Jobs...

To update everyone on what is happening right now...
1) I didn't accept the job in Dr. Siegel's office (she's the President Emeritus) because it boiled down to the fact that they were only going to be able to offer me what I was already doing in the Office of Development (which is 5 hours a week, $6.50 an hour). I don't see the good in changing jobs in the same building when I have already made a lot of connections within my office right now, am getting more opportunities to do some things that student workers don't get to do most of the time, and also get another six months of work in with this office (i.e.: I'll have a year and a half of experience with them when I graduate). So, long story short, I'm staying with the Office of Development until May.
2) I am getting an internship with Dr. Scott this coming Spring. He's going to be able to pay me a little bit for helping him do various researching for his upcoming classes in Summer and Fall. In other words, he is allowing me to be his personal assistant. I will also be helping him with the syllabus, and also in creating some contacts with people who are familiar with the topics that we are covering. I am guessing that I'll be working about 5 hours a week in that job as well, but it doesn't start until January. I'll fill everyone in when I get more information with this one. :)
3) The job doing surveys with the Park Service has come open to me, and I am going to accept it for right now. I officially start on November 1st, and my big training is on November 4th. It's supposed to be 15-20 hours a week, not including driving times. I am hoping that this will work out for a while because it would be good money. They pay for my mileage from the house to wherever I would set up the survey sites, and they are paying the national rate. The pay is something like $12 an hour as well, so it's pretty good money. The downside is that they do the surveys on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and on the weekends. Also, holidays are included...
4) The final job that I'm going to talk about is the one that I didn't get. I was hoping that a church in Marietta was going to hire me as their Youth Minister. It's a smaller church, and as much of the smaller churches around everywhere, they are getting hit by the financial crunch. I was really put under conviction by God to apply for this job, and I was really hoping to get it. It wasn't necessarily the pay, even though that would have helped some, but I really wanted to be in a leadership position with a church. Also, I feel like this church's youth group is wanting something a bit more contemporary than what they are getting in the regular church service, and I already had ideas about how to do them. It's sad to me that churches have to make these descisions, but I do understand them. They told me that they might have the job reposted in January, but I have a feeling that they won't have the money to do it then either. I am going to have Tasha inquire to one of her co-workers about the youth position that they have open at their church...

Talking about leadership positions, God has been working with me a lot about being a leader. I have resisted it a LONG time, but at Oak Leaf Church, one of the big things about them is to get involved in the community. I know that they mean through their church, but I have always felt that I have a knack for leadership. I also feel like I had to go through a hard time for a while to realize this. I know that God will lead me to the place that I need to be, and that he'll take care of us until that happens. It's just weird and amazingly joyful to be fully within his will. But man, it's hard! It's frustrating when you think something is going to happen, and then it doesn't. I know that this was supposed to be an experience for me to get my resume and my ideas in order, and I know that something amazing will happen soon.

Got to get going for now...more later! :D

New basketball team

Ok, so this isn't going to be a sports blog, but please tell me that you see the similarities between these two pictures. Did Oklahoma City get the movie industry to design their jersyes?!!

Baseball

I love baseball, even if the Braves aren't in the World Series this year. I've been watching the first game tonight and it's been somewhat interesting. It's amazing to think that the Phillies haven't been to the World Series since 1993. I swear, the strike devastated them almost more than any other team in the NL (the most devastated was the Expos, now the Nationals). It's more amazing to me to think that the city of Philadelphia hasn't won a title in something close to thirty years now.

Of course, we have the upstart Tampa Bay Rays. Who would have thought they would have come out of the AL East against three teams that had winning records! Of course, the comparisons to the 1991 Braves are uncanny. Both are worst-to-first, and they have a collection of really no-name players before the season that have made a name for themselves now. Their rotation is stacked with guys who have won on every level, and their bullpen is stocked with guys who have seen a few years. I don't know if they will win the series this year, but I can tell you before the next ten years are up, they will (depending on who they are able to keep and who gets bought out by the high rollers).

