I'm not sure how we got here already....

Have you ever had one of those moments where you look back, realize a large amount of time has passed and you're not quite sure where it went? Yeah....I had one of those moments the other day, when I realized it was almost November, I just took two midterms, and I still feel a little like we just finished helping with orientation. So for those of you who I know faithfully check to find random updates from me, sorry for the lack of them this quarter! It's been a great 5 weeks since fall quarter began, classes are going well, but life just has a different feel to it these days--more relaxed, more fun. Last year was good, but the second year here at Fuller seems to be tough for a lot of people, and I think I definitely experienced that a bit. Classes get harder, the newness has worn off a bit, and the questions of "ok so why am I really here?" start to tug at people a little more than in year one. Internships are an amazing part of year 2 as well, and I absolutely loved mine, but that adds a different dimension to life as well, as people wrestle with trying to make sense of all the things learned in class with the practical life of a congregation. So last year felt long, definitely with great moments, but I'm not sure it was the most fun year of my life. This fall feels so different from that--things in the Presbyterian community seem to be functioning so much more smoothly (which absolutely lowers everyone's stress level at events!), I've had the chance to serve as a Teaching Assistant for a wonderful professor which has definitely pushed me and challenged me in several different ways, and even though two of my closest friends graduated in June and one is off-campus doing a hospital internship this quarter, I still get to see them more than I thought I would. (It helps that Sophie and Becca haven't left the area) :). Yes, I still have a ton of work to do before the quarter ends, but I'm not sure I mind so much right now, most of my work still feels fun (I'll admit that was NOT how I was feeling Monday night while trying to cram the entire history of ancient Israel into my head for my midterm on Tuesday morning!)

We haven't done all that much that is photo-worthy this quarter, but we did have a Halloween/birthday party for miss Becca recently, so here are some photos from that. The four of us went as the Fanta girls, from the soda commercials--and yes we do realize the outfits are much more conservative than the ones in the actual commercials--hey, it's us, no one should be that surprised :)

Becca, pre-party--she was attempting to wear as many colors as possible

Pocket with Becca's roommate, Hilary Clinton :)

Fanta, fanta...do you wanna?Christina & Steve--Princess Peach and Luigi from NintendoAaron came dressed as Jack Bauer from 24--so here he is saving the Fanta girls from immanent disaster

a few more photos from Pepperdine

Chuck posted a few more photos one of his students from Pepperdine took on Sunday morning and I thought I'd share them with you all. These are taken right on the Pepperdine campus...

So. Cal Ablaze

I know all of you have seen the news this past week of the horrific fires down here, and while there are no fires currently near Pasadena, we're still feeling the effects of the surrounding areas. A friend of mine, Tim, works at Malibu Presbyterian Church and posted some incredible and heart breaking photos from Sunday and Monday, as their church burned to the ground Sun. morning and then as they returned to sort through the ashes on Monday. He and another pastor went to the church super early Sun. morning when they heard of fire danger and were able to move a few belongings of staff members out of the offices before they had to evacuate so they wouldn't get trapped when the roads closed. Another friend of mine is the director of Residence Life at Pepperdine University in Malibu (across the street from the church). Pepperdine itself did not burn, but they had quite the experience of getting all the dorms evacuated early in the morning on Sunday and preparing for what might happen if the campus had burned (which as you will see in the pictures, was awfully close to happening).

Tim was standing in the sanctuary Sunday morning before evacuating--the sancutary is completely gone now. California's heroesMalibu on Sunday morning--what is usually one of the most beautiful beaches in California. While a lot of the fires are starting to be controlled (at least in the LA area, not down in San Diego) the smoke still remains awfully thick all over the entire southern california region.Pepperdine University--the flames got awfully close to campus...The cross at the center of Pepperdine's campus--photo taken/posted by Chuck Strawn

If you look closely you can see the row of chairs here in the ashes from the fellowship hall.

A firefighter found a Bible in the rubble of Malibu Pres and is presenting it the pastor here on Monday morning.

The Church of Me

We're talking a lot about the true marks of the Church in my systematic theology class right now--my midterm next week is primarily about that--what is the church? What is the purpose, essence, and roles of the church? Our professor drew our attention to a fabulous spoof done on a you tube video all about the Church of Me--which pretty much counteracts everything we believe the Church Universal really is....but for your entertainment, check out: The Church of Me.

They say all dogs go to heaven....

