I don't hide the fact that I'm entering seminary in the fall. I am very proud of all that I have accomplished and where I am going in life. God has called me to be a pastor, a priest if you will, in his holy church. What I am doing this summer may not be visiting the sick and dying in the hospital but it is doing his work. Everything we do in life reflects how individuals and society views us. Martin Luther put it right when he said "You are not only responsible for what you say, but also for what you do not say." To not stand up in any job for what is right is the same as committing the wrong. I enjoy working for a church agency because I am working to better society. I know its a little "clichesish" but I'm going to say it anyway; "Our kids are our future." Working in adoption these past three weeks, I have seen and heard stories of how children were pulled from homes because they were abused physically and mentally. I have heard stories of 13 and 14 year olds who have gave up their newborns because they cannot provide adequate parenting to the child. Shockingly though, if we all work harder in educating and providing better programs to children and adults alike, we would not need adoption or foster care. We would not spend billions of dollars a year in court cost, child care cost for foster kids, or anything involving adoption if we would as a society invest in programs that better individuals rather than investing in bombs and bullets that kill and destroy families.
If I was told tomorrow that I wouldn't be able to enter seminary, I would not mind. I know there is much to do in the church that doesn't require being ordained. Working with LSG is proof enough for me.
To close, I like to leave with a thought...
I have always had a respect for Tim Russert. He was a brilliant journalist that didn't care about political parties but rather about the issues. Any politician that came on his show got grilled. He died last week at the age of 58. My own father is 58 and my mom 59. I will never forget the picture of Luke Russert touching his father's chair. I happened to be watching the interview on the Today show with Luke while I was at work. The idea that a man, who is my age, losing his father at the same age as my father was very overwhelming. I got very teary eyed. I don't know if I would ever be able to handle a loss like that. But what is very shocking to me is that every member of the Russert Family is proud to say that Tim is with God in Heaven and they are not bitter at all. Its very hard to find people like that today. Life is going to be tough. God knew that. That's why he gave Adam a friend and partner in life, Eve. God did not want us to be alone but rather to use one another as support when one of us loses support.
We all have the power to change what is wrong in our society. We can all band together and say "this is wrong and we are going to change it" but yet many of us are reluctant to change. It's like the whole turns Lutheran when you utter the word change. I would love to see the day when Adoption and Foster Care are things of the past. I want to see the day when we all turn to our neighbors, our enemies, the bad guys and say "lets work this out over coffee."
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