I'm Back!

Greetings to all of you who still check this.  My deepest apologies for failing miserably over the summer.  I took the full three months as a break from any kind of writing or reading.  Now that I am back on campus, and need to get my brain back into school mood, I decided I just as well get back on track with my blogging.  Even though the three months of summer flew by, it was a good summer.  I made it safely through another summer with the Department of Roads for the State of Nebraska.  I had one or two close calls with vehicles out on the interstate, but my guardian angels where there as always.  I feel sorry for those guys some days and hope God has a special place for them in Heaven to retire to when I make it there.  I also worked for a farmer after work in the evenings and on some Saturdays.  He is an older farmer who is slowly trying to retire and sell his yard.  So I did a lot of painting, spraying, shredding, and even a little fencing, trying to get his yard ready to sell.  The job I enjoyed the most was using his John Deere 6420 with the three point shredder to shred weeds.  I mostly enjoyed it because it was in an air conditioned cab with a radio, but I also enjoyed it because it felt like actual farm work.  The last job I did for him was to pull out an entire pasture's worth of barbed wire fence.  That was fun too, although my arms still look like the barbed wire was tearing me out of the pasture instead of the other way around.  The job I liked the least was mowing.  Even though the entire state of Nebraska was in the worst drought for fifty years, he still had me mow at least once a week.  Some times old people are just stuck in their ruts.  The only reason I hated doing it so much was because there was no grass or even weeds to mow, so it was just me driving around in a dirt and dust cloud the entire time.  Then my allergies would kill me for the next three or four days.  The worst part was every time I would just start getting my allergies cleared, I would have to mow again either for him or at the State.  Oh well, I survived and came out with a little money in my pocket for books and school.
The only trip I took this summer was to Pennsylvania for a wedding.  I went to Kansas twice I guess, but I would not call that a "trip".  The trip to Pennsylvania was fun but a lot of driving for only being there one actual day.  Then attached to that trip was our mini family reunion in Illinois.  I know what your saying, "In Illinois?!"  However, that is where Nate, Kari, and the boys live now.  Even Tim came back, so the whole family was together for a few days.  It was a fun visit with everyone, especially since we are not all together that much anymore.  My fear is it will only get worse when I take my first call to who knows where.  I called my boss and told him my mother would like me to stay an extra day to have more time with family.  That lasted the rest of the summer as a joke.  Whenever one of the guys needed a day off from work, they asked me if my mommy would write them a note.
Now I am back in St. Louis and while the weather is very warm, we had three days of straight rain.  I had completely forgotten what it was like to have to worry about rain when going outside.  It was kind of nice to see a cloudy sky that actually produced rain again too.  Now it is back to hot and humid.  Although, it is still not as hot as the three weeks in June and July I spent working on culverts along the interstate.  I think that was the worst conditions I have ever worked in.  Down in a hole where absolutely no breeze or wind can reach you, baking in the sun, digging out dirt packed culverts by hand.  To be fair the back hoe dug out around the culvert, but my job was cleaning them out once they were pulled out and that was all done by hand shoveling.  Again, I survived and am just thankful the Lord has blessed me with the health and strength to be able to do that kind of work.
Classes started today.  I had four out of my five today.  However, the first day is always easy since it's just a outlook of what is ahead in the class.  On top of thirteen credits this quarter, I have three official jobs, another "job", field work church, and two weddings.  I am working as cashier again and am still doing general labor.  Those two jobs consist of ten scheduled hours a week.  I am also still doing bar tending and ushering, but those vary all the time as far as hours.  I have a new job working for the lady who is in charge of all the symposiums and conferences on campus so that should be quite a few hours a select few weeks.  My other "job" is dorm counselor or as we call them, dorm moms.  I have a monthly meeting with this, but the rest is just being active in the dorm life making sure everyone is doing OK with everything and letting guys in when they are locked out of their rooms.  For field work church I will be doing both liturgy and preaching now.  I am so nervous about preaching but trying to stay positive and telling myself I can do it.  On top of those two items, I also agreed to lead the adult Bible Study on Sundays after church.  I will be using one of Grandpa's Bible Study set of questions, but I am working through them myself first and adding to them or changing where I see fit.  I will be leading them through the book of Galatians.  The problem with this is it is only six chapters so it should be a short study, but it is such a deep and important book I am worried I will either be only scratching the surface or end up trying to finish between Thanksgiving and Christmas or even after Christmas.  I will keep you updated on how that goes.
Since it was the first day of classes, we did not get too deep into a whole lot.  However, we did go through one exercise this morning in my class Pastor as Educator that I enjoyed and decided to share with you.  We had to fill out a form explaining who we are and what we expect out of the class.  One of the parts of the form asked you to put down your favorite Bible verse.  Then you were to look up that verse and list four or five ideas or key words from that verse that explain why it fits to you so well to be your favorite.  I cheated and put down two verses.  I put Titus 3:5-8 with the key idea of "heirs of the hope of eternal life" and  Matthew 6:25-35 with the key ideas of "do not worry about food, clothes, or the future" and "do not be anxious".  In the part where I had to describe my self using these concepts I wrote: "I am a simple kind of guy who is a big day dreamer always thinking about the future and what lies ahead, but I do worry or stress about it because I know He is in charge and I am an heir of the hope of eternal life."  I also put down that because I try to not stress about the future, this makes me an easy-going kind of guy who finds it easy to get along with mostly anyone.  So now you know maybe a little more about me.  I truly do find these two verses so essential for life because if we just trust in God and know through His grace we already have eternal salvation, there is nothing to worry about other than living life for Him while we are still here.  He has given us a care-free pass to trust in Him, allowing our energy to be spent trying to help the church grow.  The only problem is our sinful nature wants us to worry.  One so we do not trust in Him, but two so we waste our energy worrying about ourselves instead of doing what He has called us to do.  If only it was as easy as I make it sound right?  I know life is stressful (trust me I have a Hebrew Exegetical this quarter, I know), but I truly do strive to trust Him and let my worries be given to Him through prayer and devotion.  So not only have I given you something to think about based on my verses, but I truly hope you will sit down and use this exercise for yourself too.  Think of your favorite Bible passage and what it says about you.  This would also make a great family or spouse devotion to use to grow closer in your faith life together.  What does your spouse's or child's favorite Bible passage say about them in your opinion as well as their own?  Just something to try and maybe even feel like you sat in on a Seminary class today.  All praise be to Him who gave us His own Word, which gives us His promises and Gospel to use in trusting in Him and living our everyday life for Him and His calling.
Dear Heavenly Father, 
I thank you so much for another safe and fun summer with many blessed memories of loved ones and good times.  I pray that you be with me as I start another academic year growing both in my faith and knowledge of You.  I also pray that You be with all my loved ones who have chosen other vocations as their life's calling to serve You. Be with them as they go about their everyday life, as we all give our fears, doubts, and worries to You, in return for Your free grace and mercy.  Be with us as we use those blessings You have given us to do Your work and help Your church grow, so that more of Your children may know Your grace and become heirs of the hope of eternal life and salvation with You.  We pray all of this through Your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ, Lord and Redeemer. Amen.    

I will continue with the Small Catechism next week.  I am moving dorm rooms this week, so I decided I did not want to unpack twice.  So most of my stuff is still packed or in storage, but when I get all settled in I will continue with Luther's explanation to our faith.