Today I began to feel the pressure of a full-time ministry position with 6 hours of graduate classes piled on top.
The semester has begun. I have a paper due this Sunday on a book that I’ve ordered but is not yet in my possession. I can’t just drive over to the bookstore and get it. I live in Texas. I have to wait. Then, when the book finally does come I’ll have to find the time to read it, and read it well… with a college small group to lead on Tuesday night, youth group to lead on Wednesday night and a board meeting on Thursday. This is going to be fun. It’s a challenge. Challenges are fun, right?
When I complain my husband just laughs at me because he knows I thrive on chaos. He knows I enjoy the challenge of having too much to do. It’s a dangerous pleasure, really.
As much as I am dreading the deadline of this paper, I am looking forward to my classes this semester. I’m going to be studying 1&2 Thessalonians with the guidance of Andy Johnson, and that is a wonderful thing. Of all the classes I have taken at NTS, the classes I have taken with Andy have been both the most challenging and the most rewarding. Take one. Whatever books of the Bible you study with him they will come alive in a way you could have never imagined.
I’m also taking Theology and Practice of Worship with Keith Schwanz. I really enjoyed the Preaching class he taught with Tim Keel (from Jacob’s Well) last spring. This will be one of those classes that forces you to think through what you prefer to just experience, but once you’ve gotten through the pain of thinking through it, reassessing it, and most likely altering your practices, the experience is all the better for it.
It should be a good semester. Difficult, but good.
Posted on
Tue, September 9, 2008
by Jen Chapman