Ephphatha

My friend Erik just blogged about how bad a blogger he was, but I have to believe that I am the worst ever since it has been nearly 3 weeks since I last blogged. I really don't have that good of an excuse for why I have not been updating outside of the fact that I am lazy.

Laziness combined with a huge case of senioritis does not bid well for such things as blogging I guess.... Things are great- our new puppy Maggie has been a wonderful addition and distraction for all of us this past month. I can finally truly see the end of the road for my seminary education- I have figured that I only have about 4 major assignments left until I can be done. Anna continues to plow ahead with her hours so that she will be able to be done in mid-june, and we are thankful for that.

I spent the past weekend in Michigan getting acquainted with my new Synod- North/West Lower Michigan Synod . I had a wonderful time getting to know the Bishop as well as the synod staff. Even though I had not heard much from them in the past few weeks, it seems that they indeed have been working on finding a place for me to serve hopefully starting this summer. The idea they are shooting for at the present time would be a part time mission development position in Lake Ann, as well as a part time assistant pastor position in Traverse City. Originally, I was not looking at getting into Mission Development at this point in my ministry, but after much conversation I have become very excited at the idea. They are hoping that we would form a mission team around me that would include a musician, an evangelist, and an administrative assistant. These positions would be stipened and abotu ten hours a week. So now...I am setting up an interview time with some people in the Division for Outreach to see if I can actually do this. If something falls through here, there is another opportunity for a two-point parish in Luddington- another beautiful part of the world. Nervous time, yet good time.

Meanwhile, school continues.