Entrance Interview & “How to Contact Me This Summer”

Those of you who are my facebook friends already know this, but on Friday, I had my entrance interview with the candidacy committee.  I am happy to report that I received a positive decision, meaning I am now OFFICIALLY a candidate for ordained ministry in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.  Now I’m off to Gettysburg in mid-August!

That being said, tomorrow I leave for Camp Lutherlyn, where I’ll be all summer.  This means it’s time for my semi-annual “How to Contact Me This Summer” post with my address and other details about how to get a hold of me this summer.

First of all, if you actually need to get a hold of me, email or facebook are probably the best.  My internet access IS somewhat limited, but I should be able to respond within a few days or less.  I’d actually prefer these two to phone calls/text messages for reasons I’ll get into below.

I’ll be using my cellphone on a daily basis as part of my job as Unit Leader: coordinating with my fellow ULs, getting in touch with my supervisors, or various departmental staff, and responding to “emergency” calls from counselors and other staff members.  Unless I call or text you first, I would prefer if you didn’t try to get in touch with me via phone.  I don’t mean to sound like a jerk in saying this, but please know that you’ll be making my life and my job a lot easier by not calling/texting my cellphone.  If you absolutely do need to talk to me, either email me so I can set aside time to call you, or go ahead and call me, but please know that I’ll most likely let the call go to voicemail and it might take me a while to get back to you.

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!

If you’re heartbroken by the thought of not being able to call or text me, you can go old school and SEND ME MAIL!  Packages, letters, cards, etc. are all greatly appreciated.  They make me feel warm & fuzzy inside.

So, if you want to mail me something, using the United States Postal Service, you can use the address below:

Jonathan Adams
c/o Camp Lutherlyn
PO Box 355
Prospect, PA 16052

BUT, here’s the important thing.  That’s a post office box, UPS and FedEx don’t ship to post office boxes and need a physical address.   So, if for some reason you decide to send me a package using one of these services, you’ll need to use the following address:

Jonathan Adams
c/o Camp Lutherlyn
500 Lutherlyn Lane
Prospect, PA 16052

I’m really looking forward to spending the summer at camp again.  I’m planning to make the most of it, since this will almost certainly be my final summer on staff.  One of the things I’ll be focusing on this summer is trying to see camp through a slightly different perspective and attempting to look at it the way a Pastor might.  It should make for some interesting reflections, so we’ll see how that goes.  I’ll probably post here on the blog once or twice, but, if you were hoping for my posts to pick up now that I’m done with school, you’ll be sorely disappointed.

Thank you again to everyone who has been supportive throughout the first steps of my candidacy process.  It means the world to me to read comments on this blog, and see “likes” and comments on the stuff I post to Facebook.  I hope to continue posting throughout my seminary career (assuming the internet doesn’t come up with something to make blogs obsolete) and into my professional career as a minister, providing insight into what I’m doing and also some theological reflection.

Tomorrow, I head into the woods!

The Day

It’s been a while since I’ve posted.  I’ve been swamped, and frankly, I haven’t had much inspiration.

But today, is the day.

Today, I’ll travel from my home in Delmont to Saint Mark’s Lutheran Church in Wheeling, West Virginia.  While there, I’ll meet with the professional candidacy committee shared by the Southwestern Pennsylvania Synod and the West Virginia/Western Maryland Synod of the ELCA.

The committee will have in front of them reports from all the various steps I’ve taken through the last 9 months: my personal statement, application for candidacy, psychologist’s report, report from my initial interview with Pastor Gleason and the findings from the extensive and thorough background checks.  We’ll engage in a dialogue about my discernment, and my sense of call, and by the time I get back on the interstate to head home, I should have a decision, and will hopefully be an official candidate for ordained ministry in the ELCA.

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have some anxiety over this.  All of three days before I leave for camp for the summer, I could be told that I need to wait another year, that my plans for the fall are irrelevant.  I don’t anticipate having problems, or being held up, but it’s still something I’ve thought about.  I think I have a healthy amount of anxiety over today’s interview, I think it would be unhealthy to NOT be anxious about something this big.

