DStilled

Seminary Interview

March 8, 2006 on 1:47 pm | In Blog |

In the late 1700’s, many houses consisted of a large room with only one chair. Commonly, a long wide board folded down from the wall, and was used for dining. The “head of the household” always sat in the chair while everyone else ate sitting on the floor. Occasionally a guest, who was usually a man, would be invited to sit in this chair during a meal. To sit in the chair meant you were important and in charge. They called the one sitting in the chair the “chair man.” Today in business, we use the expression or title “Chairman” or “Chairman of the Board.”

Sunday I went to Louisville with my Dad for my interview at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Right after church, we grabbed some Arby’s and drove west (young man). Afterall, it’s the evil that goes east. We arrived about ten minutes before it all started and everyone was kinda just standing around waiting and talking. I may feel old at times in my normal life but I was definitely one of the youngest people there. My dad kept getting asked if he was there to be a student as well. There were 13 of us there and they split us up into four different groups. My first task was to write an essay developing my thoughts around 1 Corinthians 10:13 which states, “God is faithful, and He will not let you be tested beyond your strength.” Basically they wanted to see my writing skills, thought development, and organization. I felt really good about the paper when I finished except that it didn’t print. Word froze up when we printed mine and nothing was responding. I was a tad bit anxious even though they told me not to be.

The as soon as I completed that I went to a room where two Marriage and Family Therapy professors were seated. We all sat in comfortable chairs in a circle so as to downgrade the formality of the interview. They asked me to expound on certain points of my application, to reiterate ideas that others had mentioned, and to discuss the pros and cons of coming to seminary so young. It was relatively intense, not because of the questions themselves, but because “normal people” answers didn’t quite cut it with them. There was one point where my youth and ignorance was really coming through because the guy simply said, “Well I’m not convinced with your logic, but let’s move on.” He also said he thought I was fully capable of doing all the things the program requires very well assuming I handle the EMOTIONAL rigors of the program. This was very affirming to me and is the bottom line I took away from the interview. I will hear within the next week and a half whether or not I’m in. When I came out of the room, the lady who facilitated the writing portion handed me my copy of the essay I had written. I was relieved they got it to print.

On a slightly less life changing note, I finally got new shoes. I found some amazing ones call the Brooks Beast but the back order on them kept being pushed back (weeks into months). So the store that Ryan used to work at – Ecco – got a new shoe that is very similar. They are quite nice and comfortable and supposedly they will last as long as my 991s did. I’ll believe that when I see it.