More words of wisdom from "Ken"

"Only when we allow Christ to determine the content of our lives can we discover the secret of contentment." ~Kenneth Boa, taken from the book "Conformed to His Image"

Two internships

I decided last Wednesday to take the internship opportunity I was offered MARR. I knew as soon as I did that, I would finally hear back from the other places I had also submitted my resume too.

Sure enough, that night and then two days later on Friday afternoon I got phone calls from two of the other places. Fortunately it sounded like neither one would be a good fit anyhow. So I was still feeling really good about my decision.

On Monday afternoon while I was eating lunch and watching the last 15 minutes of "The View" I got a phone call from the person who called me on Friday, asking me if he could at least tell me about the internship possibility I had previously applied for even though I already made a commitment somewhere else. It's nice to be fought over, but at the same time I wasn't going to back out on decision I already made. That's just jerky. However my curiosity was peaked because this guy is a psychologist who works with assessing missionaries for Operation Mobilization, so I couldn't pass this up.

Apparently four times a year OM has assessment weeks for their two year missionaries and this psychologist is currently assessing around 40 people each time basically on his own in addition to his own clients that he sees in his private practice. He would love to have someone from PSI who has a missions background to be able to help him and he would do all the training and supervision for the intern so it's not like I would be doing this all on my own. After seeing my resume he said he would email me more information and if I would consider helping him out a couple of days during these assessment weeks. I would still be able to stay at MARR and get all the hours and great experience there and then probably help him out on those days when he needs help and still get more experience counseling/assessing missionaries which is what I want to do with my degree.

Basically, the best of both worlds. And now I have not one but potentially two really great internships.

I had no idea what to expect when I began this process but never this. It's really amazing.

Singles Group Adultery

Last night I committed singles group adultery and went with my friend Morgan to her singles group at Church of the Apostles. It meets at night, so it doesn't interfere with my singles group so I am hoping that lessons my offense.

I mostly went because I wanted to "meet people" which is single-people-code-language for meeting people of the opposite sex. Morgan had really good things to say about her group and it sounded about three times the size of mine so I thought what the heck. I'll get out of my box and try it out.

Basically I was more enamored with the awesome praise and worship and the challenging message the speaker gave more then the guys, but I guess that's a good thing. They have praise and worship just for their young adults group with a wide array of musical talents. I didn't know any of the songs so it was fun to get to learn new ones. The worship style was a lot more contemporary then my church so it was a fun/interesting change. I also got to wear a nametag with an orange dot on it. The whole time I was wondered what would happen to the orange dot people. At the end Morgan informed me that the leadership is supposed to invite me out for free Starbucks. Now that's a deal. I didn't take them up on it this time, but apparently I can get an orange dot nametag again and no one will be none the wiser.

I did meet one guy named...ummm....oh crap......Jim maybe who seemed quite nice. Mission accomplished?

Someone asked me this weekend how I normally meet guys if I don't go to bars. It was a hard question for me to answer. I have great guy friends from my church and I occasionally meet new guys through there, but it's not often. And naturally those relationships don't, and shouldn't always turn into more then friends. Online dating is usually what people suggest I try. I did give that a whirl once about a year ago but man it was so much work emailing and emailing. And I don't have time to be a slave to the computer right now for little chance of return.

So basically I resort to the occasional singles group adultery, which at least at the bare minimum affords some awesome opportunities to worship and learn something new.

OH and trusting God. After all, He's the ultimate orchestrator of all things, right? =)

They want me

Last Wednesday, two days before I got the below rejection letter, I had an interview at my third potential internship placement site. This one was with an organization called MARR which is a rehab facility for substance abusers. It came highly recommended by previous interns and the location is literally 10 minutes from my house. Even though I wasn't totally sure if working in addictions is where I want to be long term, all the research I did about the place only peaked my interest more. Obviously, it helps too that I could actually get a hold of someone and go in for an interview!

