Andy James

wandering the web since 1997

Presbyterian minister in Atlanta.
Music lover.
Found beer in seminary.

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one of the strangest things I’ve seen in a while…

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While shopping for birthday cards tonight, I ran across this one that was too wonderful not to buy:

When asked to describe herself, Mille Grosler exclaims, “Toaster ovens! I’m all about toaster ovens. I love the toaster part, and then there’s the oven part. I love that. Give me a toaster oven and I can die happy.” 

Inside, the card goes on:

You’re weird. 

That’s why I like you.

Too good not to pass along!

observations from home

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It is HOT. I moved back to Mississippi a week ago, and who knew that summer would come so quickly? I was away this past weekend, and when I stepped off the plane at nearly midnight last night after several days in a place where I needed a jacket, I was nearly bowled over by the heat and humidity — it was nearly 80º! I have forgotten — but certainly not missed!!! — summers in Mississippi. The forecast calls for cooler weather over the next few days, but thankfully I will be getting away from here yet again on Thursday.

I resumed my walking regimen today, and I was astonished at people’s response. Granted, it was midday, but I was still the only person out walking at all. In the places where there were no sidewalks, I think the passing drivers were so surprised by my presence that most of them moved completely over into the opposite lane. I’ve been walking on streets for a couple years now, and there was something very clearly different about this. Maybe it was just the fact that I was out exercising in such dreadful heat… or maybe it was just that anyone was exercising at all. I don’t know.

Anyway, that’s life. Of course there’s more, but I have to save something to write about later, right? 🙂

endings and beginnings

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We’re right in the middle of all the celebrations for commencement. Tonight was the baccalaureate service, and it was truly wonderful. Sarah Walker offered a wonderful take on it in her blog tonight, and I affirm her comments here by reference!

Everything is striking me very deeply in these times. The part of the service that grabbed me was the prayers of the people. When they are done well, they are often my favorite part of the service, and tonight was one of those times. I don’t remember how it all went, but there was a lot about beginnings and endings, and it wasn’t some trite anecdote about commencement being a beginning that you’ve heard at two hundred high school graduations. These beginnings and endings seemed more real than they have before as Mark Douglas prayed. Maybe it was in the growth I can see in myself over the last three years — but maybe it was actually in the ways in which I see that I have also stayed the same.

I don’t really understand it, but can we understand it? I don’t think I can really wish for that real understanding, but as the ending comes extremely near, lots is coming together as it never has before. Tonight I heard “alpha” and “omega” in an entirely new way, and that was unsettling — but yet comforting. I’ll have to quote Sarah, for she is more eloquent than I could imagine to be tonight:

All I needed was to hear it. Hear the promise. I needed the reminder. I have the faith. I believe the promises. I just needed to hear them. And I needed the rest of the service too. It reminded me of who I am and Whose I am. It reminded me of what is important and in Whom I place my trust and my life. It reminded me of how to live. 

entering the final week

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It feels very strange to say it, but I’m now entering my final week at seminary and in Atlanta. It is a strange time, and I’ve become very emotional all of the sudden.

  • At church this morning, I nearly lost it when one of my fellow seminary students offered the prayer of thanksgiving, as it was his last Sunday. I’ll be back for one last Sunday at Central, and I can’t imagine what kind of condition I’ll be in then!
  • After church, I started thinking about what is next in the church world for me. Where will I go to church while I look for a job? None of the immediate options at my parents’ house are particularly appealing, so I’m trying to think outside the box a bit. Perhaps I can find someplace life-giving for that brief period.
  • I’m starting to have my final chances to visit with all sorts of friends around here. We’ll certainly be running into one another over the course of the next week, but intentional time together is quickly disappearing.
  • Three of us went out to see The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy tonight. I kinda feel like Arthur Dent sometimes, with so much of the world caving in around me, constantly looking for what I can hold on to as everything around me changes. Now if I can just figure out exactly what my “fish” would be if I were to sing “So Long and Thanks for All the Fish”!
  • In general, everything just feels really strange. It is strange to see packed boxes accumulating in the room, empty bookshelves where the books have been for three years, and junk I should have thrown away years ago piling up in the trash can. I’m hopeful that it will all get done, but it hasn’t happened yet!

There’s much to be done, but I don’t feel like doing any of it anymore! Oh well… it will happen somehow.

nocturnal musings

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This makes two nights in a row that I have stayed up way too late! Tonight is actually better than last night, when I got to bed at 3 AM! However, I must say that I am now running Tiger and very happy to be doing so! It’s quite fun, very speedy, and just a generally wonderful thing. The first two hours were excruciating as everything settled in, the caches were created, the Spotlight indices built, and the random software reinstalled, but after that, I have been extremely impressed, especially considering some of the horror stories I have read and heard from others.

Life is much more than the computer now, though. It is strange to say this, but I am now done with seminary. There’s nothing I can do to change this now – the only possible problem would come if a professor chose not to pass me in my final semester, which I doubt will happen. It is a weird feeling, to say the least! Even weirder is the thought of leaving behind the people here.

If you had asked me even two weeks ago if I would be sad about leaving, the answer would have been a resounding NO! But things happen…. and now I’m fighting back tears when I think about the wonderful people around me. Yeah, there are some folks whom I am ready to be away from, but I keep finding that the people who are important to me are really important to me. It’s a very strange feeling, one I have felt before, but one that I feel much more deeply now than then, and I’m not entirely sure why.

The boxes are starting to get packed, the bookshelves are getting bare, and things are just changing all around me. I’m all for change, but it’s just scary to be in the middle of it, not certain about what is next.