In the next few months I am planning to take in several classes and seminars. First off in March on the 14th and 15th Cotner College is hosting at First Christian Church in Hastings, a session entitled "Ministry from the Pews". There are four different subjects being offered at this session and I am still trying to decide which of the four I wish to attend.
Next in April from the 28th to the 30th, there is the annual "Prairie Pastors Conference" in Bellevue. This is a gathering of American Baptists Pastors from a four region area; ABC of the Central Region, ABC of the Dakotas, ABC of Nebraska and Mid-American Baptist Churches. I am very much looking forward to this event as it will be a great chance to meet the various Region's Executive and Associate Executive Ministers. Some of whom I have visited with on the telephone but who I have not had the pleasure of meeting in person.
In May on the 7th and 8th at Hastings College, there will be a continuing education class through Cotner College on "The History of Hell". This class I am very excited about and I have already been corresponding with the instructor Dan Deffenbagh. Dan is a professor of New Testament Theology at Hastings College and was one of my favorite teachers during our ELM program.
The last thing I have planned (thus far) this year for classes will be the ELM class on "Disciples of Christ History & Polity" that will be offered in August at Saint Benedict's Catholic Retreat near Schuyler. I've already taken the Polity Classes for the American Baptist, United Church of Christ and the Presbyterian Church, so this class will give me a background in all four denominations included in the ELM program.
In preparation for the May class on the "History of Hell" I have already purchased the textbook that Dan will have us use "The History of Hell" by Alice Turner. In addition Dan recommended to me the book "The Formation of Hell" by Alan Bernstein. The book by Bernstein is a more scholarly book and Dan thought it would be of more use to me in researching for the book that I'm trying to write.
I started this week reading the book by Turner and I am switching back and forth between reading it and the book "The Origin of Satan" by Elaine Pagels. The evolution of Satan through and outside of scripture is a fascinating phenomena and definitely a subject that very few note nor consider.
Yesterday, I was asked by one of my past students if I would consider putting together and leading a new Study Group. I told her that I would ask around and try and determine if there was enough interest to put together a new group. One of the biggest hurdles to putting together a good group is finding a mutually workable time to hold the class. I also need to try and figure out where the class might meet. Interestingly one of my friends that lives in the United Kingdom has expressed interest in joining the group via Skype. It would be great to work that out if we can but I'm afraid the time difference may be too great of a hurdle to overcome.
If any of you would like to participate (even remotely as it seems we may make the leap into using Skype, something I've never done but Maddie uses it daily so I'm sure she can teach me in short order) in a Study Group please contact me at either my e-mail address (roykarlen@juno.com) or call or text me at 402-740-4875. I've already started thinking about what the first book should be that we might use for the study. Generally in the past I've come up with 4 or 5 suggestions and let the group decide which they find the most interesting. For this new study (if it comes to pass) I plan to put together an outline and a set of study questions. These I will give to the group a week in advance so they have time to prepare for the next class.
Doing these studies takes a bit of work on my part but it has been my experience that if you really want to learn a topic, then set about teaching it and you'll ultimately be the one that learns the most.
Again if you or anyone you know might have an interest please let me know, also let me know what your schedule is and what days and times would work for you.
I have more I want to discuss this week but I'm going to let that go for another post so with this I will bid you all farewell for today.
May you all be blessed and enriched in your journey.
In His Unending and Ultimate Grace & Love,
Roy
Three weeks ago this last Friday, Gail was involved in a traffic accident in which she was not injured in any fashion, but the car I normally drive was totaled. For whatever reason she decided that morning to drive the Taurus to work instead of her Audi. Thankfully she did, as not only is the Audi smaller and the likelihood of her being injured far greater; but to us the Taurus was just another vehicle, whereas the Audi is a special little car. The accident was the result of a woman in a SUV running a red light, Gail wasn't even the first person through the green light but rather the third car so it was obvious the woman just wasn't paying attention.
Ever since the accident I have been watching for a used car to replace the Taurus. I have to say that currently the used car market in Omaha is for the most part in my opinion overpriced and most of the vehicles I looked at were in far poorer condition than I've run into in the past when looking at vehicles. Perhaps that's because this time I decided to look for either an SUV or a mini-van, and these type of vehicles tend to carry children and so the seats and carpets are filthy. It just amazes me that folks who are wanting to sell a vehicle don't take the time to bother to clean it up a bit. Yesterday morning I saw a listing for a Ford Expedition which seemed promising so I called on it and ran over to take a look. It turned out that the car was listed by a local dealer rather than an individual but I was happy to see that the interior and exterior were in excellent condition. I took it for a test drive and could find nothing wrong with the vehicle so I went back to talk to the dealer.
