Braving The Waters

"I don't like this cold..." SERIOUSLY not even two weeks ago some of the same people who are saying this were more recently saying "I can't stand this heat, I wish it was cooler." You got your wish, quit complaining!  Why is it we are never happy in the moment? It is too hot, too cold, too boring, too silly, too dry, too wet, too overwhelming, not overwhelming enough...the list continues. As I sit in my office this afternoon, reflecting on the past few week's events (funerals, Sunday school starting, children and youth activities starting, countless meetings, and moments(very few moments) of silence) I hear in the back of my mind a voice not my own reciting the beginning of Ecclesiastes 3     1  For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:  2  a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;  3  a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break do...

10 years ago I was just beginning my second year of college; I was contemplating the change from a major in music education to religious studies with a pre-ministerial focus. On this particular day(September 11, 2011) however, I was taking my friend Juli Tilger to physical therapy for her shoulder. When we go to the center, not much therapy took place, unless you count hugging strangers as therapy...different kind of therapy than she was actually there for. Not too many weeks later Marty CashBurless helped me make the final decision to change my major to religious studies. Without even realizing it, I think, the events of 9.11.01 influenced my final decision more than I realized at the time. More than I can even imagine now. To serve in a vocation that calls me EVERYDAY to love my neighbor, to forgive 7 time 70, to turn the other cheek, to follow always in the footsteps of Christ...is challenging, frustrating, rewarding, and life giving. Sometimes I wonder if I made the right ...