So we have this pastoral intern at the Lutheran Center on campus whose name is Renae.  She’s a recent seminary graduate, so she can’t be much older than I am.  Often times, a bunch of us go out to the bar after wed. night service, and she and her husband also come.  It’s always a good time.  Lately, I had been noticing that I don’t see her at the Lutheran Center often, so she must have a pretty easy job.  Thus, I asked her how many hours she works a week.  She told me 60 to 70.  I was quite surprised.  Then she told me that anytime she’s around one of us–the attendants of the Center, she’s working.  I admit that this put me off a bit at first.  All those times that I thought we were all just hanging out as friends, she was working and constantly guarding her true feelings.  After thinking about it a while, I can understand why she has to do that.  As a pastor, actions and words are crucial.  I guess I was just thinking of her as a friend as well as a pastor, and now it seems like I can’t do that.

At the request of Lynne:

That One
Place

We lie there

just warming up

and teasing each other

with cold hands.

But I pull you in close

and you nuzzle once,

nuzzle twice,

before eventually finding

that perfect place

for your nose on my neck.

And nothing can replicate,

nothing can describe,

not an overplayed love song,

not a thousand crumpled pages of failed poetry,

the feeling I get in that moment.

I feel like my posts are vastly different than most of the others that I have not yet taken the full plunge out of school and into adulthood.  School work continues to be my biggest angst.  The semester is nearly half over already, but I kind of wish it would go a bit faster.  The good news is that Tara will be coming back to Lincoln this Friday for her fall break for which she gets the entire next week off.  I know it sounds pathetic since many couple go far longer than this away from each other, but 7 weeks has been long enough for both of us.  Needless to say, I’m definitely looking forward to Friday. 

Coffee house theological discussions with Renae and Ben (married pastoral interns) rock my face off every Sunday.  I even left an assignment 3/4 done so I wouldn’t have to miss it this past Sunday.  Some of the better topics:

Homosexuality: What the Bible really has to say about it
Healing: Can God be changed by prayer?
God’s Kingdom: What is it really?