The Things You Swear You Would Never Do
Monday, February 18, 2008
I'm starting to learn to erase the phrases "I would never do…" or "I could never see myself doing…" or "I wouldn't be caught dead doing…". I've done that before (see this almost 10-year-old reflection I wrote immediately following Facing Your Future, and let me know if you find it funny in any way. I do.). Stephanie and I are praying hard—not only for our baby—but for a position to open up for me. We are waiting back to hear from the school in Honduras. They have my complete application, and they should be getting back to me shortly. We shall see what will happen. I had some interesting encounters recently and other opportunities might be presenting themselves in areas a little closer to home. I've also started to apply to positions that I never thought that I would apply to. That is where this post comes from. Steph and I had a great day in Sunday School yesterday. It wasn't that the lesson was extremely provocative or deep. It was a good lesson, and I think the kids are enjoying the study we are doing. What made yesterday so good is that as I was walking out of the class afterwards, the thought ran through my mind "These kids are actually starting to like us." Our students—junior high kids—actually like us. That is huge. In the beginning, we knew that they didn't. They weren't mean; they just didn't know us and didn't care to get to know us because they didn't know if we were going to be sticking around or not. Well, we've been around for almost a year now, and they are starting to trust us. It is truly a beautiful thing. On top of that, one of the kids related his past year to the man who was born blind and Jesus healed his blindness. He said that he feels like the blind man because God has been opening up his eyes spiritually over the last year, and it has been really cool. (I'm such a weenie that I'm actually starting to tear up as I write about it…get it together Mike…). The rest of the class actually clapped when he read that. It was awesome. Please pray for us as we try to figure out where God is calling us. Spiritually, we are experiencing a great exercise in trust and patiently waiting on the Lord. When you look back on great spiritual exercises, you can begin to see what God is doing. When you are going through them, it isn't always clear what God is doing and is quite often a struggle. Please pray for our struggle.
Posted byMike Fennema posted 4:26 PM 0 comments
Pregnancy Class C
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
I often used to think of pregnancy as this magical, amazing time where you overnight developed the perfect basketball belly... ate pickles and ice cream with out adding cellulite to your thighs ...... drifted about in beautiful maternity wear .... and patted your belly gently whenever the baby kicked. I was so wrong. Although some people may have a pregnancy just like the one I mentioned - It has certainly not been the case for me, at least not yet anyway.
First of all, most people can not even tell that I am pregnant, you may ask why am I upset about this? I am nearly 16 weeks along every book I read says I should be showing now. Don't get me wrong I am thankful that I am not as big as a cow, but having a little belly would be nice at this point. Also, one thing I never thought about before this luxury was taken away from me, was the ability to self-medicate for whatever ailment or illness I had. If I was sore I would take Motrin, if I had a cold I would take Sudafed. The pregnancy has brought about headaches that I consider the worst in my life and the ONLY medicine I can take is Tylenol. I was almost in tears the day before yesterday with a headache and sinus congestion. As a PA you can imagine I looked up every drug I could think of and all of them were labeled "Pregnancy Class C." Basically, this means "we are not certain that this will harm your child, but it has not proven so well with baby mice so you probably should not try it" Oh the agony.
I hope you all can gather the hint of sarcasm in this post. I am really not loathing life, I think I have just started to realize the many sacrifices I have and will be making for this precious little one growing inside me.
On a much more serious note when I was having that agonizing headache, I finally laid my head down on the desk where I was trying to work and prayed. I often feel like I barely have the faith of an electron much less a mustard seed. However, I prayed that God would take away my headache and I told him I really was not sure in my heart that He could but I new in my mind that He was able. 15 minutes later the headache that had plagued me for 3 days was gone. The same night Mike prayed that all my cold symptoms would be gone the next day and they were. I fully understand that God did not have to do any of this and that He would still be a mighty and powerful Lord even if I was still hurting, however I also know it was nothing but God's power that enabled me to recover.
Posted bySteph posted 7:21 PM 3 comments
Did I say I was overwhelmed?
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
I thought I was overwhelmed last night. That was before the chaos that today was. I was working diligently on my essay questions for Systematic Theology 4 class that just got done last week. Our class has until the middle of March to get everything done for that class, but with all the work that has to be done during the semester, if you don't get it done as soon as possible, you are going to kill yourself. My work was interrupted by a voicemail from my good buddy Wes. How nice…he wanted to make sure I was ok….because I wasn't in class today. What?!? Class?!? I thought that classes weren't supposed to start until tomorrow! I couldn't be more wrong. Well, with one class already missed and another one already underway, I got my butt in gear and hopped into my car so that I could drive all the way to Oviedo (just a quick hour drive…no big deal) and catch the last 2 hours of my next class. And now I am here in Dr. Frame's ethics class when I thought that I would be at Orangewood sitting in on staff meetings, a place where I would much rather be. Oh well. Nothing like losing a day of being able to study to make you feel even more overwhelmed…
Posted byMike Fennema posted 2:32 PM 1 comments
Overwhelmed
Monday, February 4, 2008
As I sit and my desk, reading a rather intriguing article while I struggle to keep my eyes open—wait a minute---where did the last 20 minutes go? Ever had that happen? Well, it is happening to me now, so I thought I would quick post a blog to get me going again. For anyone out there who does not know, I'm about to enter into my last semester of seminary, and I'm getting the overwhelmed feeling. Not overwhelmed because I have so much to do over the next couple of months. Not even overwhelmed because I could be getting ordained this summer and going through that process might literally be hell on earth. I'm not even feeling overwhelmed that I am going to be a dad for the first time. I'm actually overwhelmed knowing that I'm gonna have to know stuff. I know that doesn't sound like much, but people are going to be coming up to me and asking me questions, and I'm going to be expected to know the answer. How do you know the Bible is true? Is it ok if I leave my wife? What's gonna happen at the end of time? Should women be allowed to be ordained? Why do we baptize babies? What is the meaning of life? Why do we take communion? Are there prophets still today? Am I allowed to play sports on a Sunday? Who should I vote for? And that is not even the beginning. I am sure that I can't even begin to come up with all the questions. All these questions beg to be answered, and people are going to come to me to ask many of these questions and more. I don't know if I am ready right now to handle all of them. I can just imagine my stuttering stammering tongue trying to come up with answers to everyone's questions, and I am just overwhelmed. I feel like I need all of the questions answered myself.
Posted byMike Fennema posted 10:43 PM 1 comments
