Anxiety of Unfinished Business

Waiting for Nothing to Do

There is a bit of excitement in the air as three of my boys are getting ready to start attending new schools next week.  While it's a bit hard for them to appreciate the privilege they have to study and learn, they are none-the-less excited about experiencing new things and making new friends.  I suppose it's also calming for us as parents to know that the chaos of summer will soon settle back into predictable schedules and routines.  But I can't seem to shake a haunting feeling of uneasiness - the anxiety of unfinished business.  It's a feeling of being ready to go but finding that I'm rather only waiting for nothing to do.  It stinks.

Not gonna lie, I'm pretty bummed.  I think that is a natural reaction.  Like training hard for a race and then blowing a hamstring a week before the event.  A longing sense of - just didn't get it done.  So I've had my pout and now it's time to begin focusing on - what now?

When I said that my seminary education was never about the degree or the grades, that was either true or it wasn't.  Just because I'm no longer enrolled in a seminary degree program does not preclude me from continuing to study and grow.  Sure, working hard in an accredited degree program has obvious short and long-term advantages, but what if that just isn't an option?  What alternatives are available for someone like me who has the need and desire for theological training, but lacks the time, opportunity, and means to pursue such an endeavor?

Let's explore that idea a little further.  I'm going to scamper off and do a little research to see what I can find.  I'm a bit curious to see what's available and how that compares to what I've experienced.  I'm really not sure what to expect but stay tuned for more as I begin to look into this.     

 

Hanging in There

Decision Update

Just a quick update today.  I've completed all my semester work for ST104OL Soteriology and I'm getting ready to head home for the first time in years to take a little time off.  Before heading out though, I thought I'd share that I've made a decision with the assistance of the kind staff at DTS.  Rather than withdrawing at this time, I'm going to audit a course this Fall to buy myself some time to see if I can make things work moving forward.  Still not sure what's on the horizon, but at least there's still hope.

What will I be auditing?  Well, I can't audit any course that I might end up taking as part of my degree.  So I've decided to go ahead and audit NT101OL New Testament Greek.  Basically, I'm terrible with languages, so I figure this will give me an opportunity to gain some skills I wish I had, without having to stress out over being - right, terrible with languages.  And in case you think I'm being overly hard on myself; I've been living in Poland for ten years now and I still hardly speak a lick of Polish...

Stay tuned, I'll be posting my ST104OL recap shortly after the final grades are posted.  Really couldn't say how I did in the course as much of the final grade rests on the last two assignments I submitted.  I did OK on the final exam with an 88 after answering 3 questions wrong.  I had a facepalm moment as one of the answers I got wrong was from a passage I actually taught on a few weeks back.  I think I mentioned how much I hate taking tests - yeah, it's the little details that getcha.  So look for that debrief in a week or so.

Spiritual Life and Evangelism

A Tale of Two Classes

I'm a little over a week into the Spring semester and I thought I'd post a little update on what I'm up to.  This semester I'm taking PM101OL Spiritual Life and PM102OL Evangelism.  What is surprising to me right out of the gate is how differently these courses are structured and it is obvious to me that this semester will very much be a tale of two classes.

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.

Coursework Ahead

Back to Work!

The next round of assignments became available this morning and I'll have two weeks to work through Module 2.  While I'm feeling pretty good after all I've learned in the first module, I'll need to collect myself and get after some new challenges with the coursework ahead.

Organizing the Unkown

Getting Organized

The early temptation in preparing for an online class is to just sit back and manage the tasks when they become available.  Clearly, there is an organizational structure to the class which will naturally encourage students to keep pace, but is this enough?  After all, time can be a fickle friend.  When you really need it, it always seems to turn up missing.  Therefore, it makes sense to get organized.

I honestly feel a little bit like my kids right now.  It’s binders, paper, sheet protectors, and pencils galore.  The only thing I’m really missing is a new set of clothes – although I still have a few more days…

But seriously, there is more to getting organized than just loading up on the supplies.  I’ll need to set up a schedule which includes budgeting for class time, reading, homework, and chapel.  I’m also going to need to factor in that there are a number of additional systems and resources I’m going to need to get familiar with given it’s my first semester.  So today I’ll share my thoughts on how I’m getting organized.

The Search for a Seminary

Planning My Search for Seminaries. 

With all the possibilities, how should I go about researching and finding a good seminary?  I know that once I find a school, I can use the framework I developed to make an informed decision.  But how to go about actually get started in research was an interesting challenge.

Since I really didn't have a particular school in mind when I decided to go to seminary, I needed to come up with a plan to begin searching for schools that might meet my requirements.  After giving it some thought, I came up with a few ideas to at least get me started.  Within a few short days, I had all the information I needed to begin evaluating a good list of seminaries.  Here's how I decided to do it...

Defining Goals and Limits - Part II

Designing a Plan for Selecting a Seminary

Deciding to go back to school is a big decision.  I needed to design a plan that enables me to efficiently and consistently evaluate different schools.

In formulating a plan upfront, I'll save a lot of time when I begin narrowing my school choices down.  In Part I of this post, I began discussing several questions.  So far I know; what my goals are, what kinds of programs I'm looking into, what kinds of schools I'm willing to consider, and that I'm looking for an online degree program.  Today, I'll pick up where I left off and finish discussing my seminary evaluation criteria.

Defining Goals and Limits - Part I

Back to School, Now What?

Deciding to go to school was kind of the easy part.  The challenging part is deciding which schools to actually apply to.  It became pretty obvious right up front that there is no magic solution to finding the ideal school.  However, having made the decision to go back, it's relatively easy to put a little extra work into choosing the right school.

Besides, schools are like shoes; there are many different kinds that appeal to people with many different needs and many different tastes.  I just had to start ‘trying some on’ to see which one would be the best fit.