.....but this could be a bit much! Hope (my brother in law's sister) gave me a joke gift for Christmas last year of an evangelization tract in the form of a rubix cube type thing, with a different picture on each face of the cube that should theoretically walk the new convert from darkness to light in six easy steps (please sense the sarcasm here...). So apparently she has more than one and decided to make sure that our neph-puppy (Megan and Nathan's dog) will join us in the world to come....he seems awfully attentive--probably more so than the people this thing gets used on....

Company of New Pastors

Last weekend I had the chance to travel with 8 other Fuller students and 2 professors to Louisville, Kentucky for a gathering of the Company of New Pastors of the PC(USA). They chose 10 3rd year-MDiv students from several seminaries and flew us into the "mother ship" (Louisville is where the PCUSA headquarters are located) for a time of networking, prayer, hanging out, and educating us on this CNP program we've been selected to particpate in. So in theory, it sounds like a great idea. In actuality, all the other schools are located east of the Mississippi River (with the exception of Austin Seminary) and were able to either drive or have a short, direct flight in and out of Louisville. Fuller had a bit of a different experience. We had to be picked up for our 7 AM flight at 4:30 AM by a shuttle and taken to LAX where we flew to Cleveland. We had about a 2 1/2 hour layover scheduled in Cleveland, but that quickly turned into a 6 1/2 hour lay over when a storm moved through the east. So we hung out in Cleveland for the afternoon/evening and finally got to our hotel in Louisville about 10:30 Friday night (having completely missed the welcome dinner and opening introductions/remarks/events. Saturday morning, after morning prayer with all the students, we spent the next 6 hours with our respective seminary groups, which is fine, but we were all under the impression that we were going to network with other students and didn't really feel it was necessary to fly us all into Kentucky to hang out with the people we see all the time anyways. Saturday evening we finally met people from other schools and did have a great time hanging out in the hotel bar and exchanging stories with folks from Princeton, Dubuque, and Austin seminaries. Sunday morning we had a worship service and then left straight for the airport to begin our journey back. This time we went through Houston, where we had a 2 hour scheduled layover, which turned into a 4 1/2 hour lay over when another storm moved in. Needless to say by this time we were all pretty beat, and fairly sick of one another! We finally made it home and have spent the past few days recovering from the jet lag and time changes and early mornings :) I love the idea of CNP and I am thrilled to be part of the group, I just have no desire to return to Kentucky anytime soon!

One of the things we did while we were there though was come up with a "creative" way of introducing the other schools to life at our seminary. We didn't get very far as a group, so Christina and I took over the project and came up with the Top Ten Reasons to be Presbyterian at Fuller...and here they are for your enjoyment :)

10. Despite what the calendar says, it is always summer.

9. Only at Fuller would you find multiple Presbyterian faculty teaching reformed theology while wearing hiking boots.

8. We are known as the land of the fruits and nuts, but that's ok because we have found that munching on them really does keep the brain going at 2 am while studying for a Hebrew test!

7. We have a chance to polish our culinary skills because we have no dorms or dining halls.

6. We don't have an organ anywhere on campus...but we do have a large collection of guitars which can be easily transported to the beach.

5. Only one type of footwear is needed year-round...sandals.

4. You can learn an entire chapter of Greek or Hebrew vocabulary while crawling from one exit to the next on the LA freeways.

3. You can be studying Calvin at Starbucks, look up, and see Jennifer Aniston.

2. You all know Arnold as the Terminator...we know him as the Governator.

1. Where else can you study indigenous supralapsarian hermeneutics in 70 languages while hanging ten at Malibu??

The absolutely beautiful sunrise from my hotel room--I got a room on the 21st floor so I had an amazing view of the Ohio River and the east!The Ohio River
Lunch on Saturday at Joe's Crab Shack--Bob about to enjoy his feast!Ryan's lunchBob and PeterOur guys headed back to the hotelThe entrace to the headquarters of the Presbyterian Center--with a statue of a horse (which are all over Louisville!) and decorated with symbols of peaceThe Fuller crew--(back from left to right): Jessica, Dr. Shuster, Ryan, Ron, Dave, Cedar, Christina, me, Bob, PeterThe class of 2008 Company of New PastorsJessica & Cedar stuck in the Houston airport just wanting to go home!

and you all are like living stones...