For the Braves, it's another year of sitting at home. Amazing to think that their whole season came apart on just one play, and especially one that Tasha and I were there to see! Early in the season, we were invited to come with our neighbor and her boyfriend to go to the game. The Braves had the Phillies down to their final out, and their player popped out towards shallow right field. Instead of letter Jeff Francouer get it, Kelly Johnson (our second baseman) called him off and promptly dropped the ball. The Phillies tied the game, and then went on to win it in extra innings. We went on something like a 19 of 20 game losing streak after that and were out of it. It was also when Smoltz went down, then Glavine, then Hudson. I was amazed to see that our wins leader was Jair Jurjens (a rookie!).

The talk is that the Braves are going to try to get Jake Peavy from the Padres. What a great move that would be! If we get him, that would hold the rotation for next year, and then the year after that, we would be excellent! It's going to be an interesting off-season!

More later!

What a day...

So, I did get some good news today. The church that I put my resume into for their Youth Minister position contacted me earlier. It's a part-time position (which is just funny to me...no minister position is ever part-time!). It sounds pretty promising, but I'm going to be in a wait-and-see mode until something happens.

For those of you who aren't familiar with how Baptist Churches work, basically they present my resume to a committee, and if the whole committee wants to talk to me, they'll call me in. After that, if they still want me, they'll present me to the church in the next conference that they have (which is coming up within the next about two or three weeks, and this church meets only quarterly!). If the church then votes to have me as their minister, then I'll be in. :) It sounds a lot more complicated than it really is. :)

I'll keep everyone updated as things happen! :) More later!

I JUST WANT TO BE DONE!!!!!!!!!

So, I get another email from the Registrar yesterday, and they are now saying that I have to have six hours in my minor and two other classes in my major to graduate. I am getting SO frustrated with Kennesaw, and I don't know what to do. I emailed my advisor, so I'm going to see what I have to do to finally get out of school!! It's like the school is just trying to keep me there. Ug.

I'm so frustrated, I'll write more later about today....

Divinity School Address

I am working right now on a paper dealing with Ralph Waldo Emerson's The Divinity School Address and am realizing that much of what he has to say about the historical Christian church still applies today. Many of the churches around us do the tried-and-true methods that they have been doing since they incorporated. They stick strictly to the dogmas of what their parents and grandparents have done. They also have taken the humanity out of Christ and put him in a position that he becomes just a sort of eternal clockmaker God or Santa Jesus (this meaning that he gives you everything that you want when you ask for it). Christianity has become stale to these places, and they wonder why people don't come when they aren't reaching out to them.

Emerson states:

Jesus Christ belonged to the true race of prophets. He saw with open eye the mystery of the soul. Drawn by its severe harmony, ravished with its beauty, he lived in it, and had his being there. Alone in all history, he estimated the greatness of man. One man was true to what is in you and me. He saw that God incarnates himself in man, and evermore goes forth anew to take possession of his world. He said, in this jubilee of sublime emotion, `I am divine. Through me, God acts; through me, speaks. Would you see God, see me; or, see thee, when thou also thinkest as I now think.'

I think that it's important to remember that Jesus was a man and that he was perfect. He was tempted more than just in the desert, and he is the only way. I think that the last line from that quotation is the best, and it should sum up how the church should work.

Here's the online link that I'm using:
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Divinity_School_Address

Got to get back to work. I can't really put that in a paper since my teacher would probably call me a Christian kook and to keep my personal views out of my paper...grunt. More later!

A reason!

So, as many of you know, I am NOT going to be graduating this upcoming December. I haven't met the residency requirements for Kennesaw State. This would have been useful information about a month ago when I could still add another class! But I was emailed by Dr. Scott (who is my adviser and also was my Senior Seminar teacher) and he asked me to do an intership with him in the Spring. The great thing is that they will also pay me, and I'll be able to make some connections with some professors at other schools that could lead to a doctoral program. I know that a year ago I wanted to be a teacher and it looked like that I was not going to be able to, but now, it looks like my career might be guided into a collegiate teaching career. I would actually like that a good bit because it would put me into a comfortable zone, and I would also get to do research still. I knew that God had a reason for this upcoming semester!

Got to get to sleep...more later!