The dealer that had the truck was "Mid-American Auto Mart" owned by Russ Joons. I went in to talk to Russ who is a very likable fellow and we for some reason got to talking about religion rather than about the SUV he had for sale. I ended up spending about two and a half hours talking with Russ about everything from Free Will, Suffering, Grace, Evangelism, and how do we as Christians deal with Islamic Terrorism. Russ is a Youth Sunday School Teacher at a local Mega-Church (a Missouri synod Lutheran Church) and we seemed to develop an instant rapport. After talking for about an hour and a half I did say to him "well I should ask, what is your best price on the truck", he thought a second and gave me a number, but before I could respond to that he asked me another theological question. So we talked about that for another half hour before I stopped and said "well we have budgeted this amount", he thought again for a second and said "okay for you I'll do that, I've really enjoyed visiting with you". And we proceeded to talk for about another half hour until I said I really needed to get back to the shop and he offered to meet me at his shop the next day to complete the transaction on the SUV.
This morning Gail, Maddie and I went and picked up the SUV and Russ was just as cordial as the day before. We both agreed not to get started on another theological discussion as obviously Gail and Maddie wouldn't want to sit there and listen to us ramble on for hours. All in all a long story shortened, we found a good used vehicle and I couldn't recommend Russ and his services more.
But here is the the really interesting part, lately I've been feeling a little discouraged. I have not heard anything from any of the churches I've submitted resumes to and the likelihood that I'll find a pulpit to serve anytime soon seems more and more distant. Russ as I mentioned is a Youth Sunday School Teacher and he has been feeling discouraged lately about whether or not his efforts are making a difference. After our lengthy conversation I left feeling reassured that God can and does use me to aid others on their faith walk (whether or not I'm in a pulpit) and Russ left feeling that through him God does make a difference in those children's lives.
Now you have to understand that a Missouri Synod and a Liberal American Baptist are really in fairly different theological worlds, and the fact that we could sit down and discuss God and his love in depth and with no holds barred for two and a half hours and both of us leave feeling refreshed, renewed and strengthened in our faith is truly a 'GOD' thing. Praise God! I certainly hope that I have not seen the last of Russ for both of us walked away feeling that we had made a new friend in the faith.
God works in his creation through his creation, as I like to say we are His hands and feet in this world, and we all need to be in prayer searching for his will for us in serving him. Incidentally I had just finished praying for guidance from God in my search for a vehicle when I saw the listing for the Expedition on Craigslist.
I just finished on my Kindle the book "What the Hell, how did we get it so wrong? Eternity, grace and the message of love." by Jackson Baer. It's an interesting book but I must confess that I find the author's various positions on theology puzzling and inconsistent. Some of the logic he applies to hold a position similar to my own he disregards entirely in order to hold a position on another point that is entirely counter to my own position.
As I stated in a previous blog post we all are hypocrites in some area or another of our lives, but I'm always puzzled when somebody has a contradiction in their beliefs that is so blatant and obvious. However he is fair enough to point out these beliefs but doesn't pretend to insist that others must agree with him. Also the areas that I disagree with him on are primarily not those areas of theology of which attention is being focused in this book. All in all it's a book worth reading but certainly not on par with books such as "If Grace Is True" or "Love Wins".
On a completely unrelated note, the other night I was at Baker's picking up a few grocery items and noticed a product that they had on sale called "JuMex" a non-carbonated canned fruit juice. They had several different flavors and since they were only 39 cents a can I grabbed several. So far the flavor I have enjoyed the most is 'Guava'. I haven't had guava fruit since visiting Hawaii back in the late 80's but I enjoyed it back then and it was an unexpected treat to discover this product.
At about 170 calories a can I wouldn't suggest making this product a staple in one's diet, but as a treat or as a part of post-workout protein shake the product has potential. I'll have to try mixing some with banana flavored protein and see how that works.
I hope this blog post finds all that take the time to read through it well and blessed by God's Holy Spirit.
Blessings,
Roy
