A Message for Courtney

Day 3

It’s a little after 5 here in St. Paul, right now. One hour behind what I am normally used to in Ohio. So the stomach is starting to growl and the eyes get heavier a little earlier than usual while I’m up here. It’s draining to sit in one classroom for almost 9 hours in one day learning about the same thing and do that for four and a half days. As week one hits “hump day” and we find ourselves on the latter end of the week, here are 10 things I’ve learned:

1. Hermeneutics (the study of interpreting the Bible) is more complex and complicated than I originally anticipated. (and I anticipated a lot)
2.  Minnesota’s weather can turn on a dime. (Sunny and making me sweat one day, near freezing and rain within a day and half – with snow on the forecast within a few days)
3. The accent up here is very cool.
4. Cheese & Broccoli soup is better than cream of chicken soup.
5. You can watch the entire first season of 30 Rock in the time it takes to drive up here.
6. I am in a group of very passionate followers of Christ.
7. I am not the smartest one in this group. (That’s an easy one).
8. I miss my family, my home and all of my friends more every day.
9. There are lakes everywhere! (Minnesota is known as the state with 10,000 lakes…it’s true!)
10. I want so desperately for people to understand that God loves them that this trip is worth it because sometimes people tend to misrepresent a hope and love that is so real and it turns people off. I want to make a difference in that.
11. It’s really cold up here. (I know that’s an extra one. But it’s simply TOO cold to be only the 3rd week in October!)

I’m over halfway done with week one
and even though the sky shows no sun (it’s cloudy)
I will wake up and greet each new day
with the hope that I’ll be smarter when I go away

oh my goodness, did that just rhyme? did i seriously just write four whole lines and somehow they rhymed??

ok ok, i did that on purpose. sadly, i spent way too much time on that too.

that’s just how tired I am!

Practical vs. ?

Over the first day and almost a half of school, I’ve found that there is a LOT of conversation and discussion on some very deep theological issues. They seem to take a huge chunk of time that we could be spending on other things, but I realize that this is what we are working towards…understanding these issues.

And from that, I find my dilemma.

I want to be able to take this stuff and turn into a practical, actual way to tell people about an amazing God that is so easily and commonly misunderstood. My hope is that from the deep, theological, philosophical conversations comes a bright light, piercing and penetrating of the fresh new way to see God, His Word and His passion for our lives.

In what ways have you found a chasm between what you want to know and how to make that knowledge practical?

Day 1

So, the first official day of my graduate school career has come and gone and I survived. The way the school works for me is that I have 4 quarters a years. Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer. During the Fall and Spring, I spend 4 weeks working online, 2 weeks on campus and 4 more weeks online after that. Winter and Summer, all 10 weeks are online.

So, this is my first quarter and I had 4 weeks to do stuff online and the next two weeks I am in St. Paul, Minnesota where the Seminary is located. Since I got all through the year, the way they have classes scheduled is in such a way that I am only scheduled for 2 major classes this quarter.

Every day of this week, all day, I spend on one class. Next week, everyday, all day I spend on the second class. So it’s literally nearly a work week’s time worth of one class each week.

This week: Hermeneutics. Learning how to properly interpret Scripture.
Next Week: Transformational Leadership. Pretty self explanatory. Leadership that transforms.

So day one was good. Lots of crazy stuff to think about. Met some cool people. I’m tired though. Very tired.

Just a little snippet….here is my lovely new Student ID.

If You Ever Wondered…

What’s it like to be a new seminary student…(i know, i know…you’re already very excited, right?) you can follow me here…on twitter.

I’ve survived so far…i’m 6 minutes into my FIRST class. Good to go…

Missed Opportunity?

Each and every student that walks into the safehouse everyday is supposed to sign in at the main desk. We have a computer with a database of the students’ names and we do that in order to gauge how many students are coming in and to keep in touch with them.

I was informed yesterday that a student from a local high school died tragically earlier this week after an accident. I found out today, that student had been to the safehouse.

I had one of our team members check the database to see if the student’s name was there, knowing that he had been there before. A friend had brought him. I was then informed that he was not in the database.

Why not? Did this student somehow slip through the cracks? Why don’t we have a phone number, an address, a birthday? Did we connect with this student while he was at the safehouse?

What kind of impact did we make on him in the moments we had to spend with him the short time he was at the safehouse?

Did we miss an opportunity to share the love of Christ with somebody because we were preoccupied with video games, guitars, computers, myspaces and small problems?

I was rocked today.

I am responsible for every student that walks through those doors, either directly or indirectly and I am asking myself: Did this child know that he was loved by God before he died?

Nothing bothers me more than missing an opportunity.

Two Weeks

Tomorrow around 6AM I am hopping in a car and driving 13 1/2 hours up to Minnesota for a two week period at Bethel Seminary in St. Paul. I was thinking today about how much stuff there is left to do before I leave and how I should be working and preparing the Safehouse. Not only that, but I thought, “I should want these things done.”

