Congratulations Class of 2007!

Last weekend we spent a couple days celebrating the graduation of both Becca and Sophie. Both have worked unbelievably hard for the last 3 (or 4!) years to earn their Masters of Divinity and both are just about ready to become ordained into the Presbyterian church. Sophie is looking for her first call, and Becca's committe wants her to do one more internship before looking for that first ordained call but she'll be there soon! It was a great weekend full of the banquet on Friday evening for School of Theology graduates and their families, a sleep over at Sophie's that evening, the ceremony (which was beautiful but LONG!) on Saturday morning, lunch at Sophie's apartment for hers and Becca's families after the ceremony, and then the huge party that a family from the church the 2 of them have been working at threw for them. There were 130 people there to celebrate their accomplishments--it was quite the event! Here are a bunch of photos from the weekend:

They look awfully smart! (It was quite inspiring and motivating to keep plugging away at school knowing I get to wear one of those hoods someday!) They did it!Doing a "happy dance" because they survived!The ceremony was LONG--and we had to get there an hour and a 1/2 early to get seats, so we had a lot of time to waste! So, we used Kernie to entertain us quite well! We wrote his name into the program so he was an official graduate too--he is quite the smart little monkey!A shot of the church, the graduates, and all the faculty, dressed in their full regalia (they're up on the stage...)The four of us plus Kernie post graduationThe girls with our amazing Fuller president, Dr. Mouw and his wonderful wife Phyllis.And with one of everyone's favorite professors, Dr. Doug Nason, who teaches preaching and communications.And with Dr. Margurite Shuster, systematic theology professor. Dr. Shuster is probably THE most brilliant woman on campus. She was the first woman to ever graduate with her MDiv from Fuller and has a mind that is unlike any other I've ever seen! Plus, she is unbelievably gentle and pastoral with students struggling with tough questions. After the ceremony, both families plus Pocket and I went back to Sophie's apartment where we had lunch together. By this point we hadn't had much sleep, and had already had a long morning--we were a little tired! So Becca's cousin took this shot of us crashing!Saturday night at the party they had folks sign photo frames for both Becca and Sophie as people entered the party.Bob and Dave signing the photo frames.A group of Fuller students heading into the party--Becca, Bob, Kristi, Sophie, Dave C., JillSophie, Dave C. and I--Dave was my co-intern this past year at Burbank and on the Presbyterian Student Advisory Board with both of us.

Kernie enjoying a celebratory drink--the beer was "He-brew" beer which is one of Becca's favorites--I wish I had written down the label because it's fabulous--you'll just have to look for it and read it for yourself! His uncle Sam had introduced him to the wonderful world of Margaritas when we were in Houston last time, but I think this was his first taste of beer...I think he looks like he enjoyed it.Dinner time! Our meal was catered by Los TacosThey had ordered 2 cakes, one for each of the girls, and in sticking with the butterfly theme they had them appropriately decoratedBecca got Sophie with a fist-full of cake when she wasn't paying attention.More of the Fuller crew--Steve, Christina, Josh, Rebecca, Alan, Bob, Peter, KristiLater that night after most people had left we enjoyed hanging out by their pool/hot tub--except a couple of us had forgotten our bathing suits...so Pocket, Cassie and I enjoyed just soaking our feet.Our graduates--ready to relax after a long day!

Congratulations are in order....

I'm not a hockey fan, and I'm not a huge fan of any Los Angeles sports teams (except possibly the Angels, I think I could become an angels fan), but I do feel obligated to give a shout-out to the Ducks. Congratulations to the new Stanley Cup champs!

Evan Almighty

One of the perks of being a seminary student in Los Angeles is that occasionally the opportunity will come up for random things like free movie screenings. Evan Almighty, the story of a modern day guy who has just been elected as a US congressman and receives a visit from God (Morgan Freeman). God tells him to build an ark, that a flood is coming. That's about all I'm going to tell you, you will just have to go see it yourself! It comes out later this month but Youth Specialties was hosting a free screening for pastors and youth workers in the area so that we could get excited about the movie and encourage our congregations and youth groups to attend. It is definitely worth publicizing at your churches--this was probably the cleanest movie I have seen, great for kids, funny (there were some fabulous one-liners) and some cool special effects that impressed all of us. Plus, the animals really are fabulous.

And in a Nutshell....or something a little bigger than a nutshell...

One more paper to go...the systematic theology final is over--down to one more paper for the quarter...well actually the school year around here runs from June-June, so I guess I have one paper left before I am no longer a 2nd year seminary student! Year #3 starts on June 18th with the beginning of my Hebrew intensive class for the entire summer--stay tuned I'm sure I'll have stories! Anyways, so studying for my systematics final proved to be a bit more mentally exhausting than I was originally anticipating, and taking it at 8:00 this morning was down right miserable, so I returned home at 10, changed back into my pajamas, crawled back in bed, and am still here 3 hours later. It doesn't help that it is cold and cloudy outside and my bed is so warm and cozy! So I got to thinking about this past year, and realized it has been quite the 9 months. There have been plenty of highlights and lessons learned, so here they are in no particular order:

**I discovered the wonderful world of Grey's Anatomy, which started mostly because it takes place in Seattle but grew as I became attached to the characters--and realized that the whole show is about a group of 20-somethings trying to figure out their paths in life, trying to find love, figure out who they are, and what their callings are....hmm....I wonder why we all like it so much?! (Ok so Dr. McDreamy, the drama, the relationships, and the witty writing doesn't hurt....)

**I managed to make trips to Houston in August, September, November, March, and April and have loved my time with my extended family that I have created there.

**I got to start preaching, which has been an amazing experience, and have found myself more and more confirmed in my call as a pastor.

