Moving on, life changes
Vocational Change
Well, looks like some big changes are on the horizon. My wife will be finishing her masters degree in counseling soon, and I'm under considertion for two really cool web-dev jobs. So, by the end of the summer, we will be living in either North Carolina or Idaho, both of which would be better for counseling certification than Kentucky.
I will have 24 credits left in the 96 credit-hour master of divinity program at Asbury, which I will finish up online via our extended learning program. Both of the jobs which are available would be doing web-design / development, so that is something I am very pleased with. During my time at seminary, I have loved working at the Info Tech department, but have been consistently disappointed with the seminary experience as a whole.
This is going to sound cheezy, but I had expected that being in seminary would afford the opportunity for a close mentoring relationship, not unlike the Jedi in the more recent Star Wars movies (without the lightsabers and cloaks, of course). While the theological training in-class has been very good, and I've made some good friends with professors and fellow students, I feel that perhaps seminary is not the future of Christian training. I think that we will see more and more churches begin to train up their own leaders from within. This is closer to the biblical model of discipleship than the formal schooling environment, that mirrors more closely the practice of ancient Pharisees.
Business Ventures
Along with those two potential job opportunities, there are a few things in the mix that I'm not yet supposed to talk about. Suffice it to say that this autumn should be an interesting season. I've recieved invitations from several visionary people about getting involved in new sites that they are launching. Some are Christian, and others more business-oriented, but they all seem to have great potential, and I am humbled that they have asked me to come on board (you know who you are, thanks).
This past month has marked a huge growth in site traffic, to which I must give credit to the 9rules Network. They're a great bunch of people, and I have learned alot from talking to the various members. I consider it an honor to be listed alongside and linked to by such a bright array of writers and designers. The exposure, it would seem, is not without its drawbacks, because once you're in the lime-light, people start gunning for you. Luckily, there are others in 9rules who have provided support, because they have been in similar situations and gone through hardships of their own. Read on for more details.
Getting Older
Tomorrow is my 26th birthday. As I mentioned in my previous article, this is not nearly as eventful as 25 because it's not a milestone like turning a quarter of a century old. I have learned alot in this past year, as it's also been about one year since getting married. I feel that having my best friend around so often has helped me to grow and mature in my faith, as well as learning to be more responsive to life events, rather than reactive and flying off the handle.
Case in point, I have recently learned that my site has been ripped-off twice. Yes, you heard that correctly. Within the span of 48 hours, I noticed from my referral logs that my site had been taken verbatim, line by line of CSS code, as well as much of the imagery. And here's the kicker, it was by two separate people. One of them is doing a church design for which my site served as "inspiration" and the other was from Europe, "borrowing" my design for CSS testing. I've also even had someone impersonating me by leaving comments on blogs (not on this site).
At any rate, in the past, you would have seen the email addresses of aforementioned culprits plastered here with "spam-me" mailto: links. In the past, I've had various work stolen from different video game maps I've made, heck - I've even had artwork stolen from art classes in school! My point being, instead of flying off the handle, as I can be prone to do, I'm learning to handle these injustices with more tact and grace. Praise be to God.
Update: My wife bought me the Brew Station - awesome coffee maker.
