Category Archives: Education

The Big Three: Three very cool things God is doing in my life.

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1.  Job — while I wasn’t ever really unemployed, I have most certainly been UNDER employed for the past several months.  As of this past Monday I am now officially the new Webmaster at Lon Morris College.  I’ve been the unofficial webmaster there for nearly a year, working on a contract basis, but now I’m an actual employee which I am excited about.

2.  School — I registered for and (partially) paid for my first class at UT Tyler.  I was tempted to take two (don’t you just love alliterations?*) classes, but my budget doesn’t really allow for it and, since it’s been a while since I’ve taken a class, one should suffice this semester.  Eleven more classes and I’ll have my M.A.!

3.  Church — Last, but certainly not least, I found a church (as if the church were lost?  “I  found it!”).  This past year has been a bumpy ride for me theologically and spiritually but the journey has helped me figure a few things out regarding what I believe and why I believe it.  On the church website (www.livingactschurch.com) they say “we are first Christians, second Evangelicals, third Missional, and fourth Reformed.”  The last one, “Reformed” is probably the least important, yet it seems to help define (clarify or even redefine in some ways) the other three.  Not going to try to explain it here — maybe some other time :-)

4.  Yeah, I know the title says “The Big Three”, but this one kind of ties the first three together.  I spent the first half of this week helping out LMC’s Cross Country Coach with his training camp.  I can now say with a higher degree (get it?*) of certainty that I absolutely love working with college students.  Not just working with them, but investing my time, money and energy in seeing them succeed in life.  This is why I love working in Higher Ed. and why I’m going back to school to get my master’s degree.   And how does this tie in with church?  While my vocation is in Higher Ed., my occupation will always be Christ — teaching and preaching the Gospel is not just for the pastor, it is for every believer.  Bringing our occupation into our vocation — that is missional living in the workplace.

I’m looking forward to this school year — I’m expecting great things.

* If you ever wondered whether or not I was a nerd, this should remove any remaining doubt.

Citizenship

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So, I was filling out the Texas common app to apply for grad school at UT Tyler and at the end I get to this question:

“If you are a U.S. citizen and were born outside of the U.S., explain how you became a citizen. If this does not apply to you please note as NA.”

Okay, I’ve filled out the common app a few times and have never had to answer this.  To be honest, it kind of ticked me off.  I already told them I was a U.S. citizen, why the flip does it matter HOW I became a citizen?  If you don’t know, I tend to be a bit of a smart-ass when I get frustrated (I get that, and my citizenship, from my father), so my response:

“Jus Sanguinis.”

If they don’t know Latin (like I don’t) they can google it (like I did).  Jus Sanguinis means “right of blood” which sounds much better than “my dad is a citizen” and is certainly much easier than saying:

“Birth Abroad to One Citizen and One Alien Parent in Wedlock: A child born abroad to one U.S. citizen parent and one alien parent acquires U.S. citizenship at birth under Section 301(g) INA provided the citizen parent was physically present in the U.S. for the time period required by the law applicable at the time of the child’s birth. (For birth on or after November 14, 1986, a period of five years physical presence, two after the age of fourteen is required. For birth between December 24, 1952 and November 13, 1986, a period of ten years, five after the age of fourteen are required for physical presence in the U.S. to transmit U.S. citizenship to the child.”

Consequently the same policy is what kept me from being able to claim dual-citizenship.  Italy is one of those countries that does not grant citizenship by jus solis (right of the soil), only by blood.

That’s it for today’s citizenship lesson.

“But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.” –  Phillippians 3:20-21