All The People You Meet Along The Way... Part Two

Hello all! I hope this Christmas season has been a wonderful one for you. Aside from spending a lot of time catching up with people back home, I've been thinking about all the people you meet in seminary and I've come up with another category. Although I don't think anyone would willingly admit to being in this group, I can name at least five people off the top of my head who are perfect for it. Here goes nothing...


Next we have: "We Don't Know We're Not Fun in the Real World"-ers

So, so often I have the joy of hearing people say, "People think I'm quiet and reserved, but they don't know how crazy, eccentric, and hilarious I really am!" To their credit-- these people are all of things in exactly the way you would expect an exceptionally conservative, right-wing republican who grew up in the mid-west to be. I would describe these people as being "seminary fun" but not "real world fun." It's kind of like watching Sixth Sense: "I see boring people. They're everywhere. They don't know they're boring..." And truly, they don't. These sweet, sweet people don't seem to understand that for as funny as their jokes are for after-church Sunday brunch small talk, they aren't going to have much success using the same lines with anyone who hasn't grown up in the church. There people think dispensationalist jokes are funny... and no one else does. Yet, it doesn't make them any less lovable. Sometimes, it just makes me want to hug them a little bit more. Trust me, I need all the affirmation I can get-- people don't think I'm funny most of the time. I'm working on being okay with that.

Do you know anyone like this?

All The People You Meet Along The Way... Part One

Seminary is an eclectic place when it comes to the people is draws. Although they all have Jesus in common (I mean... right?) they have another thing in common as well-- they are generally a little crazy in some respect, and I am certainly no exception to that rule. Throughout my year and half in seminary, I've started lumping people into a few main categories. Over time I'll explore and explain some of them. Alright, for starters....

First up we have: The Second Chance at Marriage-ers

If at first you don't succeed-- go to grad school and try again. Now, there are some people who legitimately go to seminary because they want to learn (ahem, myself) yet it's not that uncommon to stumble upon someone who has ulterior motives. On more than one occasion I've seen conversations end the moment someone finds out that the other person is "seriously dating,""courting," or engaged. It always ends with one of those because early on in seminary everyone learns to do the ring check. In the normal world, this is more of the full body "damn you're fine" check. But in this world, you can't even get to that level without first looking for a wedding ring. On the plus side, I've seen even the most jaded (and awkward) of hearts find love in this peculiar place.

Stay tuned later this week for another segment of "All The People You Meet Along The Way"

Hello There World!

As we can all guess, but some of know for certain-- seminary is a weird place.

I certainly stand out there. Maybe it's my tattoos. Maybe it's my piercings. Maybe it's my unintentionally inappropriately short dresses and the fact that in the average conversation I drop one to twenty expletives (on average). At the very least, I know for certain that I have this ever present battle going on in my head-- I can't tell if I'm normal among the masses, or if I stand out because I'm such a hot mess. If I were a betting woman, I'd say it was more on me than anyone else.

I wanted to start this blog for a few reasons:
-This is a safe place for the downtrodden in life. It will get better (learn from my ungainly experiences... or at least my hope in such)
-A guidebook (seminary is not for the faint of heart-- let me help you through it)
-A place to grow (sometimes, you just need to be vulnerable and okay with being the weirdo)

So now, let the journey commence!