Good Ole Jon

 

 

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via garfield minus garfield on 6/30/08

 

 

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I Like Theology

I think I'm finally beginning to figure out what I would want to study if I were to go to graduate school: theology. I first would get my M.Div (Master's of Divinity--that's basically the one-size-fits-all pastor's graduate degree) and then go for graduate work in Christian theology. I've come to this conclusion for a couple of different reasons.

I love philosophy; it was my major for a while (of course then again, what wasn't?). I've sat in at least three of our philosophy prof's offices at Bethel and just chatted away about stuff. I've taken numerous classes and written dozens of pages. But I fear if I were to study it for too long I would just end up an agnostic. There's too many smart people, moral people, Christian people with good theories and ideas that all disagree with each other. I would just end up reading them all and throwing my hands up in there and giving up. And philosophy by itself waxes too impractical.

I also love Biblical studies. That too was a major I've had. But quite frankly I just don't have the passion for the languages that I would need to excel in graduate work for it. Don't get me wrong--I think Greek and Hebrew are immensely helpful, useful, and darn near necessary for a deciphering this two- to four-thousand year old document we call Scripture. But I just don't excel in that area.

But theology seems like a perfect mix. I think it's practical, useful, and necessary (at least for me) to have well-rounded faith and relationship with God. Though "penal substitutionary atonement," "Dispensationalism," and "Covenant Theology" probably don't mean a whole lot to my readers, I think they're immensely important to have a clear view of Truth, which fictional character Palmer Joss of the movie Contact, calls the quest of both religion and science, i.e. a search for that which is true.

My other reason I want to study are share my love of theology is because people say things that imply the academic or intellectual side of Christianity has nothing to do with the work of the Holy Spirit in the believer. I think that this is just silly. It was Jesus Himself who added "mind" to Deut. 6:4, "You shall love the Lord your God with your heart, soul, and strength." In Mark 12:30 Jesus says, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength." Therefore academia isn't poison to Christianity. In fact, it's an important - if not crucial -  part of it.

I'm not suggesting that we all become theologians, philsophers, or Greek scholars. But we should be loving God with our mind, whatever that means for each of us, and as a pastor-to-be, I want to be a part of helping people do that.

Yuck

I think it really hit me for the first time today that I’m not going back to Bethel come fall. I mean, my head has known that for a long time. I graduated… walked, got my diploma, and all that comes with it. But until recently, it’s just felt like any other summer. My job at Hallmark doesn’t help. It’s part time, and definitely NOT a career. Therefore, it simply feels like another summer job. When I was working tonight, I was thinking about how I might be there for a long time. Not indefinitely, of course, our wedding will change that. But, it’s still longer than I like to think. Don’t get me wrong, I like it there, and it’s been fine. It’s just nothing challenging, nothing that fits.

Of course, the worst part of this realization about Bethel is that friends separate. This thought started when I was talking with Anne the other day. As I was apologizing for not calling in a while, she made mention that we all have jobs and are busy. True, but that just can’t become a habit. And Melsa is moving to Arizona in a couple weeks. Not just visiting, not just leaving for the summer… she’ll be gone.

Sorry, this is a really depressing post. But I’m feeling sad tonight, and needed to let it out somehow. I am excited about moving on and getting into real life. And I can’t describe how excited I am to marry Anthony this January. But a big part of me is still grieving the loss of Bethel.

That is all.

Ramblings on a Good Day

It’s late. And it’s been a long time since I’ve posted on a blog. The combination does not lend itself to a noteworthy entry. Therefore, I must ask you to forgive the lack of eloquence.
That said, I find myself needing to explain the post this late at night. Well, for one, Anthony has been bugging me to write on the blog since he created it. So this is partially for you, Babe. Also, I seem to be in a reflective mood as a result of a really good day. Some of the day’s goodness is due to pettiness; I didn’t have to work today, I got to sleep in, and I went shopping and splurged on a few items (something I haven’t done in a long time).

The rest of its goodness is due to things of more significance. I was able to spend most of the day with Little One- that in itself is enough to make me very happy, not to mention the good conversations we had and the laughs we had, too. I had some time this evening to catch up on some emails and spend some time catching up with various people. I was also able to spend most of the evening with my fiance. We watched the DVD of Rob Bell’s tour, Everything is Spiritual. It’s one of Anthony’s latest buys… we won’t go into the quirks of his spending habits… The DVD is an hour and 20 minutes of Rob Bell lecturing, and I have not seen the time go by faster. It was a beautiful reminder of our God who orchestrates everything. Our God who transcends our understanding, who creates, who is so much bigger than the boxes we put Him in. It was a beautiful reminder that we are both spiritual and physical beings, whether we recognize it or not. For a little while, I was able to set aside all the bazillion thoughts I have running through my mind at any given moment and focus on the fact that God exists and He’s working. He’s working amidst our busyness. All I can do is pray that I can have the eyes to see that more often and that my spirit can tune to His more and more every day.

After watching the DVD, Anthony and I sat down to look at some honeymoon options. To give you a brief overview of earlier events, Anthony has a relative who has connections with time shares. His mom had been talking to him and had given us a list of about 10 options to look into with prices and websites. So we started looking through different resorts and places to go. And I was just so amazed. I wasn’t sure we would be able to do anything nice for our honeymoon, though I have been dreaming of warm weather in the middle of January. So here we are through the blessing of Anthony’s mom and his relative, Tom, looking at really nice resorts that fall into our price range. And this is simply one example of many… parts of our wedding just falling into place. God is in the midst of it all. Maybe that sounds corny. Maybe it’s only because I just watched a spiritual sermon. Or maybe I’m seeing God at work in our lives. Who knows? It’s only the ramblings of a young woman who should have gone to bed hours ago.

I think that’s enough for one night. For now, I’m off to bed

Another Day, Another Blog

You know, now that I think about it, I’ve gone through an absurd amount of blogs. Xanga (antparrott, pastorparrott, anthonyparrott), Blogger, and now wordpress. I think somewhere in the back of my mind, if I were to be honest, I think that starting a new blog will help me blog more. And for a while it does. But then what.

But now I have a blog I’ll be sharing with my fiancee (is it fiANcee, or fianCEE?). And that’s exciting.
So anyway, I have to figure out how to use this crazy wordpress stuff, so I’ll be back later, ‘k? Okay