Thankfulness

I passed!

I have so much to be thankful for. There are so many of you and so many who don't know about this blog who have walked with me on this long, long, long journey.

In June 2001, I went to my pastor and told him I was being called to ordained ministry. In June 2002, I left my 20 year career as a special education teacher. In January 2003 I started at Perkins School of Theology, SMU. In June 2006, I was commissioned (clergy on probation). In June 2007 I graduated from Perkins with a M.Div. and began a three year probationary (renamed provisional period). On Dec. 1 I turned in roughly 50 pages of theology and discipleship project writing. Today, I interviewed with three groups of people on theology, call, and proclamation.

So if you are a family member, friend, professor, mentor, encourager, prayer buddy, classmate, covenant group member, lay committee member, co-worker, home church member, or one of the people who interviewed me today and were obviously rooting for me almost pulling the answers out of me, I thank God for you and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Thank you Lord, for the journey, for your presence in every step and for each of the people who helped me along the way. Amen.

Morning Prayer

Lord, help me know your presence today. I confess that I've been busy doing, preparing, thinking, studying... and have taken little time to simply be in your presence and even less to acknowledge your presence amidst my busyness. Forgive me I pray.

Quiet my mind Lord. Open my heart. Slow my breathing. Put all of my senses on Spirit alert.

Be with me Lord. Be with me Lord. Be with me Lord. Be with me Lord. Be with me Lord. Be with me Lord.

Amen.

Humble Confidence

A dear friend of mine posted on my facebook wall. She said I should go into my interviews with humble confidence. I like that. A lot. And truthfully that's about where I am right now. And that's a really good thing.

I've done all the important prep work - nails, massage, yoga, bought a new outfit. No, seriously, I've been reading and taking notes of "aha" moments over the last week or two. Yesterday, I began rereading my own writing. Many of my "aha" moments are closely related to what I wrote back in November. I think this is a good thing.

BOM recommends you bring someone because among other things it's at a retreat center 90 minutes from home. Dogblogger is taking a whole day off, just to go with me! Isn't that cool! She also shopped with me today, which is a huge sacrifice since we.both.hate.to.shop. Really. I mean it.

So thanks to Dogblogger and all of you who have been praying and offering words of encouragement. I can feel it!

Now if I can just get packed for the two, yes two trips I have next week after the interview

The ordination process is truely a process int the UMC with a minimum of three years (for my group) between comissioning (you are clergy on probation) and ordination. I'll let you all know on Monday evening if the process will end in June or continue for another year.

Interview Preparation

Hi all. For those of you who have been following, my ordination interviews are scheduled for 1:30-4:30 ish CST on Monday, Feb. 22. Prayers appreciated.

Last June, one year before what will be my ordination if I pass, I read a devotional by Bishop Robert Schnase. He talked about planning for failure and planning for success. He told about someone who does strategic planning with churches. The first thing he does is have the group imagine their plans (not yet formulated) failing and succeeding. He asks why the plans have failed or succeeded. The participants can always name the reasons their plans will fail or succeed even before the first idea is brainstormed.

I applied this to my journey toward ordination. I imagined June 2010 and I wasn't being ordained - why? Two reasons. One, in my writing, I tried to give the "right" answers and didn't take the time to explore what my answers really are. Two, I went into the interview with a spirit of fear rather than a Spirit of God accompanied confidence. Conversely, imagining I was being ordained would be the result of genuine exploration of my own theology in light of Weslyan theology and I walked into the interview heading the many scripture passages which say "Fear not, I am with you." It is truely a faith issue.

So, as the interview date nears, I am working on not letting the anxiety level creep up and to remember God got me into this mess, so God must have a plan to get me out of it. So far, so good, but we'll see how I'm doing the morning of. I'm trying to read daily to stay immersed in theology, to keep my brain thinking that way.