And so, I ask for your thoughts and prayers.  That I might safely get to (and from) Wheeling this afternoon and that the Holy Spirit might help me express myself in answering the questions.

Lord God, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go, but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

ELCA National Youth Gathering

As I mentioned in my last post, I was recently asked to write an article for my home congregation’s church newsletter about the ELCA National Youth Gathering.  I was blessed with the good fortune to attend the youth gathering not just once but twice.  In 2006, I attended the gathering in San Antonio as a youth group member and went back in 2009 as a staff member with the ELCA’s “Gathering Volunteer Corps.”

It was interesting to write this, because it gave me an opportunity to reflect a bit on how the gathering shaped my discernment.  In my entrance essay, the gathering got a paragraph or two at most, but it was nice to get to expand on it a bit.  It was however, a bit of a challenge to incorporate the two wildly different experiences into one theme.  That being said, I’m posting it here for your reading enjoyment.

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It has now been six years since I attended my first ELCA National Youth Gathering as a youth group member in San Antonio, Texas during the summer of 2006.  Three years later in 2009, I attended the next youth gathering in New Orleans as a volunteer staff member for the event through the ELCA.  I doubt there’s a single week during the last six years that I remember nearly as well as my time spent in San Antonio and New Orleans: the things I saw, the people I met, the lessons I learned.

My two trips to the national youth gathering, both as youth and staff, helped me put my faith into perspective.  Being a Lutheran Christian is bigger than myself, bigger than Salem, bigger even than all the congregations in the world.  And while it may seem daunting at first to look at yourself merely as one of millions, it’s also reassuring to know that you are a part of a whole: a faith community much larger than yourself; we are brothers and sisters in Christ.

My first trip built an immense appreciation for what can happen when thousands come together for a common goal, but it was my second trip that really drove the point home.

The event enlists an army of people to keep everything flowing and help give the youth that life-changing experience they came for.  There are ELCA staff members, the presenters, musicians and vendors, locals hired on for the event (stagehands, EMTs, security, etc.), volunteers recruited for specific skills (nurses, production staff for stadium events and others with useful special skills) and hundreds of more flexible general volunteer who are there to fill dozens of other roles (that’s what I did!)

Although many of us met each other for the first time just days before the event, we were able to come together as a team to get the job done and host a successful youth gathering.  It was that teamwork that gave me new perspective on my faith and helped me to truly recognize that I was part of something far bigger than myself.

Six years ago, when I attended my first gathering, I had just finished my sophomore year of high school.  I was only beginning to look at college or really think about a career.  Today, my graduation from WVU is just a little under two months away.  Less than a week after my commencement ceremony, I will sit in front of our synod’s candidacy committee, hoping to be approved to begin seminary education to become a Pastor this coming fall.  There were a lot of different things that influenced me on the faith journey that led me to where I am today, and I can absolutely say that two trips to the national youth gathering was one of the things that made a major impact on me.

Not everyone will come back from the gathering wanting to go to seminary or be a Pastor, it will have a different impact on every person who goes.  But the important thing to remember is that it will have an impact.  It will be an experience our youth will carry into the rest of their lives, and they will be better for it.

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As an additional plug for my home congregation and youth group.  If you’re a runner or walker in the Greater Pittsburgh area, you should consider supporting the youth of Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church in Delmont, PA by participating in their annual RoundUp Rerun 5K/10K race.  This race is one of the friendliest in Westmoreland County, and your $15  registration fee will help send kids to this years youth gathering in New Orleans.

