Sarah and Trey done got married...

Hi all-

So I have been in Iowa these last couple of days to celebrate the marriage of Sarah and Trey, two of my friends from Seminary. It's my first time to the state, and all I can say is that First Pres Fort Dodge is very nice. What I mean by that is, that's really all I have seen of Iowa. Fort Dodge is a small town and I have also been to the mall for Sarah's first manicure, the liquor store to pick up champagne and the gas station. Other than that, I have either been at the house with the Feltmans or at the church. Don't get me wrong, I have had a good time getting to know the Hegars, Feltmans and all the other assorted families and I can fold cloth napkins like a pro now. Its just that when the Iowans ask me if I like their state, I don't know if I can answer them fully. They seem to very hospitable and the kids well behaved, so if the folks I've met over the last couple of days are a representation of the state, then I say it's a pretty good place to be.

But, I digress, what I really wanted to say is that their wedding was pretty amazing and I am so glad that I got to be a part of it and so happy for Sarah and Trey. I took a lot of pix up until the point of the wedding, but, that's where it ended unfortunately. But, here are a few pictures of the big day and one from the rehearsal the night before:

Merry Christmas!

Hi all-
Just wanted to take a moment to wish you a merry Christmas.
Last night at the 11pm service at my home church, First Pres Garner, I got to assist in worship and one of the things that I got to do was to help serve communion. (Don't worry BoO was followed, Jim, the pastor presided over the table). My mom, brother and sister in law (as well as several other people who I have known for most of my life) were in attendance, so, for the first time in my life, I got to offer the body of Christ to them- which was a pretty amazing gift for me.
Anyways- I will post more later- but wanted to tell whomever may read this, that I was thinking about you and wanted to wish you the very best of days.
Take care,
C

Babies (Part 2)

So- yesterday, mom and I journeyed down to Wilmington to see the Gales and to meet Laura. She is a cute baby. It was also really good to catch up with my old roommate Tom also. Today we are going to go to the NC Art museum and see the impressionist exhibit. Should be fun...

Here's your chance to see another cute baby...

Babies.... (part one)

Hi all-

So one of these consequences of getting older, is that more and more of my friends seem to be procreating and having babies. Tonight- I got to catch up with Margot and Sarah (friends of mine since our sophomore year in high school when we met at a prebytery retreat).... and Scott and Jon.... and their babies Connor and Matthew. (by the way- I think certain credit should be given to me, a little at least in the case of Matthew's existence- after all, I introduced Sarah to Jon... I'm just sayin- I can't wait to tell the kid when he gets old enough to understand what I am saying that he wouldn't be there if it weren't for me ;-> )

So- you want to see some pix of some adorable folks????

ok.

here you go.... and tomorrow- I get to meet Laura, Tom's little girl, (that will be the part 2)...

CANES WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi all-

Well, I went to the Canes game last night with my dear friend Donovan- and after a gut wrenching 50 minutes of play- the Canes pulled off an amazing come from behind victory- with only two minutes left they scored twice to bring the game into overtime and then Scott Walker scored with a minute 36 left to play. It wasn't the most pretty game I have seen them play- but the win is always fun. In fact, at practice today Laviolette was working the boys on some fundamentals- face-offs, odd man rushes, and defensive zoning.

I am getting to catch up with people that I care about so that is making this vacation very cool.

More later, but here are two pix from last night-

Take care,

Carrie

it's always good to be home...

Hi all-

In my short time home, I have already had the opportunity to visit with both the church I worked for and my home church and seen a good number of folks because of it. Additionally, I went to the Hurricanes' practice today and I finally got Erik Cole's signature on my sweater- which means I now have the complete 2006 Stanley Cup Team signatures. Yay!

Anyways- here's a couple of pix from this morning... which by the way- is one of the reasons I love the Hurricanes, all their practices are open to the public and they appreciate their fans...

The End of Finals Week!

I know some of you have may have been wondering why I haven't updated the blog recently- well it is in part, because through out the countless hours I have logged on this blessed machine this week, the majority of them have been used writing finals. All five of my classes decided to have papers be the final assessment of the class, which means that a good sixty pages or so of writing had to be done on part...

The good news is that tomorrow morning I get to hop on a plane and head east to relax at home for a few days and catch up with some family and friends, of which I am most excited about.

