Saturday, January 21, 2012

A New Semester

     Here I am again at the beginning of a new semester. I cannot believe how quickly my Christmas/J-term break flew by. This year I decided to spend my break being productive instead of just sitting around the entire three weeks(don't get me wrong I still relaxed a lot). Once Amy and I returned from our Christmas in Seattle I made a to-do-list to ensure that I would remember to actually do something productive. It has been a great break and has included a lot of walks with Amy, hanging some new pictures in our home, painting furniture for the nursery, translating the book of James from Greek to English, cleaning our carpets, rearranging furniture, journaling, quiet times with God, running, and beginning our childbirth preparation class. Overall I would say that it has been a really good break, and I feel ready for the semester to begin on Monday.
     This semester is going to be a little bit crazy with my son being born sometime around the beginning of April, my last semester of Greek, my first preaching class, and finding a job to help support our growing family. I am excited for all that I believe God has in store for me this semester and hopefully I will find time to update this blog to keep you all in the loop. Part of my requirement for this semester is the mentoring program, which includes writing a skill contract and a character contract to work on throughout the semester. I have chosen to focus my character contract on the topic of discipline. As I thought about my life and my relationship with God, I came to the conclusion that I want to lead a more disciplined life. This desire applies not only to carving out time to pray but also committing to exercising and eating healthy. My skill contract will be focused around figuring out what is the skill set that a pastor needs in order to effectively minister to his community and congregation. I will be reading a few books on pastoral leadership, as well as interviewing both pastors and church goers in order to gain their perspective on this question. It is my hope that by the end of the semester I will have a clear list of the skills that I want to pursue working on in order to become an effective pastor.
     I am looking forward to what a crazy ride this semester will be and would appreciate your prayers as I seek to do well in my classes, prepare to be a father, and possibly start a new job. I am so thankful for the season that I am in, and I look forward to seeing the many ways I believe God will stretch me and help me grow throughout this semester.


Blessings,
Jason

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