All things Lutheran…

I thought it would be appropriate to give an update on where I stand as far as a few different things.  So here’s what I’ve got:

• Last month, on February 28th, I did my initial structured candidacy interview with Pastor David Gleason in downtown Pittsburgh at First Lutheran Church.  First let me say, Pastor Gleason was a BLESSING to work with.  So many different parts of the candidacy process have been difficult to set up, but he worked to accommodate my schedule and got me into his office within a week of me actually getting in touch with him.  While I was a bit nervous, interviewing with him worked out more like a conversation than a formal job interview, and helped me understand a bit more about myself and my call.  Afterwards, he took the time to show me around the church (an absolutely beautiful building) and talk to me a bit about his congregation.  Really fascinating stuff.  I’m looking forward to the possibility of heading up there some Sunday in the near future to experience worship with his congregation.
• Next, somewhere around that time I received my financial aid notification from LTSG.  They will be giving me $5,500 towards my first year’s tuition.  I’m grateful for what they’re able to give me, because that’s $5,500 that won’t need to come out of my savings or out of student loans, and every little bit counts.  What’s ESPECIALLY cool about this is that they also wrote to me to tell me that they’re changing the way that they spend scholarship money under a new program called “Scholars of Abundance.”  You can read the press release linked above for a more definitive explanation, but essentially, they gave me a bit less this year than they might have historically given a person like me during their first year.  But, that “savings” will go towards my final year, and I’ll receive my fourth year of seminary tuition-free as a result of this program.  Cool beans!
• More recently, I found out that I have been officially hired to serve on summer staff at Camp Lutherlyn this year.  This will be my sixth summer on staff, and I’m really excited to be serving camp again as a Unit Leader this summer.  The three Unit Leaders serve as direct supervisors for the counselors, coordinating a lot of the day-to-day planning for camp.  At the same time however, you’re also sort of a counselor to the counselors themselves.  I really enjoyed my summer as a unit leader in 2010 because while you have to do a lot of office work and while pretty much anything “bad” that happens at camp comes across your proverbial desk, you also get to have a hands-on role in creating the camp experience, and knowing that you had a hand in all of the successes.  I’ll probably be posting more about camp as we get closer to it.  I’m really excited to have this opportunity to spend one last summer at Lutherlyn before seminary.
• Finally, I was asked to write a reflection about the National Youth Gathering for the church newsletter at my home congregation.  Personally, (to toot my own horn) I think I have a really cool perspective on the gathering having gone once as a youth and again as a volunteer staff member with the ELCA’s “Gathering Volunteer Corps.”  I’ll post the article itself tomorrow.

Five days ago, March 13th, was exactly two months until WVU commencement.  It’s hard to think that I’m so close to the end of my time here in West Virginia.  I’ll be home for Spring Break from March 23-April 1, so if you’re someone who knows me from the Pittsburgh area, don’t hesitate to get in touch and we can have lunch or something.  Thanks to everyone for your continued support and prayers.

How Lutheran Pastors end up where they do…

At least once or twice in the last few weeks, I’ve been asked about how one gets a job as a Lutheran Pastor.  What happens when you graduate seminary?  Do you have to find your own job?  Do you get assigned?  How do you know where you’ll end up?

Ironically, just last week was the annual ELCA assignment meeting, where representatives from the nine regions of the ELCA got together with information about all of the seminary students preparing for graduation.  Over the course of 2-3 days, each individual was discussed and assigned to one of the larger regions, and will, eventually, be assigned to a synod (a smaller geography region).

Fortunately, there are a lot of people who have done a MUCH better job at explaining this process than I could, so I’m simply going to point out these resources as reading for those of you who might be interested in how it all works out.

• Beginning (of the end of) the journey to first call – This three-part blog post describes how the assignment process works from the perspective of a seminarian preparing for graduation and ordination.  It describes a lot more about paperwork, but the paperwork is one of the most important parts of it all.
• From the Seminary to the Parish – This gives a bit more detail about the actual assigning to regions from the perspective of someone who attended last year’s assignment meeting, sometimes lovingly referred to as the “Bishop’s Draft.”
• ELCA Regions – This cool little map (I am after all a geographer, and love maps) gives a bit more information about the regions of the ELCA and the synods (sub-regions) that make up each region.  It’s a great way to learn a bit more about the ELCA as a whole.

