A Bit Sentimental I Suppose...

I really should be heading to bed right now. A few minutes ago, I put my head down on my desk and fell asleep, but promptly awoke because I was starting to get a crook in my neck. And yet, here I am, blogging at 11:30 at night because a thought came to me. It's one of those thoughts that come fleetingly and yet stay with you for several lingering moments afterward. My thought: "How strange it is, the road life takes us; the people we meet, the things we find ourselves doing that we never thought in a million years we'd do."

If you knew me in college, you would have never, ever thought I'd end up getting two masters degrees from a Lutheran seminary. You'd never thought, "I bet she's going to get a Masters of Art in the History of Christianity and a Masters of Theology in Islamic Studies and then go to another seminary to get her PhD in Medieval Church History with an emphasis in the early Crusades era in Palestine." Seriously, at that time, I would have never thought it either. But here I am, going into my second year of the Masters of Theology program at Luther Seminary, studying Islamic Studies, preparing to take the language exam at the end of the summer in German, and gathering all the materials I need to apply to other seminaries for my PhD in Medieval Church History.

It is absolutely shocking where life takes us, how we as children of God meander the many roads of life, towards our given vocations; some as pastors, some as lay leaders in the church and communities throughout the world, some as teachers and professors, others as lawyers, doctors, delivery workers, military men and women, etc., etc.

This thought process often comes to me at random, but most often when I run into, or catch up with someone I have not seen or talked to in a long time. It is exciting to see where their lives and vocations have taken them. It is fascinating to find out what has changed and what has stayed the same. As for myself, too much has happened for me to be the same person I was when I started college, too much joy and too much pain. And that is life. I like to say, "Life is just one shit storm after another, but every once in a while there is a clearing, a glimmer of hope upon the horizon, which we must cling to, hope and faith get us through it all somehow. And then the shit storm starts again after only seconds of relief, but we remember the clearing and smile."

Once Upon a Time...

Once upon a time in a land far far away called Northeast Minneapolis there lived a 27 year old Seminary student. She gave up trying to find a second part time job for the summer and is living very modestly on what she makes at her office job, which incidentally she found out on Thursday she will be losing in January, probably. On the plus side, she is finding many things to do over the summer to keep her busy. This includes but is not limited to: studying German in order to pass the language exam at the end of the summer, gathering the necessary materials for PhD applications that will be sent out in the fall, doing research for her thesis that she will be working on throughout the coming school year, saving money to return to the Holy Land in January 2010 with Luther Seminary and company, reading for fun, and hanging out with friends and her wonderful boyfriend Jason.

All in all a fun and busy summer.

And now from this point on I will be writing in the first person.

This last weekend I helped move one of my favorite people in the world and her family. The former Sarah Hartung, now Sarah Goldammer was the first person at Luther Seminary my first time around who invited me to do something outside of classes. We went and saw the Harry Potter movie that came out in the fall of 2005 and have been friends ever since. Thank you for taking a chance on me. You have no idea how much you changed my life and I will be forever grateful for it. I am excited to celebrate her ordination with her July 13th.

The people who are supposed to be doing work on the house may actually show up starting tomorrow again. I've gotten so used to them not being there, it will be hard to get back into the groove of getting up earlier than need be and get out of the house by 9 or 9:30 during the week. It will be nice to have them finally finish and get the hell out.

This past weekend has been wonderfully relaxing and I feel rejuvenated. I spent some quality time with my roommate Jen before she left for her travels to Myanmar. I am so glad she gets to go and experience all the awesome things she'll get to experience. I will miss her very much while she is gone, but she will be back in August sometime and I'll get to hear all about it, which I am very much looking forward to.

Last night, Jen, Doug, Dana and I went to the Stone Arch Bridge fireworks show in Minneapolis. It was a really good show and the company was wonderful. It is where I went the day I met Katherine Olson two years ago. I only shed a few tears and being surrounded by friends was great. I still miss you Katherine, but as the old adage goes, time does heal all wounds. Though some will never go away, the hurt will dull over time, to the point where on certain days, a moment of silence and reflection with help get one through the day. Overall a very good day! :)

Let's see, is there anything I haven't covered. Nope. Therefore I will pause for now. Until the next time, may your days be good and God be with you!