Is it July? Yes. Is it mid-July? Yes. Wow.
Tomorrow summer language begins at PTS. Last year at this time I was moving into my dorm and nervously awaiting that #1 anxiety producing course Biblical Greek. Turns out it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be... and it also was as bad as I thought it would be but in different ways. The biggest difference between Greek and CPE is that learning Greek is highly predictable. You have the book. You have the syllabus. You have the professor and teaching assistants. You spend hours writing out paradigms on white boards. But in the hospital every time you enter its doors or turn on your pager you don't know what's going to happen. When the pager goes off anything could be happening. When you enter someone's room you don't know what they're going to say or if they're able to speak.
It's just a very different summer. Last summer I was figuring out how the "seminarian" label fit into me, and now I'm figuring out how the "chaplain" label fits into me while still being a seminarian. Both are growing processes. Not all growth is easy. Some is just confusing. Someone asked me the other day if I was "the E.M." I said yes since those are my initials, but when I entered the room the nurse wanted me to go in the patient said they wanted the Eucharistic Minister. Now that I am not, but I do know how to get the Eucharistic Ministers. An EM was found, the Eucharist was done, and the patient was happy. Is that the right verb? Done? Sorry if it's not.
So the summer is different, and I'm still growing. Both good things.