This past weekend I had the wonderful privilege of traveling up to Sacramento to be part of a building dedication at the church I was raised in. It was a quick trip, but it was definitely worth it! The congregation began thinking, praying, and talking about building a new fellowship hall/ multipurpose facility years ago--between 8 and 10 years ago when we first started talking about it. I remember getting to serve on the "vision committee" when I was a senior in high school, where we got to talk about where we saw this congregation going in the next several years, and one of the things we talked a lot about was the need for a new facility where the whole congregation could gather together for fellowship, meals, sports, meetings, bible classes etc. After many years of fundraising, planning, and then finally tearing down our old building and beginning construction almost two years ago, the beautiful new congregational life center is finally finished! It was a pretty incredible project for a congregation of our size to take on, but people stayed faithful in their support and are now going to have a wonderful place to gather for years to come.

The guest pastor who preached at the dedication service Sunday afternoon talked about how we are living stones, how a building is not just made up of boards and nails, but that each of us is a living stone, gathered together to be the body of Christ and to love those around us. It reminded me of the many times in the Old Testament where the Israelites are commanded to collect 12 stones and build an altar to Yahweh in remembrance of something Yahweh has done for them. We find Yahweh telling Moses to have the people build an altar in Exodus, and perhaps the most well known of the altar passages in Joshua 4 where they are instructed to take 12 stones from the Jordan in remembrance of Yahweh drying up the river for the people to cross over. This theme of remembrance carries through the entire Old Testament as the people are called to remember over and over again all that Yahweh has done. Then in 1 Peter 2, Peter writes to the exiles that THEY are now the LIVING stones. Jesus was the ultimate living stone, and through Him the rest of us are stones gathered together built into "a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood..." I was thinking about that a lot this weekend and realized that so many of the people that were there to celebrate are very much the living stones that have helped build up my life in Christ. It was as a part of this community that I first learned how much I was loved, how much God loved me, and how to worship Him. In my family ministry class I took a few years ago, the professor said that kids walk away from the church when they are old enough to do so because no where in their lives were they ever deeply and authentically connected to the larger community of faith. Instead they might have a relationship with one or two youth workers or volunteers, but once they graduate and are out on their own they don't have those larger community connections to keep them grounded in the family of faith beyond the youth room. I praise God over and over again that I never went to a church that sent the kids out during the service, that told the teenagers to go down the hall to the other wing of the building, or that held "family events" but really meant only the "normal nuclear families" were invited, as is the case at so many churches today. Rather I was raised in a congregation where from the time I was born, I stood alongside people so much older than I was in worship, I grew up going forward to receive a blessing at the communion table until I was old enough to partake of the sacrament myself, and I still remember how excited I was when at the age of 4 I had finally figured out all the words to the Lord's Prayer and could stand and pray along with the rest of the community -- sure I didn't understand all the words but even then I knew that I was participating in something far larger and more important than I could ever comprehend. As I've spent the last several years critiquing ways ministry is done, worship is structured, and programs are run, I find myself more and more grateful for where I was raised. Sure, there were things that bugged me, and still do about the church, but I grew up knowing that I belonged, that I was cared for by people who had no relation to me, and how now, at the age of 26, I can still walk back into a fellowship hall full of the same people who have been there longer than I have been alive, and know that I can be at home. And that is infinitely more important than being raised in a place with the best music, coolest programs, and highest youth group attendance.

And what would a posting by me be with out a few photos? :)

I flew in Saturday night and stayed with our good family friends, Toni and Ron. They hosted a dinner for my parents (who flew in from Mn for the weekend), and for Hilary and Phyllis, life long friends of the family. Here are Hilary and I hanging out. and my mom, Phyllis and Toni--friends for the last 22 years!Sunday afternoon waiting outside the doors of the new building for the formal dedication--Pastor Russ, the acolytes and the cross-bearerThe school kids did a great job of keeping their feet off the newly hydro-seeded lawn!the executive director of our congregation, Chad, about to open the doorsYay! Time to show off the years of hard work to everyone!Before the hoards of people came in

the word BUILD is stenciled along one wall--it's an acroynm for the church's focus/mission statementOne of the two changing rooms/locker rooms located on either side of the stagethe little kids room complete with their own puppet theaterDad's opening remarks (he was asked to be the MC for the night)dinner time! Volunteers made a wonderful meal of steaks, potatoes, salad, peach cobbler, and apple crisp.The standing ovation everyone gave Arnold Meyer, the chair of the building committe for the last several years who endured more stress and heart ache and pressure than anyone and who stuck with it (despite having written his resignation letter 3 times throughout the whole process) and saw the building through to the end. Arnold's remarksthe clean up--collecting the center pieces on the stagewell it would be a cute photo of mom and dad if it didn't end up blurry