A Brief Life Update

And now, for those interested, a life update.

Sarah and I still live in Princeton, NJ. I’m heading into my final year at Princeton Theological Seminary. I added a second masters to my degree program, so it’s taking me four years to graduate instead of three. When I walk down the aisle of the University Chapel next May I’ll have both an MDiv and a Master of Arts in Christian Education.

I’m currently preparing materials for applying to PhD programs in the fall. I hope to focus on Education, Formation and Discipleship. I’m interested in honesty and autobiography in pastoral leadership, the training of future ministers of the word and sacrament, and the use of fiction and literature in education.

And that last paragraph sounded like a personal ad. I also enjoy sunset walks on the beach.

On the intellectual front, I’ve been working through the massive stacks of books I’ve acquired over the last three years from various book sales. So far this summer I have read the first two books in Andrew Peterson’s Wingfeather Saga; The Gathering Storm, the latest book in the Wheel of Time series, which was begun by Robert Jordan and is being finished by Brandon Sanderson; Richard Osmer’s books Teaching for Faith and A Teachable Spirit; Dorothy L. Sayer’s The Mind of the Maker; Frederick Buechner’s The Wizard’s Tide; Daniel Migliore’s The Power of God and the Gods of Power; Markus Bockmuehl’s Seeing the Word; Marva Dawn’s Keeping the Sabbath Wholly; N.T. Wright’s Simply Christian; Devin Brown’s Inside Prince Caspian; and Richard Lanham’s Revising Prose. I’ve also been slowly reading through Wendell Berry’s poetry collection A Timbered Choir. I’m currently completely enthralled with Marilynne Robinson’s latest novel Home, which is a companion piece to her Pulitzer-Prize-winning Gilead, one of my favorites.

Sarah and I have not done much travelling this summer, as I was taking German in the first half and am now preparing for the GRE. We did make our way to Northern Ireland to visit our friend Jared, who has been serving a church there over the last year. Our time with Jared was relaxing, edifying, laughter-filled, song-filled and just an overall great time. One of the best vacations I’ve ever taken. Also, there were castles. And a monument to C.S. Lewis.

We drove back to Michigan in July to visit Sarah’s family and attend the wedding of one of my former residents (who is a current friend). Yes, that last sentence was syntactically awkward. While there, Sarah’s mom surprised us with a Wii Fit Plus gaming system. I decided that I needed to lose weight this summer and have been working on the Wii for nearly a month, along with watching my portions. I’ve lost six pounds and several inches and am feeling fantabulous! I’ve set a goal of losing 40 more pounds for a final weight of 170, which is at the upper acceptable range for someone of my height and build, but is something I think I can feasibly do. I’ve been dropping pounds at a rate of about 1.5/week, which means I should reach my goal by February 2011.

Other than that, life has been fantastic. I’ve also been trying to write more consistently, and hope to maintain this blog regularly. Yes, I have said that before. Still, setting goals is good, even if I don’t reach those goals. I’ve been working on dedicating real time to things I want to do, and have, for the past month, kept my promises to myself. Hopefully this becomes a habit.

Thanks as always, faithful readers. Look for more from me soon.