And it's not to say that there hasn't still been some fun this week either. Last night, I headed down to Houston with a few friends and got to see my first ever NFL game. The Houston Texans played the Denver Broncos.... Here are a couple of pix:

Anyways- I look forward to seeing a lot of you real soon. And to those here in Austin- well, if you aren't going to Indonesia- I will see you in Feb!

Take care and I will post again sooner than later again-

C

Writting, running and rocking...

Hi all-
Thought I would do another quick update on the ole blog- nothing like some good ole fashioned procrastination on a Saturday afternoon...
Later this day, I am going to do a "fun run" (more like fun walk for me) at Zilker Park with about 8 other seminary students and 5,000 other Austinites for the annual Trail of Lights run. It should be fun and a little warm- I think they said it was supposed to get up to the mid eighties here....
Lately- I have been doing some writing (for school- papers, applications that sort of thing) and when I haven't been being a student, well.... I have been celebrating my friend Sarah's upcoming wedding with an overnight trip to some one's lake house with her and Melissa and Jamie- very low key, and then last night we had her bacherlorette party that took place all over Austin as we sent the ladies on a Trey and Sarah's couple hood journey scavenger hunt and then had a party afterwards.
I have also learned a few things this week... Want to know what I learned???
1) Orange Juice is supposed to be drunk, not used to give cell phones a bath...
2) Orange juice is more powerful than a cell phone...
3) One should NOT buy Guitar Hero at end of semester crunch time.
4) A can of fake snow holds very little actual fake snow.
5) Red Velvet Cheesecake from Mozarts is mmmmm mmmmm mmmmm good.

And how did I come to be so wisdomnous you might ask???
Well friends I'll tell you- experience is a great teacher. On Tuesday morning, I had a glass of orange juice with my breakfast at camp and didn't finish it. Since it was a cold day, I decided to just set it in my camp chair's cup holder, thinking I would drink it later. Well, much, much later, like getting ready to go to bed 17 hours later, I also noticed that my cell phone which doubles as my watch, needed it's battery charged. And so I plugged it in and set it in my chair's cup holder that was closest to my cot. And uhm, well, that just happened to be the same cup holder that I had set my forgotten about orange juice in, and well, lets just say- the OJ short circuited my phone. Thankfully I had bought the extended warranty on my phone and Verizon swapped it out for me at no charge and down loaded all my contacts into the refurbished phone they replaced mine with.
The rest of the acquired knowledge is pretty self-explanatory, so I won't bother you with the details. Sufficient to say, i am still working on learning #3- Guitar Hero does kick a lot of ass and it is hard to put down....

More later. Take care all.
-C

wireless at Fish Camp

In one of the many changes at Fish Camp this year (some 22 months since I was last here)- they now have wireless internet. So I decided to put some pix online from today...

What they are: the sign at the camp, the house I worked on today, and the group at Pat O

Briens down town after dinner...

Anyways- hope you are all doing well. Take care- C

Happy New (Liturgical) Year (A)!

Hi all-

getting ready to head to Cheapside Presbyterian to worship with them and then back to New Orleans to work with some folks at Trinity Ave Pres on house re-building, so I don't have much time to update- sorry that it's been a few days... But I wanted to wish you all a blessed and patient advent season.



Also- congrats to the APTS football team. We won our polity bowl yesterday 39-19.



I will write more soon.

Take care.

C

Cruisin....

Hi all-

Got back a little while ago from my cruise to Cozumel with my dad and step-mom. It was a nice little vacation despite the weather being less than stellar. However, it was a beautiful day Saturday, which was perfect, since that was our shore day. In Mexico, we went on a taxi tour of half the island, stopped by the remnants of a city that was five thousand years old, and saw the beautiful beaches. After the tour we then had some good food and then hopped on a glass bottom boat and went snorkeling/ shallow diving at three different reefs. That was very cool. The cruise itself was pretty relaxing and the food was very yummy and very much... Anyways- its now back to the last minute crunch of finals... Yay???

Here are some pix from the trip:

Upon Arrival in Cozumel:

Very Blue Water...Anyone see Titantic???

Cozumel is very nice...But, I still love N.O.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Greetings from New Orleans. Got in yesterday evening and met my dad and step mother at our hotel. We then took the obligatory stroll down Bourbon St. It is good to be back in this city. This place is definitely unique and while I don't think I would want to live here (like I used to) I do enjoy spending short time here on occasion. Later today we will be hopping on the cruise ship to head down to Cozumel. But not before a trip down to the French Market and the cleaned up Cafe Domout...
Well anyways- just wanted to wish you all a very happy and blessed Thanksgiving. Hope you get to spend this day with people you love.

weekends are nice.