So last week I went in and met with the woman who would be my supervisor. She asked me some great questions and allowed me to ask a few of my own, which helped me get a much clearer picture of what I would be doing. Basically, the interns work at the men's recovery center, sitting in on group therapy for a while and then eventually I could work up to doing a group on my own. I found out in a class from last semester that doing group therapy is an interest of mine. I also would be talking with the patients' families, helping to educate them on the process and keeping them updated on how therapy is going for their loved one. The whole place seemed very positive and well-run. Throughout the interview I was getting much more encouraged about this whole thing, considering I have no background in additions at all! But part of doing an internship I think is getting more tools in your toolbox, plus it would be good for me to do something totally outside my box, which is what I told her in the interview.

Clearly I was getting used to the normal ambiguous response at the end of the interview which goes something like "we'll let you know" because I found myself choking back tears when they offered me the internship position at the end of the interview! Technically I'm still thinking about it, but more then likely I'm going to do it. I still have my resume out at four other places, but this is probably the best fit in many ways.

Ok...back to studying. I have two midterms this week..oh the JOY.

Ok so I didn't get the internship at Atlanta Christian College but...

This is probably the nicest rejection letter I've ever gotten....

Hi Jessica:

It was so good to visit with you a couple of weeks ago. Thank you for taking the time to apply and to come in to interview with me. Thank you also for talking with me on the phone earlier today.

Dr. Goble and I have looked over our candidates for internship for next year and weighed all the pros and cons of each. We have extended the offer to another candidate and she has accepted. I want to thank you for considering us. We work very hard to ensure that our site is closely matched to the candidate and visa versa. Just like last year, everyone we interviewed would have been incredible. We had to pick one of the best from a very qualified and competent field of applicants.

I was especially impressed with you. You were in the final two and the decision was very hard for me. I know rejection may be frustrating, but I hope you recognize any closed door as part of God's bigger plan.

I wish you well as you pursue your internship, conclude your degree, and pursue your career. May God always guide you and keep your trust in Him.

Take care,
Gregory K. Moffatt, Ph.D.
Atlanta Christian College

Spring no break

The first week of March was my spring break officially, so I did the typical spring break thing and went down to Florida.

Ok, technically my break was a bit different then the MTV version, but hey, I was still in Florida!!

I went down the first weekend to visit my friends Magdalena and Paul who moved to Tampa last summer. They were so hospitable and I'm totally convinced the best cooks around (besides the McNay's, oh, and my ATL cousins, and Nathan's desserts..oh and..) They were total farmers market shoppers when they lived here in Atlanta so you can get an idea of what kinds of stuff they make. For example, we had homemade basil rolls for lunch when I got there with this amazing straight-out-of-Asia sauce and then homemade pizza (including the crust) one night for dinner. I also got to go to the beach, visit some local sites, go to two amazing restaurants, and see two movies I had been dying to see. Not to mention the great conversations in between and the occasional mofia sighting. All in all, it was grand.

As soon as I got back though it was 100% full-force into schoolwork even though I didn't have class that week. I was scheduled to take a class the last Fri/Sat/Sun of my spring break, which was last weekend. The teacher was Dr Larry Crabb, whom some of you know, is a famous Christian psychologist, author, and speaker. I think because of his name and schedule I'm hoping that's the only time Dr Crabb could come and my school doesn't have a personal vendetta out against the students.

I wasn't sure what to expect out of the class. I knew it was going to be pretty large and I wasn't star struck about the whole thing like some of the students. But, as usual the Lord humbled me and gave me some really key insights that I want to use someday not only with clients but also just with people in general. Like when you get a chance to go deeper with someone beyond "so how was your weekend". I also learned a lot about myself. His main emphasis was that bottom line, we are all sinners and in order to change, we need Christ. Amen, brother.

If you're interested in reading one of his books I would recommend "The Pressure's Off". We had to read it for the class and it was one of my faves.