FTE 2007 ‘Complicating Vocation’: Arrived in Lexington

There are SO many thoughts going through my head. I’ve done what feels like four life transitions all within a 24-hour period. Even though it’s not that dramatic, it still feels that way.

This morning I packed up my room at DDH and put it in my car. Yes, those of you who know the quaintness of my car are probably laughing; I was too, once I got everything packed into it. With the exception of the books and clothes my parents and I had already taken home to Iowa, and with the exception of the contents of my 3-foot cubed storage unit in the basement of DDH, it ALL fit into my car. This brings the first random thought taxiing in my head: I have too much unnecessary ‘stuff.’ It’s all useful, but it clutters way too much.

My summer officially began once my car door closed for the last time before my 6-hour drive. Almost. There’s still a paper I’m finishing, as well as another non-class related project for the Ministry Program … but other than that, my summer officially began. Next random thought: it was not my smartest move to begin my intense summer with the paper looming over me. It will undoubtedly bring more concentration (for some reason I concentrate more in all activities when I have more to do), but the stress will grow as well.

I arrived in Lexington at 9pm – a whole two hours later than I originally planned. One of those hours was the unplanned packing delay this morning; the other hour was an easily forgettable concept called a time zone. When I got to Indiana and had the new time zone I knew that I would be driving in to Lexington at sunset rather than dinner time. And it was as gorgeous and as peaceful as I couldn’t have planned.

Mickey Anders
The first part of my FTE summer is shadowing/teaching/befriending a minister named Mickey Anders. Mickey is the pastor at South Elkhorn Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Lexington, KY. Mickey combines the [virtuous] traits of practicality, enthusiasm for new forms of ministry, and a lack of tolerance for saying no immediately (those are my observations – not his words). A friend in Kentucky, Michael Davison, and I were driving to North Carolina last summer when I was brainstorming different aspects for my FTE project. I told him I wanted something to do with Creativity … he immediately told me about Mickey. Ironically, my final approved project is a question about vocation – something I think applies to Mickey EVEN MORE than the creativity topic.

Discursive tangent: ‘Directions’
Before describing my first encounter with Mickey this trip, let me make a disclaimer: I am always susceptible to my own over-confidence in my ability with directions. This is never more apparent than my trips to Lexington, KY. I’ve driven in from three separate directions, and every time I get lost at least once. The past three trips were all nightmares when I had to add an extra half hour because I missed turns and was going without a map (“my memory’s good – right?!?”). This time I forgot to print a map before dismantling the printer in the move, so I saved it onto my computer and rechecked it twice once I was within 45 miles of Lexington. And in a proud moment, I never got lost. I knew Mickey’s house was on the fourth left I could make once I got onto the side-road from Clays Mill … and it was! (Those types of directions RARELY prove as successful as they did tonight!)

Meeting the family
When I pulled up to the house, Mickey and his 23-year-old son, Will, were waiting on the front porch. After a quick trip inside to drop my clothes in their guest room, we gathered in the living room to meet Mickey’s wife, Sarah. We talked about so much in that short hour: our plan for the week, the projects I’ll work on for South Elkhorn, the interview Mickey will do for my project, our family histories and current life situations, and even more topics that I’ll undoubtedly remember as they resurface.

There was a key moment when I got the “giddy” feeling that several people accuse me of (too sparingly, in their opinions). I’ve had trouble describing the goals of my summer and the many activities to people who ask without their attention waning once I get to the activities at the end of July — they have trouble seeing the coherency. Mickey, Will and Sarah focused their attention the entire time. The giddy moment came when I was describing how all of my hobbies have affected how God is calling me to serve … and how the hobbies are part of that service; Will interjected: “Dad, that’s like you with sailing and how you’ve started the Sailing camp!” [“Bingo!” I thought]. I wish I’d been recording the audio and images of that conversation. It’s priceless to have someone else grasp the connection before I even elucidate it. (Teachers have to love it the scarce times it happens in my classes.)

Well, church starts early tomorrow and I’m setting up a bunch of my equipment so I’ll be ready to work for the rest of the week. Each night we have Vacation Bible School, for which I’m doing a bunch of media work. And we have about three different video segments I’m going to create for South Elkhorn to use later in the summer. This is not going to be the relaxed pace I need to concentrate on finishing that paper … but it’ll still happen. AHH! — I’m excited now — time to quit blogging for the night!