Hi all-

After a very stressful week, it was nice just to hang out with friends and have some good clean fun. To that end, Derek, Jose, Melissa and I (three sem. buddies) headed up to Dallas on Friday and had dinner at the House of Blues and then went and watched the Stars play the Avalanche. It was good to see NHL hockey- even if it wasn't the Canes... On Saturday, we cooked dinner and watched the Blues Brothers at my apartment. I also went with my friend Vanessa D to help her shop for baby stuff since she and her husband are going to be having twins. We registered them at Target. I felt very overwhelmed and I was just there helping out... Today, to cap off the weekend, I went and saw "Dan In Real Life," it was a very good movie despite Dane Cook being in it. (His last film was horrible). Anyways- here are a couple of pix... Enjoy, more later....

Hurricanes

Hi all-


I thought that today I would simply write about one of my favorite things... Carolina Hurricanes Hockey.

They are off to an incredible start. At 18 games in they are only behind Ottawa (with former Cane in net, Gerber playing phenomenally I might add) and the Red Wings in points. Not only that, they are leading the league in goals scored, power play goals and shots on goals. They currently (based on individual points going into tonights win) have the most offensive depth in the entire league with 5 of the NHL top points people, and with Justin's two goals, they now already have 6 people with over 20 points (goals and assists) on the team. What this shows I think is that a) the Hurricanes really opperate on a team mentality, they aren't reliant on one or two people (like the Wings and Ottowa) to carry the weight of the team. I just read an update on Erik Cole, he was cleared by the doctors in FL to fly with the team, his CT scan came back negative and they were just taking percautions on the ice tonight- although, I would be willing to bet he will most likely sit the next game out...

They are really looking good this season, and it was fun to finally be able to watch them play (thanks Derek and V/S). Go Canes!

Other than that, these next few days look to be BUSY BUSY BUSY with the Barth Symposium and school. On Friday, a few of us are heading up to Dallas to catch the Stars/Avs game and I am sort of holding that as the carrot to keep me going this week.

Hope you are all well.

Take care!

When an Institution Dies...

On Tuesday one of my friends died of a massive heart attack. Travis was one of those people who sort of defines a place. You know, when a person is the institution. I can think of four people at TAPC who sort of fit this bill, and Travis is one of them. Travis was a loud, oppionated, powerful man. He sat on all the right committees, practiced the law and you always knew where you stood with him. When you work on a staff that is in a sense controlled by the people you serve, he is the type of person you want in your corner.
Travis was also kind, generous and a wonderful conversationalist. He was passionate about his family and his church, the Tarheels and life.
It is going to take a while I think for TAPC to recover from this loss. My prayers are with all of them and for anyone who knew him. I will miss him when I come to visit.
***
I can't believe we already well into November, and that there are only three weeks of classes left. This semester has been a whirlwind. Some good news- my friend Jamie found out that the latest testings for cancerous cells came back negative and she is hopefully once again cancer free!

Kickball tomorrow. I am also going to try and give platelets for the first time tomorrow. YAY!
and then me and the library have an intimate date for the rest of the weekend.

And then, the madness of next week will engulf.

Peace,

Carrie

Are We Grateful?

Hi all-
So the end of a very unusual weekend is fast approaching and I have been struck with this thought/conviction/question of gratefulness.
In part, I am thinking of this because I recently received a check for several hundred dollars in the mail from my little church back home. They had taken a love offering for me on pastor appreciation Sunday (unbeknownst to me) as a way to remind me of their support and belief in me. It arrived at a time that I was pretty low in funds, in part due to the cost of replacing my identity and things stolen (which I am pretty sure they don't know about)... And it took me over a week to write a thank you note back...
I say that I am grateful to be here at seminary, to be given the opportunity to spend three years in study of the Word, of doctrine, theology, pastoral care, etc. and so often my actions and my lovely procrastination do not reflect that.
So, I don't know, what does it mean to be grateful? what does that look like? I am beginning to really believe that in some ways it is reflected in our accountability of our own actions and the actions of others. Perhaps it is time to hang up some of my childish ways, because lately, this call to be faithful, to be faithful above all else, is weighing heavily on my heart.
A couple of years ago, I decided to do a little experiment. I took the church directory of TAPC (the church that I worked at) and decided to write each family, each member a letter. Mostly the letters said that I was thinking of them and praying for them. I am not sure why I did that, except, it felt like it was the right thing to do. (I think it stemmed from the pastors and my weekly Bible Study and prayer time). It took me several days to write the few hundred families, (sometimes I didn't know the people I was writing) and it was amazing to see the response. Some, said that the notes came at the perfect time, that he or she was in need of prayers. I learned a lot about the members of my faith community. Some got a little defensive and their guards were raised, they asked questions like, "What did you hear" and said "I'm not sick, you must have me confused with so and so..." Then had to explain that I just writing to say that I cared, that I think people need prayers in sickness but also in health.
Couple that with another time in my life, one when I was the student body vice president at my college. Because of that position, I had an office in the student union. And in my office, I had a painting of the cross on Easter day that a friend had painted me for high school graduation. Anyways, one of the students walked into my office to talk to me about something and noticing the painting, said to me "I didn't realize you were a Christian..."
Those words have haunted me since, am I living my life that speaks of whose I am in my actions, or am I too caught up in trying to prove my life can be lived with sinning boldly to prove that being Christian is cool, and not to be confined to people's images of the ultra-conservative fundamental movement where people don't swear, don't drink, don't dance. I seem to be fighting myself more and more, and I keep being drawn to this idea of faithfulness. One of my professors said in class that we are called to the Cross, we are called death, to resurrection, we are called to be faithful.
Are we grateful? Grateful for the love of Christ? Grateful for a Lord who loves us enough to sacrifice his heart for us? Grateful for all the opportunities we are presented with in our day to day lives to build up the body of Christ? Or do we take it for granted?
I don't know, but I hope and pray that I can live my life outwardly as someone who is grateful for the gift of love, for this opportunity, to be a part of this broken world. I hope that there will never again be a day where someone is shocked to learn that I am a child of God... and grateful for that.

All Saints Day

November 1st is among other things, All Saints Day, a day that helps us to remember all our loved ones that have passed on. Since last year this time, three special people to me have passed on and I just wanted to take a moment to remember them this day:
My Grandmother, Dorothy Finch, a woman who loved her family fiercely and always made me feel like I was someone special. She was possibly one of the sweetest women I know and was a ridiculously good cook of all things southern...
Kelly Joyner, who took his life before it had really begun. He was a kind, carring young man whose face would light up whenever he saw me, I miss that. I miss him.
Linda Ross-Thaxton, who, after battling cancer, succombed early this spring. She and her husband, showed us all how to be joyous, to be thankful, how to live life no matter what proverbial cards one is dealt. She was the definition of compassion.

It is a blessing to have had the opportunity to share in their lives.

Take care one and all----
Carrie

oh and PS. I am going to Hong Kong!

Something I read...

All right-
In my efforts to find some resources on the topic of stewardship, I stopped into our school's little book store and purchased the book Giving to God by Mark Allan Powell. As I was walking home I decided to flip randomly through the book and just sort of read the writing style, and I happened on a section where the author was talking about visisting the inactive members in his congregation and he found consistently that in their reasons why they stopped attending worship was that "the church had failed to do what they thought it should do for them." The paragraphs that followed this realization were something that spoke to me, and I thought I would share them here:
"(p20)- This suprised me because when I was a child my family went to church on Sunday morning, my mother used to tell us, "We are going to worship God." I'm not sure if it ever occurred to me that I was supposed to get anything out of it. Certainly, that wasn't the reason we went. I didn't know very much about church or about what it all meant, but even at a very young age I knew that it wasn't about me- at least, it wasn't all about me. These people didn't come from all over town Sunday after Sunday just to get together to meet my needs. No. They came to worship God.
"Six days a week God blesses us," my mother would say, "and on Sundays we give thanks." That has always stuck with me, although I know that there is more to it than that. Pastors and worship leaders work very hard to provide their congregations with services that they hope will be meaningful and inspirational to all who come. Of course. But I still think my mother was right: the main reason for going to church is not to get our needs met; the main reason, the most important reason, for going to church is to worship God.
And now that I am (a lot) older, I have discovered something else. When people do this- when they come to church to worship God- something wonderful happens. They invariably discover that they are much more likely to get something out of the experience that if they had come for any other reason. I don't know why this is- maybe God has a sense of irony. Or maybe the point is that one of our greatest needs is to worship God. We don't always know this, but it is true nonetheless, and when we quit focusing on ourselves and focus instead on worshiping the God who is good to us, one of our deepest needs is met. We just didn't know, perhaps, that that was what we needed." (End quote)

What do you think?

from last Sunday

Hi all-
I am in the library procrastinating (as usual) writting a paper, so I thought (perhaps for my own edification and perhaps because I know at least my dad would appreciate it) that I would put the written form of the sermon I gave last Sunday on-line. Now, on the given day I did deviate/ add on to the words below, but this is the general gist of the text if you will....
Hope you are all having a wonderful day.
Carrie

P.S. the scripture for the text is: Jeremiah 31:27-34 and 2nd Timothy 3:14-4:5

“Why We Proclaim”
A Sermon for First Presbyterian, Cameron, Texas
October 21, 2007


When something really good happens in your life what do you do? Do you celebrate in silence this wonderful occasion? Do you simply pat yourself on the back and whisper in your head well done? No. On those really important days we usually want to shout it from the mountain tops and share the good news with our friends. If you are married, think about your wedding day- you invite your families and friends to share in the joyous occasion. If you are a parent, the day your child was born did you not want to tell everyone, look at my beautiful little bundle of joy? Or perhaps, the day you brought home your first pay check or even your first report card with straight A’s did you not want to share the sense of accomplishment with some one? (I am pretty sure that that day is coming for me- I can just feel it. Straight As….)

What I am trying to say is that when something good happens to us, for the most part, we are compelled to share the feeling of joy with others. It’s almost like we can’t help ourselves. We have to tell someone. And this friends, is where we pick up with our scripture today. In the book of Jeremiah we have God making a new covenant with God’s people, that all should know the Lord, from the least to greatest, and all sins will be blot out. The Lord says there will be a day when all will know who God is and there will be a day when the law of the Lord is written on the hearts of all. Now that is some good news.

Can you imagine the day when everyone proclaims that our God, the God of Israel, the God of Judah, the God of you and I, is also the God of every heart beat out there in the world? Can you imagine the day when we can look to the north, to the south, to the east and west, when the one beside us and in front of us, is a brother or sister in Christ? Can you imagine a day where there is no war, no fighting about whose land is whose, a day where there is no hunger because there would be an outpouring of support from the least to the greatest to care for each other? Can you imagine the day when there is no fear to walk alone at night or even the day when you would never be lonely?

That day, that glorious day, is the day that all proclaim that Jesus is Lord. That is the day when we not only proclaim it, but when we live out the lives that we are called to live as children of the covenant. And when that day comes, can you imagine the celebration? Everyone bringing something to the party, and there is an abundance of food and riches because we want to share in the feast of thanksgiving.

And this day, the one that we can only seem to imagine right now, is the day that Paul is urging Timothy to work towards, this is the day that God is urging for each one of us to work towards. Because if we believe in the hope that one day every knee will bow and every tear will be wiped away, then we have to start living into that hope. Let me say that again, if we believe in the hope of the kingdom of God and of Jesus Christ, we have to live that reality into being. We have to share the good news with the world. We have to proclaim the message of the gospel not only with our lips but with our actions and our deeds.

And this is no easy task. But we are not called as Christians to simply say to ourselves that we believe in Christ, we have to actually believe in Christ and in the power and love that Christ has over us and for us. We are called to be Christ followers, and friends, that means, we are called to the cross. God does not call us to be powerful, God calls us to be faithful, to persevere. And if we can live faithfully, if we can always present the Gospel in truth and love, not only when it is convenient for us and in our time frame, but in every thing we say and do, then friends, that glorious day of the Kingdom of God, is a day closer to reality.

The world around us, the world that we are a part of, is in desperate need for that reality. We cannot turn a blind eye nor can we escape the pain and suffering that surrounds us in our newspapers, television sets, on the internet, and even in our daily commutes to and from home.

To go out and proclaim that Jesus is Lord means to go out and work. It means kindness and charity. It means talking with others about your faith. It means sharing your time, your money, your energy and your gifts to build up the body of Christ. It means sacrifice. And that’s a hard pill to swallow sometimes.

