this is no longer my blog

Tomorrow is the first day of the semester. We kicked off the beginning of the school year with opening worship this evening, for which I was an usher. We started out with the different classes gathering in groups out on the front lawn of the seminary. They had a prayer at the beginning of worship where they prayed for each group gathered (and the interns out on internship) and when they announced each group the group was to respond by shouting, "Hallelujah!" After the first shout, all the babies in the crowd started to cry. By the time the parents got the babies quiet, the next group shouted hallelujah and the whole thing started all over again. And we have a veritable plethora of babies on campus this year.

I got the chance to hold a couple of those babies after the worship service. One of them belongs to my good friend who coordinated the Boundary Waters trip. They were also taking pictures for the photo/phone directory that goes out to all of the students. Normally, the picture you take for your student i.d. is the one that they use your entire time at seminary, unless there is a drastic change, such as having a baby. The student who was in charge of taking the pictures was encouraging lots of people to have their pictures retaken. I wanted to get mine taken making some stupid face (if you know me, you understand), and was asking people if they thought it was a good idea. One of my friends (and the wife of a classmate) suggested I get my picture taken with their 6 month old (I think he's six months). So, I did. Then, we were supposed to write our names how we wanted them in the directory, so I wrote "Mark [last name] and Seth [last name] (not related)" So, we'll see if they actually replace my picture in the photo directory with that one. I don't see why they wouldn't, but sometimes the administration can be fun-killers.

So, class starts tomorrow at 8am. You would think I would be in bed, getting a good night's sleep for the first day of classes. However, I put off writing two papers that are due tomorrow until this evening. I also procrastinated cleaning my room, so that I won't get fined tomorrow. So I did all of that tonight. I'm unsure whether I satisfactorily completed the assignment, but it is completed. I think that the reason for the assignment is just to generate discussion about pastoral theology method on internship, so if my paper doesn't adequately discuss the issue, perhaps our discussion in class will do so. Or, perhaps, I'll fail and get booted out of seminary for being a horrible person. We'll see.