Changes

I'm horrible at this blogging thing! It's much easier for me to tweet. Micro blogging is apparently more my style. Even so, I will attempt to update this every month or so (at least!) for the next year, as some exciting things will be happening!

At the end of May, I graduated from graduate school! Yay for a shiny new masters degree.

Me with my two best friends at graduation, the Bay and City in the background!

I then drove cross-country from Northern California to Central Florida with another awesome friend! I've spent the summer at home with my family and friend doing fun things and vacationing, enjoying every moment.

A nice photo of my parents, brother and I while vacationing at the beach this summer!

I leave in about a week and a half to start my new job. I'll be moving to another country to teach English and do relief and development work for a year. I'm excited to help others while being adventurous. Several of my passions are combining, and I'm looking forward to what the next year holds! It'll be a learning experience to live in another culture, surrounded by different religions and languages. Hopefully I'll remember to update this blog and keep you all updated! 

Don't forget to check my twitter, too! Lately, my twitter account has been little more than my personal micro sports blog. :-D

Subcultures

32 days. That's all that stands between me and walking across a stage to receive my shiny new masters degree.

While I am greatly looking forward to being done with seminary schoolwork (I still have two lengthy papers to write), I will miss this cool place I've been living. I will miss the San Francisco Bay Area even though I am moving on to another neat adventure in a short time.

The Bay Area is fun. It's interesting. It's a subculture.

But it isn't the only subculture I've been living in. At the moment, I feel like I'm in a subculture within a subculture within a subculture within a subculture within a subculture. Let's see if I can unpack this for those of you who don't know this area.....

I am living in a seminary subculture here at GGBTS.
GGBTS is in the Marin subculture, which is a
subculture of the San Francisco Bay Area,
which is a subculture of California,
which is a subculture of the United States,
and the US is most certainly a subculture of the world.
(even though arguments can be made for the meshing/mashing/merging of cultures within the US because of immigration and travel.)

If I've lost you, I'm sorry. But this area is SO VERY different from anywhere else. (from anywhere else in the whole world.) If you haven't been here, you should come visit the Bay. It's pretty awesome. Be prepared to see different cultures, different views, different scenery, and different people. But enjoy it. See it for what it is.

Live your life, folks. Love God. Love People.

Priorities

Balance. Priorities. The law (in Christian/biblical terms).... These are all ideas and topics that have prompted this post and these thoughts from me today. Forgive me for rambling and throwing random thoughts out. This is not a good sample of my writing skills. :-)

As a seminary student working on a masters degree, I run across a lot of things in life (both in questions from others and in class assignments) that make me think about what priorities I have in life, what priorities I should have in life, and what priorities the Church should have. Along the same lines, what priorities should our culture and country and government have? I'm not sure there is a set answer. For every situation, priorities will change. Positions and directions will change, which defines what gets prioritized. And that's OK. It's fine. That's how life works. BUT... you have to know how to prioritize. I'm still learning. I don't think I'll ever be near perfecting it.

For a class I'm taking this semester at Golden Gate, I had to read In Search of Balance. In the paper I wrote on this book, I noted that I thought I'd learn some amazing new insights. I did not learn anything new and amazing. The book is entirely practical, and I already implement most of the things the author talks about. There is no set recipe or "fix-all" for everyone. It's a process. Life's a process.

A not-so-fun and much talked about topic in Christian circles and definitely in seminary is (dun dun dun) THE LAW. Just some random thoughts I'm going to throw out on this topic: don't make it your priority. "If keeping the law is the basis of relationship, then you have no relationship. You will violate the law." My New Testament professor, Dr. Martin, said this in class this morning as we discussed the law, keeping the law, and that sort of thing. The kind of law-keeping we discussed in class caused arguments, even in Bible times, that got people killed. (Stephen was stoned for things along these lines.) The law condemns everyone, which is why a relationship with Christ is important. Christ overcomes the cranky old law. (Galatians 3:23-29) Having a relationship with Jesus Christ is the most important thing. (duh) My lesson from this is to not prioritize arguments that don't matter. Following a set of rules isn't what "saves" you or strengthens your relationship to Christ. While there are obviously things you should and shouldn't do, there is no checklist. I'm tired of people acting like they are better and checking off their list.

Soap box time. Along these lines, a blog post has surfaced about the "Southern Baptist" stance on alcohol changing. First of all, I've heard several seminarians make comments about the stance changing. Well, don't get all excited. One comment, by one person, was made about FUTURE moves to take "rules and suggestions" out of recommendations. This hasn't happened yet. (Know the processes, people. Don't get caught in sounding ignorant because you're excited about not being under contract to not drink alcohol.) Also, every Southern Baptist church and entity is autonomous and can (and will) make its own decisions. Then again, you are your own person and have to make your own decisions according to your own conscience anyway. But, this isn't a priority for me. I'm not a fan of alcohol. Getting off my soapbox. That stuff said, I don't think drinking alcohol, in and of itself, is wrong or sinful or bad. I choose not to drink. But that's a personal choice for numerous reasons.

Another thought of something that should be prioritized: loving people. Telling people about the gospel of Jesus Christ. As our seminary president, Dr. Jeff Iorg, has been quoted saying: "Go after people, not places."  If you end up somewhere on the other side of the globe, that's great. If you live in the same town your whole life, that's ok, too. No matter where you are, love the people, and share God's love and saving grace with them.

Live your life. Love God. Love people. Follow Jesus. Those are priorities. Everything else falls into place.