But I don’t.

I want to be at home. What I’ve realized while prepping for this trip is that I have a lot of things to do at work, that are necessary to make the jobs of my staff easier, but I want to be at home. Doing nothing. Because I won’t be at home for two weeks.

When you travel, do you frantically spend more hours at work to prepare for while your gone or do you spend time with family and friends at home, doing nothing since you won’t have that opportunity for a short while?

Also, I’m thinking of renting some movies on iTunes for while I’m gone. Any suggestions?

What Do You Do?

After Safehouse Summer Camp ended this year, the guy in charge of praise and worship, Dave, gave me some pretty great insight.

We used a book by Louie Giglio, who runs the Passion Conferences, called WIRED: For A Life of Worship as our theme and pulled a lot of our material from that book this year. Dave told me, after the second week was over, that he felt it was time for me to really get a fresh revelation from God. Instead of using other people’s book or works, which he said was just fine in general and a great launching point, that it was time for me to get away, spend some time with God and really hear from Him myself.

After camp I wanted to take some time, get away and spend a weekend alone in some bed and breakfast type place, just me, my Bible, some music and God. I didn’t do it. I haven’t had a lot of fresh ideas lately. It’s starting to bug me. I can clearly see how some sinful habits have eroded the faith muscle in my life and my creativity is hinged on what other people are doing rather than what God is doing in me.

Now, this is a lot of “God-talk” and may seem odd or strange to any readers who don’t subscribe to a God-belief or call themselves followers of Jesus and that makes sense. My question is this:

How do you re-energize your creativity?

Some questions I am going to be asking myself over the next couple of weeks are:

• What am I doing to eradicate the sin that is sapping my faith?
• What are the things that consume the majority of my thoughts?
   -Do those things increase or hinder creativity and a desire to seek God and follow Jesus?
• What am I reading and learning about God and His thoughts about me?
• Am I willing to risk a lot in order to gain a lot?
• When the time comes, do I have the courage and wisdom necessary to follow through with that actions that answers to the previous questions lead me to.

What about you? What questions can you ask yourself to further your relationship with God?

Or, if you don’t have one, or even want one, what questions do you ask to spur your heart into action?

Hitting the Books…

So, it’s hard for me to believe but this Friday I am leaving and driving 13 hours to Minnesota to attend Bethel Seminary’s Intensives week. I am told that one day of classes is equivalent to 2 weeks worth of schooling.

I study for 4 weeks over the internet and then go for 2 weeks on campus and then another 4 weeks. That happens twice a year. The other two quarters of the year, I am doing everything online. It’s a pretty easy gig really, lots of reading and some typing and discussing. Nothing to over the top.

However, I am NOT ready for this trip. I don’t really want to go as much as I just have to go. I am excited about the “experience” and it’s always fun to travel a bit. It’s just not good timing and I’m not really in the mood. But…I’m doing it!

Starting friday, I will be snapping pictures, maybe doing some video things and just generally keeping in touch through this blog, my twitter and of course, myspace and facebook.

Pray for safety and that God would give me energy, an open mind, and the ability to glean, absorb and learn how to be a better leader.

More to come this week before I leave, and check back over the next couple of weeks for updates from MINNESOTA! *one thing i am looking forward to….is the accent!*

One Month Ago…

I posted about Safehouse Merchandise going on sale…I am happy to announce::

The merchandise has been ordered!!

This is a very exciting step in the process of the first ever Safehouse Merchandise sale and I’m stoked.

There is still more to do, we have to get them off to print and all that jazz, but it’s really happening!

We ordered 80 T-Shirts and 30 Hoodies of various sizes and they will…be…sweet!

Please, help support Safehouse by ordering a T-Shirt or Hoodie…buy one as a gift for your friend of family member (or for yourself)! Proceeds go to help support Safehouse and the vision of reaching out to teenagers in a life changing, positive way in our community.

T-Shirts are $14
Hoodies are $24

Surf on over to www.myspace.com/safehouseytown, send us a message and let us know you want to order one!

You can send checks (payable to Safehouse Ministries, Inc.) to::

Safehouse Ministries, Inc.
PO Box 217
Hubbard, OH 44425

Also, there is a “Donate” button on the Safehouse myspace for those of you interested in donating to Safehouse.

We love you guys very much and are excited to be reaching out to people in a way that shares the love, hope and message of Jesus Christ. We wouldn’t be doing this if it weren’t for Jesus.

I’ve never been a fan of people constantly asking for money to help their organization, so I don’t want to do that. You shouldn’t feel obligated or pressured by us at all to buy merch or donate anything. If you want to, you can, if not, we are here for you anyway. And we love you.

I’m really excited to offer these shirts/hoodies to you guys and can’t wait to see some of your sportin’ em.

If you have any questions or comments, let me know. Message me on myspace: www.myspace.com/andydenen , or comment me here or email me: adenen@gmail.com

Look forward to hearing from you guys!

andy :: 

p.s. here’s another look at the design…