Seminary is great: I quit. An Ode to Laura.

For the readers living in the Eastern block.

Southern Seminary has been amazing. The guys I have met are fun and love Jesus. The chapel services are great. The professors are pretty much all published in their field, their books are used at other seminaries, and on top of that they are humble and approachable. I have learned a bunch and know that if I were to get a degree there I would be well prepared for the ministry.

So I'm quitting.

Reasons:
It's hard to live 800 miles from everyone you know and love.

Southern, while being one of the more affordable seminaries, still necessitates that I take out more student loans to add to the ones I already have from NDSU, and I hate the idea of being any more in debt.

The Bethlehem Institute, at Bethlehem Baptist, John Piper's church, is starting a four year M.Div. program next fall which will be unbelievably amazing, and I think I would regret not taking a serious look at.

So, I have decided to leave Southern, take a semester off of school, move in with Jess and Andy in Brooklyn Center, find a job somewhere, and apply at Bethlehem. That's the short version of the story.

They're sitting on my desk, and I'll probably never use them, but I can't bring myself to throw them away

rubber band

several twisty ties

a randomly sized allan wrench

a small pamphlet entitled "The Baptist Faith and Message"

It all adds up to create: a cluttered desk

How about your desk?

Random firing in the cerebral cortex

First of all he said,
'That's Wagner that you're playing
I've never heard of Petra
And isn't Megadeth all dead.'
And secondly, emphatically,
He asked me, 'What's the sense
of hanging out with houseplants
when, hey, I live right across the fence.'

Things that make me nervous

Sounds like a possible idea for a recurring post. Hmm...

Anyway.

Space heaters.

It just seems like anything that gets hot enough to roast a marshmallow shouldn't be sitting in the middle of your bedroom.

Someone had their proud pants on today

I thought of a story today that I meant to blog about but forgot.

A few weeks ago I went to the mall and bought a new pair of pants. Bear with me. As is the case almost all clothes that I buy, these pants were on sale. There were two racks of pants on sale. One rack cost $20, the other $15. The pair I bought were on the $20 rack.

I went to the counter to pay for them, and the girls behind the register were having trouble with the computer system (I know this because they were complaining that it had crashed earlier and still wasn't working right.) So, when the girl at the register I was at went to ring the pants up, she had to manually enter the sale price, which was not on the tag. The girl next to her looked at the pants and said, "They are on sale for $15."

Ding ding. An opportunity for Josh to reveal his character has just presented itself. I could easily let this slide and save $5 on a pair of pants.

A few thoughts flashed through my head: "Josh, you have been called to be faithful in the little things." "Josh, these cashiers probably don't know Jesus, maybe this could be an opportunity." These are good thoughts, encouraging thoughts that indicate the Lord is drawing me to himself and making me more like him.

Unfortunately, Josh Koehn is a dirty little sinner, and this thought also entered my head: "Josh, congratulations. You are such a good person. Most people would take that $5 without flinching, but not you. You're better than that. In about two seconds, these girls are going to compliment you for doing the right thing. You really are impressive."

So I tell the cashier that the pants actually came off the $20 rack. And she said...nothing. "Ok, $20. Thanks for shopping at Aerostaple (that's how it always sounds in my head)." She was not in the least impressed that I had done the right thing.

I walked out the store with a simple prayer. "You win God."

Matthew 6:1
"Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people inorder to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven."