A Little Hiatus

Back At It

It's been a little while since I last posted, but I'm still here chipping away at my school work.  I've surrendered a little bit of my work ahead cushion, but I think I'm in decent shape for the next couple of weeks.  Lots of things to catch up on.

Wrapping Up Module 7

I've really taken my time with Module 7 but to be fair, there wasn't that much to do.  It was far less involved than Module 6.  I think the cooler weather, the time change in Europe, and the rainy misery we've been suffering through just got me a little lazy.  I still have one more learning activity to wrap up, but I should be all set to do so by tomorrow.  Besides, I'm already way ahead with my readings for Module 8.

Into Everyone's Life, A Little Rain Must Fall

Well, I hit my first semi-major hiccup in my online journey: chapel attendance reporting. 

Chapel attendance is recorded in a separate system at DTS and there are very narrow windows allotted for reporting.  I missed the deadline for reporting and won't get credit for attendance through the first half of the semester.  Kind of feels like getting a scratch on a brand new car.

Obviously, this is a little frustrating but does not present a significant setback.  However, I'll need to take steps to prevent this from happening again in the future.  I've already marked my personal calendar with the second-half date to ensure this doesn't happen again.  But it's not all bad, I've learned a lot in working with the chapel staff to ensure my issues don't impact any other students.

Students were sent several email reminders via the chapel office and via the student publication Kerygma.  Part of the problem was, I never received either.  Online students receive an online version of the student publication which did not include the information, and apparently, I was not on the distribution list for chapel office emails.  This struck me as a little bit weird as DTS has been excellent about sending reminders for every other thing happening at the school.  Bummer for me.

I don't know if any other online students were impacted by these oversights or not but the chapel staff was very friendly and accommodating in tracking down and identifying the issues.  At the end of the day, it was my responsibility to report my attendance regardless of the reminders so I'll have to take the ding for the first half of the semester.  The good news is that while this is an important requirement, missing chapel attendance won't get me in too much hot water unless it becomes a pattern during my studies.  I'm OK with that and I'm determined to not let this happen again.

The Future is Unclear

It looks as though I'll need to suspend my seminary studies next semester by taking a leave of absence.  I'm not really happy about this but I think it's the right decision given some uncertainty in my life at this time.  I have a rather serious health issue that I'm dealing with and it looks like it will drag into next year and I won't have the time or energy to invest in studies along with family and work.

While I've been very comfortable with the pace and time investment of my class and have already set aside my tuition for next semester, I just don't know if I'm going to feel up to studying much early next year.  The tuition isn't cheap and if I don't think I'll be able to give this the appropriate focus, it's better to wait.  It's my hope that I'll be able to pick back up next Fall, or perhaps even this Summer if things go well with my treatment.

Who knows, maybe I'll blog about my trials next year as I reset and gear up to getting back into things as soon as possible.

Luckily, I'm far enough in my class this semester that I don't think I'll have any major issues with finishing BE101.  But stay tuned...