Currently I am signed up for 2 summer classes. I thought about doing more, but I realized that I would ultimately be cheating myself if I tried to cram an entire semester into the summer. I’ve found that I retain a LOT less information when it is crammed into a 1 week intensive. So, for the sake of my training and education I have elected to only take two classes. On top of that, I decided to NOT take the classes that I knew I needed to devote more attention to than just one week. Cramming the Pauline Epistles into 1 week just seemed, to me, to not be adequate for my proper wrestling with the content…

So, what about you? Summer classes - the good, the bad, the ugly?

Talk about being a slacker… One measly post this week and it was merely a job ad. Hopefully I can get my act together this week, but I guess only time will tell if I can do that… Until then, since I was a slacker this week, I’ll try to make up for it in one post.

Two Cent Tuesday - Saturday Edition

Saturday is always strange for me because I never know what to expect. On any given Saturday I am as likely to have a project for work, as I am to have school work to do, as I am to have a list of honey-do’s around the house. While I always have something on my plate, I do typically try to spend at least half the day with my wife and kids. I also attempt to get a 30 minute nap in there somewhere. In the end, Saturday is like a half day off for me. Mix that with, typically, a whole day off on Sunday and I am usually ready to go come Monday. So, what’s your Saturday like?

Thrifty Thursday - Saturday Savings

Well, tomorrow is Mother’s Day and my mom happens to be in town tonight. So, in true best-mom-in-the-world fashion, she has offered to watch the kids and give Just a Gal and I a date night. As I was looking online to decide where we should go for dinner, I was reminded of a really great date resource: Restaurant.com

Restaurant.com is a great site that offers you some instant savings on dinner. The gist of the site is that you can buy a gift certificate to a restaurant at a very discounted price. Typically you can get a $10 gift certificate for $3 or a $25 gift certificate for $10. Now, you can only use one per visit, but that is a pretty nice little savings on dinner. Also, if you sign up for an account, they typically send out discount codes towards the end of the month and you can get an even greater discount. Major score on those nights.

One final note… when you buy your gift certifiate and print it out, don’t forget to take it with you! Sad to say I’ve done that more than one! Sheesh.

A link for all you would-be-Ph.D’s

Here is a great post by Sean Michale Lucas on Ministrial Students, Calling, and PhD Studies. It is incredibly insightful and is worth reading for all seminarians. Along with the original post, there is a LENGTHY comment section that I suspect will only get longer once you visit the post. Enjoy.

The semester is almost over and one of my big summer projects is going to be working on the launch of goingtoseminary.com version 2.0.  I have a bunch of ideas I’m wanting to put into place, but before I rush in and commit all this time and energy into it, I wanted to check and see what you all thought.  So, sound off… What do you like about the site?  What do you dislike?  Any ideas for things we should put into 2.0?

Some of the things I’ve been thinking about:

• Minor design tweek (nothing major, just a little change)
• Adding an online forum
• Hiring (yes, as in paying) some other seminarians to help write

Feel free to let me know what you think about those ideas, but more so, feel free to let me know what you think would be a great addition to the site!  Vod or Pod casting? Book reviews? More contests? Less Contest? Social networking? … You name it, I’ll consider it.  Now is your chance… share your two cents!

So, I have another paper to write this week. Honestly, I hate writing papers. It just doesn’t come naturally to me. I fell like I might overthink them too much or something. Anyway, I spent 7 hours in the library today working on this paper and have, basically, nothing to show for it. I’d say it takes me at least 10 to 15 hours to write an average paper. Is that normal? How long does a typical paper take you?

Well, it is about that time in the semester where I’m beginning to realize that I don’t have a lot of time left to get these term papers written. This semester I have two to write: one for Exposition of Hebrews class and one for Hermeneutics class. Thankfully (bitter-sweet) Just a Gal and the kids will be heading out this Thursday for a week with her parents. I plan to move into the Library for those 7 days and crank it out. Both papers are due in about two weeks.

So, what about you? Are you one of those good students who works on his or her paper from day one or are you one who waits till the very last minute?

Also, if there is anyone who thinks they have a really good system for approaching term papers, feel free to shoot me a message with the gist of your system. I think I might take everyone’s advice and write a post that shows different approaches you all use to writing term papers.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the role of the local church in the life of the seminarian and plan, God willing, to write some posts on it in the near future. Until then, I’d love to hear about your involvement in a local church. I’ll go ahead and show my cards, in that I believe that serving in a local church is important for all believers, especially seminarians… but more on that later.

Till then, where are you?

Well Gang, I’m still on vacation so the magical wordpress robots are pushing this post live to you. While I’m gone, I hope you are enjoying all the guest posts that our contributors are pumping out.  Since it is Two Cent Tuesday and I’m on vacation lets make this one light… where do you wish you could be on vacation right now?

See ya on Thursday.

I was encouraged this morning as my professor challenged the class to truly participate in Holy Week as a time of reflection and preparation for Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Honestly, in the busyness of things, I forgot this was Holy Week.  I wasn’t able to go to the Palm Sunday service due to Little Man and Sweet Pea both being sick, so it just kind of slipped by.  After you vote, feel free to share your thoughts on Holy Week.  Do you participate?  Why or Why not?  If you do, what do you do and what is Holy Week like for you?

So, ever since I read Terry’s blog post Adopt a Seminary Professor I’ve been mulling over the fact that it never even crossed my mind to pray for my professors. Talk about lame. These professors are giving themselves to my (our) training. Does it not make perfect sense that I should pray for God’s grace in their lives and in their families… that he would bless their teaching and guard their hearts and minds?

So, by way of provoking us all to pray, this weeks Two Cent Tuesday wants to know how often you pray for your professors. Time to be honest here… and, I’d assume for most of us, it is time to make some changes.

Also, for what it is worth, after I was challenged by Terry I decided that, at the very least, I would pray for my professors at the start of their class. Why don’t you join me?

I like stream of consciousness questions because they reveal a lot about a person and their thoughts. So, for this week’s poll I want you to answer the following question with the first word that pops in your head… ready?

What is the first word that come to mind when you hear the word seminary?

Got it, ok. Well, if it isn’t on the list you can add it… This should be fun!