After all, there are plenty of people out there, and sad to say, even plenty of churches out there, who tell you other wise. We are told that we have to be prosperous, we have to be wealthy, that we have to have status and power and we are even told that God wants that for us too. There are so many people who want to sell you faith for the purpose of your own reward here on earth. If you are faithful enough then you will be rewarded with a promotion, a higher income, a beautiful house. If you only believe enough, pray enough, then whatever you want, will come true. And if it doesn’t? then you are not living as just and righteous as you can. Because God only wants good things for you. Sheesh, Who doesn’t want that? If you wonder why these churches that preach this message are growing, it’s not hard to understand. We live in a society that teaches us the same values, increase, increase, increase. But I think when Jesus is being sold as a prescription for improving your own life, as a fix-all for your ills and troubles, then we are missing the truth of Jesus as Christ, of Jesus as savior of all.

Jesus died and rose again so that we might live freed from sin. Jesus died and rose again to heal the gap between human imperfection and God’s perfection. Jesus died and rose again so that the we might return to the covenant God made for us and with us. We are created to be in relationship, in fellowship with our creator and our fellow man. We are created to be stewards of the earth and each other.It’s not that God doesn’t want us to be happy or successful, to prosper, it’s just that, that is not the point of our being. The point of our being is to live faithfully. Our being is to live prayerfully and in service to our Lord. We are called to be ministers to each other, living as the hands and feet of Christ. And that’s it. And that’s more than enough. To live for Christ, to live to build up the body of Christ, to proclaim Jesus as king in all that we do is joyful. So shout it from the mountain tops, invite your friends and loved ones to share in this joyous day with you, to live into the hope of the reality of Christ. And that my friends, is why we proclaim. Amen.

Out of the wild...

Hi all-

Tonight I went and saw the movie "Into the Wild" which is the perfect way to have capped off my fall break. (Which by the way is a very good movie with a couple of slow parts, but overall two thumbs up). And what a fall break it has been.

I wound up traveling half way across the country (vertically this time) with Monica, a friend from school, to the Salt Ridge Mountain Plains in the Bridger-Teton National forest in Wyoming. We were about 30 miles north of Cokesville on a mountain 8600 feet up. We stayed at a hunting camp in a tent with her sister who is working as the chef for the hunters and guides. There were 8 elk hunters, 6 guides and us there. Not to mention about 30 or so horses and as of the first night there 6 inches of snow. It made for quite an adventure and I am still reveling at the visual beauty of parts of the country I had never seen until this experience. We got back last night and this morning I drove into Cameron, TX to lead worship at the Presbyterian church there which was a cool experience as well. All in all, not a bad way to spend the break (and I am including my brother and his wife's visit in this summation).

Anyways- here are some of the pix from the road and the mountain. Hope you enjoy. I have like 182 of them to pick from, so if you want to see more, just let me know.

We only live once...

Hi all-

Fall break started this weekend and it came at a perfect time. So far, it has been a nice break, with my brother and his wife coming down for a quick visit.

While they were here we went to my kickball game (which we totally dominated- yeah Old School) and then spent yesterday being all outdoorsy and had a picnic lunch with Melissa and her parents up at Mt. Bonell and then went kyacking on the river.

They headed back to Dallas after that to continue visiting Ruth's parents.

I, on the other hand, am getting ready to head out of town on an adventure as well, a road trip to go camping for a few days in Wyoming. It will be quite the adventure, esp. since I have never seen this part of the country.

I hope you all have a good and restful week as well whatever you do and oh, one more thing...

GO CANES!!! They are off to a great start this season and I am loving it!

New Friends, Old Friends, Good Friends, Bad Friends???

Hi all-
Thought I would give this ole blog an update of the visual variety...
This has been a good week, and I am getting excited about the week off in just one more day (1:50pm, not that I am kepping up). What made this a good week you ask? Well, see, there was a joint birthday party that I went to Monday night that involved some random "shock therapy" and there has been a group visiting the campus this week that has brought me much joy.
To begin, Monica and Joseph (two of my seminary friends) both have birthdays this week so we gathered to celebrate. Now, Joseph has two dogs and he also has an invisible fence, which means that his two dogs have shock collars. Now, some brilliant friend of mine decided it would be funny (which it was) to test the shock value of the collar and so for 20 minutes or so, different people took turns getting shocked and I took turns laughing at them. The whole evening was very cool, bu that definately has to be one for the high-light reels.
Also, the group I mentioned, is the Young Urban Pastors Group (they call themselves the YUPpies) has been in town. It's a group of fifteen pastors from arround the country who work in urban settings in a variety of contexts. They come together once a year in different cities to share in fellowship and support. Well, my good friend Byron Wade is a part of the group, so it has been a great joy getting to catch up with him these last few days. In addition, Jerord Lowry who I had met at Trienium (and who works for New Hope) is a part of the group as well so I have gotten the chance to get to know him better. Yesterday, they offered a forum/discussion where students were invited to basically come and ask them any questions we might have about ministry (with understanding of their individual contexts). Well, it took place at the same time as Greek, so I decided to skip class (horror I know) to attend. And I think, that might have been one of the best decissions I have made in a long time. Only one other student showed up so I essentially had two hours of 15 pastors at my disposal to address questions that I had and found the time to be most fruitful/rewarding. I also decided to join them last night at a club to see this 80s cover band, the Spazmatics, and we rocked out to the wee hours. All of this is to say, is that I have enjoyed this week before fall break a lot. Thankfully, I haven't had too much in the way of papers this week so I have been able to connect to these folks.
Anyways, here are a few pics from this week...

