Three is a Magic Number

  Since I’m nearly done with seminary, I often get asked, “So what are you up to?   What’s next?”     The best way I can respond is by saying, “I’m on this super weird journey.” For a couple of months, I’ve wanted to write this post to explain what’s going on in my life, but this has been a hard post to get out.   Writing about my current life journey makes things really real.   As I sat down to type today, I realized I finally got enough confidence to make things really real.   So here is where the seminary ride has brought me… For as long as I can remember, my own spirituality could not be best expressed in existing versions of church.   When we were moving around early in our marriage, finding a church in which I felt connected to God was a frustrating task.   Throughout the years, I’ve had countless conversations with others in the same boat, and I’ve felt drawn to people like this, wanting to walk with them as we worked on this ...

Each semester of seminary, I post a reflection.   I’m grateful for those who have followed these posts and offered encouragement along the way.   I’m 7/8ths done, so this is my second to last post! I had two classes this semester—Senior Capstone and Social Ethics (which I took at Bethel Seminary).  This pic of line dancing in the café is so illustrative of my seminary experience. Senior Capstone was a journey down seminary-lane with people who have become incredible traveling friends.   During this class I realized that seminary has been an incredible gift to me, a gift which many people have contributed to (some knowingly and some unknowingly): the WI Conference of the United Methodist Church, the Dayton family, the alumni of United, UMC Board of Higher Ed, Paul Christensen, Patt Christensen, Jane Souhrada, and Cheryl and Rick Lamon.   I certainly got an education/training, but the greater gift was the blessing of my seminary friendships.   Every t...