It's official. Starting Tuesday I will be starting classes again. I am taking Beginning German and Intermediate German this summer to prepare for the classes I will be taking in the fall. Apparently I have been given permission from the Graduate Studies guru Paul Lokken to take PhD level classes in case I decide to reapply before January 1st.
Yet another decision I have to make in the coming months. Is this all adult life is? Constantly making decisions. Well we always have to make decisions but I feel lately that the decisions I am needing to make are all life changing ones. Not the daily decisions of whether I feel like eating cereal or a bagel for breakfast but serious ones.
Here are my options right now when it comes to the future of my education:
1) Do the two years of MTh classes, graduate and apply for PhD programs at Universities and Seminaries I have not already applied to;
2) Do the year of classes as an MTh student but at the PhD level and resubmit my application for PhD before January 1st.
If I choose option #2, the classes I take as an MTh student I am told will transfer as long as they are PhD level and I will only have three years left until I graduate.
If I choose option #1 I will have six more years of schooling; two for my MTh degree and four for my PhD.
Decisions, decisions...ugh...
Sometimes I wish there was a guide I could follow that just told me all the answers. But nope. That would not be living. That would be monotony and a very boring existence. Though it would make things a lot easier, life is not a straight road. There are many many forks in the road and we have to decide which direction to take. If it doesn't work out then we take a different road.
At times like these I always love to read the poem "The Road Less Traveled." Because it is so true. At least in my life it rings very true.
I have never taken the easy way, not for not trying. I have always followed my "gut" for lack of a better word right now. Because of this I have met many wonderful people, and not so wonderful people, and have experienced things I never thought I would (both good and bad.) Taking a risk is sometimes the best thing a person can do for themselves. I feel really bad for people who are too afraid to because they end up missing out on life and the adventures it has to offer.
Taking a risk is like saying, "Ok Big G, Big JC, and my man the HS, I'm throwing in the towel of control and letting you take the lead." Sometimes there is nothing more freeing than letting go and just following your gut. It may not turn out the way you thought it would; it could turn out really great or really bad, but it is comforting to know that three persons have got your back no matter what.
Even when people you care about let you down, they got your back. When things don't turn out the way you wanted they got your back...that is why it is ok to let go and take a risk...because they got your back.
And therefore, without further ado, I am following my gut, taking a risk, and resubmitting my application for the PhD program at Luther Seminary which if accepted I will be admitted for starting fall 2009. It will be nice to have a year of classes behind me when I start. And the best part is, is that if I do them at the right class level they will all transfer over and I'll only have three years to go. If it doesn't work out, I have a back up plan unless I end up following another road less traveled.
Stay tuned...