**I discovered that laundry is a fabulous chore to do while studying because you are guaranteed a 5 minute break every 45 minutes or so when it's time to go switch loads. I think I did one load at a time all day yesterday (it had been awhile, I had a lot of loads to do!) to keep me focused and motivated to study systematics!

**I have come to love the Presbyterian Church (USA) admist all it's struggles and controversies. My class winter quarter on Presbyterian History showed me that the PC(USA) is a church that has always had debates and arguments, for it's entire history, and that is GOOD because it means that we wrestle with issues, we don't simply take things at face value and ascribe to them without debating all sides. I've learned that we may disagree on the interpreations of scripture, on hot topics such as abortion, homosexuality, or the ordination of women, but I've also learned that this is a church serious about the Great Comission and is working to make disciples. I learned that being reformed means we believe that we are constantly being reformed. God didn't stop speaking and doing new things at the Reformation--we believe the Spirit is alive, is active, and is constantly challenging us to look at things in new ways, to embrace aspects of the culture in order to enter in to dialogue with those of other denominations and religions all together. I've learned that I am VERY reformed and covenantal in my theology, which is great to be able to say confidently!

**I've discovered I love taking power naps every afternoon, they really are a wonderful thing!

**I discovered some fabulous new books this year--books that aren't tough to read, that I would highly recommend to anyone to enjoy--especially:

**I was asked to join the Company of New Pastors which I am VERY excited about. The PC(USA) recognized awhile ago the disturbing statistic that new pastors tend to leave the ministry after only an average of 5 years--this is after spending 3-4 years getting their MDiv. There were a bunch of studies done, and one wise pastor said that he didn't think it was necessarily a result of burn out or poor training, but rather something spiritual was going on. So he helped to create the Company of New Pastors (CNP). He chose 5 seminaries (4 PCUSA schools and Fuller--which is a bit scandelous to some in the denomination since Fuller is NOT one of the 9 PCUSA seminaries nation-wide but we actually graduate more PCUSA students than any other seminary besides Princeton) to participate. Each year, the school selects 10 Presbyterian students who are pursuing ordained ministry within the church and are in their 2nd year of their MDiv degree. Those 10 students meet together once a month (we met for the first time last week and will resume our monthly meetings in the fall) to discuss theology, the Presbyterian confessions, and explore the 9 ordination vows we will be asked to answer some day at our ordinations. The 10 of us also covenant to daily prayers (we are using prayers from the Presbyterian Book of Worship), daily scripture reading from the church lectionary, and daily readings from the Presbyterian book of confessions. The goal of the program is to help instill in us a habit of a personal devotional life before we end up in a church somewhere. In the fall the 10 of us from each of the 5 schools will get flown to the denominational headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky for a weekend to meet with the other students from around the country, and then the goal is to wait until we are in our future churches and they will match us with other new pastors and a mentor pastor in that new geographical location for accountability and mentoring. I am very excited about being asked to participate, but I have to admit, it was a bit crazy receiving a plaque for the wall that says "Company of Pastors" on it, but I am slowly becomming more and more used to the term and title of Pastor as I am growing in my understanding of this call. (Although when someone at church recently introduced me to a new visitor and said "this is one of our pastors" I immediately turned around to see if Ross was standing behind me. He wasn't.)

**I discovered the joys of blockbuster online and have had the chance to see some fabulous new movies....some of my new favorites are:

I'm sure there are many other lessons, experiences, memories from this past year--many of which I have written about throughout the months, so many of you have already read about them, and they aren't coming to mind right this minute :o). Thanks to all of you who faithfully check back to see what is going on here in this crazy world called seminary and for sharing this journey with me!

Arrrr!!

It's finals week. I have a systematic theology final tomorrow morning and then a 20 page research paper to write on a theology of suicide---it's not looking like the world's most exciting week that is for sure! But, on Saturday we did take a break and went to see Pirates 3, which I have to say, I enjoyed a lot more than the 2nd one...and this time we took our own little pirate with us! He was a very brave monkey during the fighting scenes---we took his eye patch off during the movie so he could see out of both eyes :o)

Pocket and Becca came too, they just opted not to pose with Orlando.

More BBQ fun!

Tonight we had our end of the year bbq to bring to a close our time together as the Student Advisory Board. The 10 of us that made up the team this year, along with several spouses headed out to our wonderful professor, Ron Kernaghan's home (he's who Kernie our monkey is named after, it was Ron that brought him back from Thailand for Sophie) where he and his wife Brynn hosted a wonderful evening for us. We had more food than we could ever have eaten, and an encouraging time of affirming one another and naming each other's gifts that we saw this year. Here are some photos from the evening:

Our two graduating students--Ginger and Sophie--congratulations you two!Lisa and Denise looking like they are trying to warm up--it did get a bit chilly when the sun went down!Ryan and AlethiaSophie and Alethia digging for the best jelly bellies--this was quite an entertaining aspect of the evening as apparently there are about 40 flavors in the bucket and not all are desirable :o)Ron (just returned from Africa this week, hence the new outfit...), Ryan, Alethia, and Sophie who is a little wary of Ron's antics--rightly so, rumor has it he has managed to dump entire shovels-full of snow down her back when she was not looking, she's learned not to let him out of her sight!Sophie is back at the jelly bellies (now a few hours later), and Chris and Lisa have joined in the hunt for the perfect flavors!Alethia and I, a dear and wonderful friend who I will miss greatly this summer! (She and Ryan leave next week for Lebanon until August...)Ryan, Alethia and I...Ryan decided to use Alethia's scarf as a prop...apparently, before deciding to model it himself. Our team: (back row) Denise, Bob, Alan, Dave, Ryan, Ron (front row): Lisa, Sophie, Sarah, Ginger, Marge