Update #2

So, I'll be a student again. This fall, I'll grace the campus of Vanderbilt University and call myself a divinity student (we'll see if others call me that, too).

For those unaware, I was on the fast track to a Master's degree once before. As a candidate for the degree of Master's of Arts in Religion, I loved a lot of things about Claremont School of Theology. I loved the people, the program, the campus, the weather, the traffic, the life in sunny southern California - everything except the future. Full of questions and unable to find gentle nudges in the right direction, I packed my bags (six months after unpacking them) and headed back east. I got married, moved to Nashville and set off in search of my life's calling.

While in Nashville, I worked at a hotel, got serious about writing, bought a house, got two cats, worked for two nonprofits, traveled, made movies, worked in my backyard and found my calling: I am called to tell the stories that need telling and to teach others to do the same.

Some may find such a calling vague, but the specifics of it are the most exciting part as they are developing every day. Down the road I may find myself on a college campus, in a church, running a charity, writing books, or working in a hotel, but whatever it is I do to earn money, everything must revolve around that central call: To tell the stories that need telling and to teach others to do the same.




Vanderbilt's M.Div. program will equip me to do this. A bit apprehensive at first, a visit to campus revealed the possibilities that lie just below the surface of a catalog and a web page. Hopefully, I'll have the chance to go to Mexico, Africa and somewhere in Asia to hear stories that need telling and then tell them to others back in America. I'll be able to focus my elective choices on issues related to social justice, equality and inclusiveness - three things I find at the heart of the gospel.

And, Nashville gets to have me for three more years. After that, the possibilities are as myriad as the 'past experience' section on my resume. In August, I'll once again find myself in libraries, classrooms and food courts, planning life around exams, Spring Break (Cancun, anyone?) and guest lecturers. But until then...party on.