until next time-
C

I'm a Tri-Tri...

Hi all-

So, Melissa and I completed our last Triathlon for the year. (atleast that I am currently scheduled to participate in) and we realized since this was our third one, we can call ourselves Tri-Triathletes... [groan]. Seriously, since I seemed to be too busy to do as much training as I liked, I was worried about my performance today. I had hoped to shave 15 minutes off my time from the Danskin- especially since we were racing the same course.

Well I am pleased to report that I actually completed this one 21 minutes faster! That's right. It's a good feeling, I am not going to lie. I finnished the race with an overall time of 2 hours and 27 minutes. Now, Melissa finished in like an hour and 48 minutes, but she's also a lot more hard core than me... I improved time in each of the events, my swim went from 24 minutes to 19.56, my bike from 1hr, 16m to 1hr, 7m and my run from 58 min to 53 min. Like I said, it's a good feeling to have improved.

Also- since this was the innaugural longhorn tri we got to take a picture with an actual longhorn. Silly, but fun.

Other than that, the Canes looked impressive last night, winning 4-1 over the Penguins. If they play well tonight, I think it should bode well for the season. A strong start atleast. And, they finally got around to resigning the beautiful David Tannabe to a two year contract, so I am a pretty happy person this afternoon!

Anyways- here are some pics from this morning...

Note: After the race... I also realized that Kenny and I share the same awkward smile :)

ohh the joys of October

October is here- which is a good thing primarily for two reasons. One the start of hockey season has happened and even though my Canes fell 3-2 in Over Time tonight- I am excited to be able to listen to the games via my computer once again. it sounded like there were a ton of penalties on both sides of the ice which is never a good thing if you are the team receiving them. At least they picked up a point tonight... Secondly, in like 9 days fall break will be here and i will have a blessed week off, a week to play catch up and to spend some time not thinking about school... Bonus this year my brother and Ruth will be stopping by for a day on their trip to visit Ruth's parents in Dallas...

Saturday I will participate in my last triathlon for the year. I have been very poor in my training as of late, so I will probably get my hind area kicked but it will still be fun.

Two more things for this little update and then I really must write a paper... (there seems to be a never ending array of papers waiting for me).

So here's this link: http://play.blogger.com/ that I read about as I was signing in to do the update, it basically plays a slide show of the pictures that people are currently uploading onto their blog sites, which is kind of cool (after I got over my initial sense of privacy violation- I am sure that somewhere in the agreement to start a blog we agreed to let pictures be shown like this- i don't know- i didn't read it...) in that the stories behind the pictures are absent, you are just left to imagine what or why the pictures are there. So I spent some good procrastination minutes just watching... like I said, kind of cool.

The last thing I wanted to share is this picture:

This is someone I know- Matt, a Byzantine Priest receiving communion from the Pope. We (Matt and I) reconnected recently through the joys of facebook and in light of this above picture we have started dialoging about the meaning of Eucharist. Now I know, some of you might be wondering how I know a Byzatine Priest who lives in Italy- it's random sure--- so here's the abbreviated story- several years ago, Matt worked for me at Presbyterian Point as a counselor when he was in college. I had a wonderfully ecclesiatical staff and the rest, as they say, is history.... ohhh except this- when we head to Indonesia in January, I will hopefully get to catch up with Kaylor- who lives there now and who also worked for me that same summer.... small world... one of the many reasons i love the church.

Take care- Pastoral Counseling is calling...