Jono becomes an internet CELEBRITY

Two notes that didn’t get included in my last post, one because I simply forgot, another because it didn’t happen until today.

First and foremost, I wanted to mention that I recently learned that the candidacy committee meeting in which I am scheduled for entrance (to begin seminary education) is scheduled for May 18th in Wheeling, West Virginia.

Knowing this is a mixed blessing.  On one hand, it’s cool to know the deadline I’m working toward, AND to know that this important meeting which so heavily has an effect on my life is not scheduled over top of some other crucial thing I might need to be at.  On the other, it’s slightly terrifying knowing that if I for some reason get denied or deferred that I’ll have a very limited amount of time to figure out what my other options might be for the following year.  I’m confident that I won’t have any problems, and that if I do, other opportunities will present themselves, but it’s always a good idea to think about those “what if?” situations.

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On a completely different note, I’d like to direct your attention to the screenshot I took off my computer included below:

You’ll notice 60 page views on the busiest day for this blog, with the busiest day being TODAY.  The second busiest day, just for reference was 53 views, and that was the day I posted my “Why the Summer Intern Called the Cops” blog post.

Here’s what happened…

Julie Stecker, Associate Director of Admissions at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg received a google alert email about my most recent post regarding my decision to attend LTSG.  (Ironically enough, she’ll also undoubtedly get an email notifying her of this one as well, since I’ve mentioned LTSG).

From there, she got in touch with me via Facebook.  I quote her here without her direct permission (Julie, you know how to get in touch with me if you DO for some reason want your comments removed) because I think it adds an essential piece to this story.

We’re really excited that you’re going to be joining our community! And the blog post was great. I mean, obviously, we think so, but it presents a lot of fair and balanced view of why you chose the seminary you chose, which I think could be helpful not only for those looking at LTSG, but people discerning in general.  Would you mind if we shared it from the seminary’s facebook page?  We really do mean it when we say we want people to go to the seminary that’s best for them, even if it’s not ours, so that “feeling right” part is perfect.

In the 2 hours or so since she shared a link to my blog post, I’ve jumped from 20ish views for today to 60 and climbing.  I’m honored to have my story shared with so many different friends of the seminary, and as I told Julie during our conversation, I’m excited at the possibility that someone, somewhere along the line might benefit from reading the comments on my blog.  Furthermore, this blog is a major tool for MY continued discernment; being able to compose my thoughts in written word helps me to organize and understand them that much better.

For anyone exploring a vocation in ministry, I think you’ll all understand the idea of certain things just feeling right or clicking in just the right way.  It’s likely how you ended up starting to look at ministry as a career.  I hope that as you explore your options for seminary, you’ll take the time the find the seminary that clicks and feels right for you.

Where I’m Going, And Why…

One week ago, I received my official offer of admission from the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg.  Today, completely ignoring the fact that there is no mail service due to it being President’s Day, I returned a signed acceptance of my admission along with a deposit.  As I’ve mentioned before, seminary admission and candidacy entrance are parallel processes.  Candidacy is much more intensive, but seminary relies on candidacy, technically, any admissions decision I received from LTSG will be provisional, waiting on a positive entrance decision from the candidacy committee.

One thing that is important to note is that for seminary, it’s fairly common to only apply to one school.  This stems from the understanding that seminary is a calling, not merely a decision made on a whim.  For the ELCA seminaries, and many others, it’s not a matter of competing for a certain number of spots in any given class, it’s moreso showing that you have taken the effort to prepare yourself for theological study.

Having decided on attending seminary at Gettysburg, I wanted to take the time to discuss some of the things that I think affected that decision and helped me find LTSG to be a good fit.  The list is is no particular order, just what came to mind as I was writing.

