras too. AND….it had a preview saying that Seinfeld would be coming out on DVD soon.

Now it’s Sunday morning and I need to finished getting dressed.

I’m sitting in the Student Center here at Asbury right now. The Kid is watching Reading Rainbow on ETV while I check some mail and stuff. Last weekend was our end of the summer ski trip up at Pickwick. Had a fun time, but didn’t get much sleep. We had an (almost) all nighter with Halo. Two systems hooked up together and lots of action. I turned it all off in the middle of the pitch black morning because I knew no one would want to get up the next day. Plus I knew I had an 8 hour drive in less than 36 hours as well. But a fun time was had by all.

After early service yesterday we loaded up the car, dropped the dog off, and hit the road. The drive to Kentucky was pretty simple for the most part. Just hit I65 and head north. But after getting off the Bluegrass Parkway, we went past our turn and were in the middle of nowhere.

Actually, once we found where we needed to be, we were (and still are) in the middle of no where. The time change got us. It was 9:40 local time and we were trying to find supper. I called a friend who used to go to school here and asked if Subway was the only thing open in Wilmore at this time of night. He informed me that Subway was ALL there was…no matter the time. Ha!

We drove down the road to another town to find a TacoBell and I was happy. The Bed & Breakfast where we’re staying is okay. Good breakfast this morning, but only a really, really slim shower in a really cramped bathroom. Turns out I could have stayed in the welcome center on campus, but oh well. More about our B&B latter.

Class was good. Lots of theory and history this morning. But the class is Postmodern Youth Ministry. We have a group presentation due on Thursday. So it comes up really quickly. But I hope to be able to talk a little more about it soon. I have a daughter on a couch wanting to go back to the room. And I want to catch a little down time on the bed as well…relax and watch some ESPN!

Well almost. It’s written. Now I need to print and proof it. It really wasn’t so hard. Once I sit down and get after it, I can peck away at the computer and do okay. But sometimes I have a hard time focusing. I guess that’s because I have to type the paper at my computer. And my computer also has loads and loads of other stuff that I can take “just 5 minutes” to look at before I get back to typing.

I stink at getting a paper done. I can sit down and write a paragraph now and then. But sitting down and getting it all done in big chunks is sometimes hard. I gotta get it done. The book was okay, but a little far reaching. But I have to get the paper done by tomorrow and still be reading a lot of pages in another book or two.

My papers end up being decent once their done, but the process needs some streamlining. This fall I’m going to be taking two classes where I’ll have papers done. That on top of work, new kid on the way, keeping up with MSU football, and MSU football….wow.

Jeremy said I made him do this…so I better follow up as well.

Appetizer
Name 3 things that you think are beautiful.
My wife, my daughter, Coach Croom (ask me again about him in December)

Soup
What was the last concert you attended?
Not been to one in soooo long….

Salad
What is one thing that frightens you about getting older?
Thinking that I might have wasted some time after time has gone by.

Main Course
Tell us about one of your funny quirks or habits.
I like to try to make people feel better about themselves by using putdowns and sarcasm.

Dessert
If you could extend one month to 50 days (instead of the normal 28, 29, 30, or 31), which month would you want to lengthen?
I’d extend February so college basketball season would last longer.

Don’t you just love going to bed on Saturday night…and then realizing that it’s really Friday night?

Today has been a bit more work that lazy, but a little of both. Woke up ate breakfast, removed the blinds from The Kid’s room, got a haircut, and then ran by the church to get my cordless drill I thought I left there. It wasn’t there so as I was leaving one of the girls from church was looking for me. She’d seen my car. She told me about a friend of her’s who’d left home last night. Got in a fight w/ his parents and split. This is a guy who’s had a load of mess in his life lately. I don’t really have much of a history w/ him at all, other than a few words here and there. We actually ate lunch yesterday. He tells me he’s wanting to straighten up, lead a clean life.

Being a small town, I get lots of advice and comments. Some are encouraging me to try to make a difference. Others are warning me that he’ll con me if given half the chance. So I pray for God’s wisdom in dealing w/ the guy. But he ended up telling me he needed some “cool off time” and then things will be okay between him and his parents. We’ll see.

Then I come home and read. I finished Liquid Church but now have no desire to write the 5 page book review of it. That will commence later tonight/tomorrow.

Hopefully get to watch Cold Mountain tonight.

After seeming to have to jump through hoops because of a mixup in the upgrade script, all is alive and well with my message board. I’m really amazed by both InsiderHosting.com and Invision Power Board.

In both cases, it was the owner who personally helped me. Now maybe I happened to catch them at a slow time or something when I needed some help. But I went ahead and aimed high when I asked for some help, and both did. These are people/companies with thousands of clients. Wow.

Anyway, Mississippi Sports Talk is now running on IPB 2.0 PF2. That means that it’s the prefinal release (2nd version). I think the actual final version will be out in a couple of weeks. Then the final skin can be implimented. Give it a polished look, with custom logo/buttons. And add some advertising as well, hopefully.

If I can make a little extra cash off of this, then it will relieve the need for The Wife to return to work after The Kid #2 gets here. So we’ll see how all that goes.