Crawling over the finish line....

My semester began with aching muscles after I managed to convince eight of my classmates to participate in a whitewater rafting trip on the Ocoee River less than a week before classes began for our last year of seminary.  I suggested that it would be symbolic of the roller coaster experience we shared the past two years – lots of ups and downs, all at breakneck speed!  Being out of the country for almost six weeks, I was not aware that Tennessee had experienced an extraordinary amount of rain this summer; consequently, the Class III rapids of the Middle Ocoee had turned into Class IV by late August.  We all survived the raft trip...but the semester, hmmmm, this old girl feels pretty bruised and battered!  (I'm the one on the far right...high in the sky!)

 

In the first 30 days of the semester, I learned 150 flash cards with minutia from the Book of Common Prayer for the infamous "rubrics" quiz all seniors must endure for their Liturgics class.  I stood out in the rain with the cross and no umbrella for our mock Burial service.  I preached my last sermon at the Chapel of the Apostles, our "laboratory."  And I said goodbye to the dear people who have embraced me as their "intern" for the last year....here are some of the worship leaders when I preached my last sermon at the Thanksgiving service a few weeks ago.

 

 

But the marathon that was this semester ended with drama....as I was nearing the finish line, I got hit with a very bad cold.  Many at the School of Theology had gone down with the flu, but since I got my flu shot in October, I must have had just a very bad cold with only one final exam left to take.  I took the exam...pretty fuzzy-brained...and crawled to the finish line of the semester.  A little rest to celebrate the birth of Jesus and then sequestering and more study for comprehensive exams January 6-8.  Need to get some new running shoes....