• Family – Family has always been extremely important to me growing up.  While I tend to be pretty independent, being close to people I care about is a pretty big strength. Gettysburg is around 3 hours from my parent’s house, and just an hour from where my brother, sister-in-law and two nieces live.
• Location – Gettysburg, PA is an awesome little town.  I can’t even count the number of times I made my parents take me there growing up to see the battlefield and town.  There’s just something really cool about how it is so historically significant but still such a bustling place.  Furthermore, anything they don’t have in Gettysburg is as easy as a drive to half a dozen much larger cities nearby.
• Lutheran Context – While Lutherans the world over can find commonality in our faith, there’s still a pretty decent amount of variety.  It’s kinda like this: if you’re comparing law schools, typically it’s ultimately best to select one in the state you hope to some day practice.  Me going to Pacific Lutheran Seminary in Berkeley, CA would be kinda silly considering that I’ve been born and raised a Lutheran in Pennsylvania and hope to at least stay somewhere within this region.
• Personal References – I know a pretty decent number of Pastors and current seminarians, and have been able to hear first-hand about the Lutheran seminaries in Gettysburg, Philadelphia and Chicago as well as Trinity (in Columbus, OH) and Southern (in Columbia, SC).  I made it a point to talk to people I respect about their choices in deciding on a seminary.  No one said anything bad about any of the seminaries, but the good things I heard about Gettysburg certainly served to reinforce my own thoughts.
• Hipstoric – LTSG’s associate director of admissions Julie Stecker used this word on twitter a few weeks ago to describe LTSG’s vibe.  Both the town and seminary are historic, but also hip and innovative.
• Volunteer Opportunities - A while back, I detailed my involvement with emergency services throughout the last 4-5 years of my life, and my interest long before actually getting involved.  It certainly didn’t hurt my decision toward LTSG that it is the only seminary served by a volunteer fire department (along with volunteer EMS), giving me the opportunity to find some time to volunteer during my education.
• Lack of Distractions - Standing on Seminary Ridge, Gettysburg is quiet.  While several of the things listed above may serve as distractions to some extent, I still believe that Gettysburg is a good place for me to focus on my studies during seminary.

And the most important reason:

It just feels right.  Many of the reasons above are somewhat superficial.  Several of them are things that you could probably find at ANY seminary.  Alone, none of these reasons are really sufficient enough to be a well-formed argument suggesting LTSG over any other seminary.  Even together, the logic isn’t entirely solid.  That’s where the pathos comes into play with emotional appeal.  I spent a lot of time praying about my decision, and something about the time I’ve spent AT Gettysburg, the time I’ve spent THINKING about Gettysburg and the time I’ve spent THINKING about being AT Gettysburg just feels right.

Up next:

• I’ll be doing my initial interview with Pastor David Gleason, a member of my candidacy committee next Tuesday in Pittsburgh.
• Also, I should receive notification about my financial aid award from LTSG sometime between now and the end of the month, which will give me a good idea of where I stand as far as what I need to do to finance my education.

Thank you everyone who has shown support up until this point.  It means the world to me.

Politics and Religion

I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m a Christian.

Neither is former Presidential candidate Rick Perry.

I’m sure most of you saw his “Strong” ad, as it’s more than a month and a half old at this point.  Earlier this week, Perry withdrew his candidacy, which I don’t think was surprising to anyone given the fact that much of his campaign was a train wreck.

To be perfectly honest, the first time I saw this video, I glazed over his comment about “gays serving openly in the military.”  I guess I just misunderstood him or wasn’t really listening. To me, at first, it seemed like he was excited about servicemen and women being allowed to be openly homosexual, but I realize now that’s not where he was going with the statement.

I’m not writing today to debate that argument however, I’m moreso interested in discussing the reason I glossed over much of the video when I first watched it.

You see, with those opening lines of “I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m a Christian,” my thoughts were immediately transported to a time when I wanted to be a politician.  I’m still not opposed to public office, in fact I’ve held leadership positions in just about every organization I’ve ever belonged to, but that wasn’t what I was thinking about when I watched Rick Perry’s ad.

