Missed my calling...

Before I get started, does anyone know why Java has to update every other day? It's as annoying as these "product registrations" that are not registrations but thinly-disguised ruses to get you on mailing lists or to get you to install a toolbar you don't want.

Tonite I came home to find an envelope from the seminary. It was noticeable because the lettering was absolutely perfect. I opened it to find a paper from a student. This is not my student, but a student in a class taught by a former prof at the seminary. Because I'm reading some papers leftover from a class I TA'd with that prof, apparently the assumption is that I can read other papers from that prof's class.

I don't know anything about the subject matter, but I actually did a jig coming down the hall. I was excited at the prospect of learning more and of assisting a student. It seems I missed my calling. As I wondered how in the world I chose to leave academia, I remember it was because I listened to someone I didn't even know that well, someone from the other side of the family, who, when I told them I was thinking about a Ph.D., told me I shouldn't "be a professional student." Worst advice I ever got, and leaving academia was a huge mistake.

Another mistake, it seems, was not getting my board into shape sooner. For a long list of reasons that should not be put on the internet, I find myself attempting to re-shape a board that has been systemically dysfunctional for years. While my gut wants to turn tail and run far, far away from all this, my heart says to stay and struggle because I know I can do some good in this place. It's going to be a long tough struggle, but there is good at the end.

So I'm recruiting Board members with skills and abilities to actually monitor the organization. Those who've been hanging around for years will be able to remain on as Advisory Committee or Community Liaison members.

As I think about my church and its lack of theological undergirding, I remember the lecture tonight, where we talked about how people in the Wesleyan traditions do not have statements of faith so much as we have Books of Discipline. The books of discipline govern how we are to walk in the world, and that walk is an expression of our theological understanding.

But there is lots of room for interpretation in the gap. Wouldn't it be nice if we were to draft a theological statement? That statement could be how we differentiate ourselves -- we do specify not just our walk, but also the underlying theological convictions that dictate how we walk.

OK, I need to go to bed now....