I started wondering how I would approach a political campaign, even for something as small as city council member, etc.  Would I talk about my religion as part of my campaign?  What about 5-10 years down the road, I will presumably be a Pastor at that point in time if I continue on the path I’m going now, would that have an effect on a campaign?  Would I ever be seen on television proclaiming to my neighbors, or even the entire country that “I’m not afraid to admit that I’m a Christian… Vote for me!”

And it was in thinking through all of this that I came to a realization about what seems to be a problem in political campaigns of late.

I have no problem with a politician openly stating their religious beliefs.  Nor do I have a problem with that politician’s decisions being affected by their religion.  But there’s a fine line between being a politician whose comfortable speaking about one’s faith, and one who’s pandering to people of faith.

While in the strictest sense of the word, Christians ARE in fact a demographic, we shouldn’t be treated as one in the American political system.  No politician should ever be discussing with their campaign manager “how can I win over the church-goers vote?”

I’m not ashamed to admit I’m a Christian, but I sure am ashamed of Christian politicians who try to flaunt their religion to win votes.

God in the Back of an Ambulance – Part 3

Finally, the long-awaited finale to this series of posts has arrived.  My apologies to those who’ve been grappling with the cliffhanger in the last post…  Life happens, and I had some other projects that needed more desperate attention.  In the past two posts, you’ve learned a lot of important things about me:

• I’m really interested in stuff related to emergency services: Fire, EMS, Law Enforcement, SAR, etc.
• I was really excited about finally being able to get my EMT license… That is, until my class got cancelled.
• As part of my call toward ministry, I have a specific interest in someday extending that ministry towards emergency services workers as a volunteer chaplain.
• I’m an optimist who fully believes that even when crap happens and you don’t get what you want, that good things can still come out of it all.

In the last post, I promised a teachable moment.  A way that I turned being upset about not being able to take my EMT class into a “glass half-full” situation…  Well, here it is, but, as always it requires just a wee bit of backstory.

My love of reading and learning has led me to constantly researching my interests.  Looking for new information and new books.  Several months ago, while looking for information about emergency services chaplains, I discovered Wally Johnston’s “Sent to Serve: the Chaplains of 9/11″ on the Amazon Kindle store.  It seemed interesting, but the fact that it was self-published made me a bit leery.  I downloaded the “Free Sample” of the first chapter as a way to remind myself to give it another look at some point to see if it might actually be worth reading, and then promptly forgot about it.

Here’s where it gets interesting.

Thursday night, my family and I were staying in our hotel in West Virginia after an afternoon of cross-country skiing, getting ready to go skiing again the next day.  Alone with my parents, I was bored, there wasn’t anything good on TV and while we had drinks and snacks, it wasn’t really helping the fact that I was wide awake without much to do.

I pulled my iPad out of my backpack, opened the Kindle app, and, very much as anticipated, I had read all of the books I had loaded on to it.  I decided to pull up the free sample I had downloaded weeks, maybe even months earlier, and started reading.

It was enthralling, I promptly finished the first chapter and had to purchase the rest of the book.  I spent 10 minutes letting it download, moving back and forth across the hotel room trying to find the place that got better signal, and thus a faster download.  By the end of the night, I had finished 3/4ths of the book.

Numerous chaplains shared their stories and experiences at Ground Zero throughout the book, and as someone who feels called to eventually minister in this sort of capacity it was absolutely fascinating, but I think anyone who has an interest in 9/11, emergency services, and faith (or any combination of the three) would also find it really interesting.

I highlighted a lot of bits and pieces throughout the book, but I think the one that resonates the most, and the one that I really needed to read was this:

I’ve had officers say to me, “Chaplain, I couldn’t do your job.”  I respond to them, “I couldn’t do yours.”

If I’m interested in emergency services, that’s my own prerogative.  I will likely continue my involvement throughout the rest of my life as time and situation allows, but if I do, it will be out of a love of public service and desire to serve the community.  I don’t need to have been a volunteer fireman to minister to firefighters, nor do I need to be an medical provider to minister to EMTs and Paramedics.  I don’t need to keep up my volunteerism to gain credibility as a chaplain, I will gain credibility as a chaplain simply by being a good chaplain.

And that’s it.  It seems like common sense, and maybe it was something I already knew myself, but reading that paragraph on that night helped drive it all home for me.  My apologies to anyone who was expecting a “Jesus lightning bolt moment” at the end of this story.  It’s not often that God truly and visibly comes to us in the wilderness, but if we have faith, I think we can all look back on our journeys and see the way the Holy Spirit has shaped where we are and who we’ve become, and that even though we didn’t seem him at the time, God IS with us in that wilderness.

God in the Back of an Ambulance – Part 2

This is Part 2 of a 3-part series drawing connections between my faith, my interest in emergency services, and the theme of what happens when things don’t go your way.  For part 1, simply scroll down (if you’re on the main page of my blog) or CLICK HERE.

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As I had mentioned in the last post, I had signed up for an EMT class just over the PA state line from where I go to school at WVU.  The class was set to start last Saturday, January 7th.

That Thursday, January 5th, while I was driving over the mountain into Canaan Valley for a day or two of skiing with my parents, I felt my phone buzz in my pocket.  A little bit later, when we arrived, I checked my voicemail, only to find that the phonecall had been from the school responsible for the EMT class.  My class had been cancelled because of low enrollment.  I wasn’t very happy.

As a side note, aren’t you glad I saved the heart-breaking part of the story for the second post?

Honestly, I’d like to think that an EMT class with only 5-6 people in it would be a lot better for the students (and their eventual patients) in the long run, but I’m aware that there is a point of diminishing returns as far as how much it costs to actually host such a class, so I’m not terribly upset.

Here’s the thing…

Throughout my life, I’ve been blessed with wonderful experiences of not getting things my way.  But how can not getting what you’ve been hoping for be a blessing?

Well you see, in high school, I really wanted to be the drum major of our high school marching band.  I had the leadership potential, and would like to believe I had the musicality, but when it came time to audition and select a candidate at the end of my sophomore year, someone else was selected.  At the time I was heart-broken, but just a few short weeks later, I was offered a job at Camp Lutherlyn, which I’ve blogged about in the past.

The responsibilities of being drum major required a lot of running around; attending various trainings and being at all of the band’s summer rehearsals.  If I had been selected drum major, I never would’ve been able to take the job at camp that first summer, and might never have worked at camp at all.

Think of the “butterfly effect” implications of me never working at camp…  During my five years on staff, I directly and indirectly worked with hundreds of kids.  I’m not naive enough to believe that I made lasting impressions on all of them, but let’s say I made an impact on at least one.  Where would he/she be today if I had never worked at camp?  Maybe they’d be in only a slightly different place, on only a slightly different path, but those campers that I interacted with would be different.

We could spend hours mind-numbingly analyzing and guessing (because it would only be a guess) how different things in the world would be if I had never worked at camp, but you could easily understand the magnitude of change by thinking about how I personally would be different.  I can tell you for a fact I wouldn’t be the same person.  I wouldn’t be as confident, as goofy, or as compassionate, and while I’ve always been fairly mature and responsible, I know for a fact that camp has boosted both of those traits infinitely over the years.  Furthermore, who KNOWS what sort of state my faith might be in.

The simple fact of the matter is that as much as I hoped and prayed to become the drum major, good things happened in spite of not getting it.  Great things, which were made possible specifically by the fact that I did NOT get what I wanted.  This isn’t the only time that such a thing has happened, I often try to see the proverbial glass as “half full” in anticipation of similar occurrences, and it’s amazing just how often your glass can turn out half full if you just have a little faith.

And so, it was with that anecdote in mind that I realized that I could not allow myself to be upset about missing out on taking an EMT class.  I knew that somewhere along the line, God was going to give me a different opportunity, a teachable moment, a way to see my glass as not only half-full but overflowing.

Who knew that moment would come so quickly… BUT, unfortunately, it doesn’t come until part 3, posted tomorrow or Friday.