Joseph's Site
The Last Six Months
(Posted February 12, 2011 at 10:11 p.m.)
The last six months have been interesting to say the least. Last semester, I took 2 fewer credit hours than normal for a total of 10 total credit hours. I decided to cut back because I was feeling burnt out. I had been doing so much between school and work that I needed a little bit of a break. The fact that I was burnt out and still over committed myself despite cutting back on hours meant that I had the worst semester academically since I came to Covenant. For the first time since I came to Covenant, I made a C; and unfortunately not just one but two. The thing that is a little upsetting about this is that I performed below my potential due to not being able to focus on course work due to feeling burnt out, and due to insufficient lack of planning. As mentioned in my previous post I have recognized my need to work on planning more and I mentioned that it is a necessity in seminary. That proved to be true. This time though, my lack of planning lead to me needlessly receiving a grade I never would have gotten had I just planned. The grade was in my homiletics class. I failed to plan accordingly to be able to have enough time to adequately prepare my sermon. The week before my sermon I was writing a 12 page paper for a class. Then, it came time to write my sermon and there was not enough time left to get it done. I did not catch the bad planning until I got done with my paper and noticed I was supposed to be preaching my sermon immediately. I called my professor, but there was nothing that could be done. It was too short of notice. I only had the choices of not preaching and taking a C for the class or preaching while ill prepared and taking whatever grade the sermon was worth. Since, I knew I did not have time to actually prepare a sermon in time I chose not to preach instead of preaching an unprepared sermon and possibly doing worse. The thing that was worse though than the grade was missing out on the sermon. This sermon I missed was the sermon I had been working to my whole time here. Since, I came to Covenant, before I even took my first preaching class, I knew I wanted to preach my topical sermon for Advanced Homelitics on the Glory of God. Unfortunately, I missed my chance to preach that sermon I had been working toward for 3 semesters.
This last semester I also decided to start a business. A couple of my best friends Mike Fontenot and Jason Murray, joined Primerica Financial Services. They told me about what they were doing and how they help people. The company is a subsidiary of Citigroup, has a rating of A+ with the Better Business Buearu, has a rating of A+ by A.M. Best, and is a member of Insurance Marketplace Standards Association (IMSA) which promotes high ethical standards in the sale and service of life insurance and long term care. After looking into the company and assessing their credibility, I decided to join. I joined with the understanding that I could only work 5 hours a week due to my commitments to school and work. Since then, I have studied and received my life license for Missouri. Working with Primerica has been great for me. I've gained a lot of financial knowledge. I got an analysis of my current financial situation and now know where I am at and what I need to make after graduation. I've been helped by Primerica by getting my car insurance through them. I was able to save about $900 a year or $75 a month on car insurance. This impacted my life greatly has I was able to get car insurance after not being able to afford it for a long time. As a result of the rate I got through Primerica, I had car insurance when I had a wreck a couple weeks ago. Had I gotten the car insurance at the rate I expected through most other companies, I would not have had insurance on my car when I had a wreck, because I knew I could not afford the other rate and I would have let it lapsed due to not being able to afford it. I am therefore very grateful for the service Primerica gave me. Working with Primerica has had even greater impact on my life. In Primerica you learn to become a leader. To do the work you must do for Primerica, you must learn people skills and work on personal development to become a leader. I took the challenge for personal development, as a result, I feel like a new person. I've noticed that as a result of taking the challenge for personal development and applying what I learn Primerica, I've felt much happier. One of my pastors here in St. Louis said to me recently that he noticed I have developed more confidence and become more assertive. That is due to what I have been learning and applying from Primerica. Working with Primerica has forced me to develop communication skills and become more relational. Overall, the benefit I have received from taking the Primerica Business Opportunity has been immense. See my Primerica website at: http://primerica.com/josephmoreland.
While going to school and starting a Primerica business, I had also been working for a promotion at my regular job. I work at Brookdale Senior Living, a retirement center for the elderly. I have been working as a busser in dining room. I was told since this last post that they would give me a job promotion to server. This job promotion is very significant, it is a $4.35 an hour pay raise. Whereas I have been struggling to get by on my current pay, this pay raise will get me closer to what I need to make each month. I start training for my new job as server starting this Monday, 2/14/2011.
Another thing I mentioned briefly that has happened in the last 6 months since the previous post, is that I had a car wreck. The wreck happened about 3 weeks ago now. I was traveling west on a main road when a truck that was trying to turn left pulled out in front of me. I did not have time to stop and so hit the truck. The accident totaled my car. The accident was the other guys fault and his insurance company took all the liability for the accident. I have also had some back pain since the accident. I went to a chiropractor a couple of times. However, I am stilling have some back pain and will being going back to get more medical treatment soon. Unfortunately, I only had a rental car for a week, because that is all the insurance would pay. So, I have been without a car for two weeks. I have been having to depend on friends to get me to and from work. I just got paid from the insurance company and am currently looking for a new car. So, if you know of someone trying to sell a car for $2,000 or less please let me know.
One final thing that has happened recently is that I switched degrees. While talking with Brad Anderson, who is on staff here at Covenant and Mark Ryan, one of my pastors, I decided to switch. The reason for the switch is that I was told that I could still do what I want to do vocationally and graduate with less debt if I switched degrees. So, at the recommendation of the Covenant Staff and my Associate Pastor, I switched my degree from M.div (Master of Divinity) to MATS (Master of Arts in Theological Studies). The MATS degree is 30 credit hours less than the M.div degree. So, the switch saves me about $15,000 or more. As a result of the switch, I could technically graduate this May, because I only have 10 credit hours left to take. However, I decided it would be better to spread out the hours over two semesters. The advantage to doing this is that I would be able to have a reasonable time frame to work with to find a pastoral job and I could take care of my current financial situation by working more. There is even a chance that I may graduate at the same time would have any way (May 2012) and so spread out the 10 hours over 3 semesters instead of 2. This possibility is due to the fact that I have to work in another class somewhere while it is being offered. So, I may have to be here in the Spring semester of 2012 to take this 1 class. I am still working on the details of this though and I will see what happens with it and update you later.
That brings us up to date now. Please keeping checking back as I update the site. I will never let this long go by again with out updating if it can possibly be helped. I'll continue to send out email notifications when the site has been updated. God Bless.
This last semester I also decided to start a business. A couple of my best friends Mike Fontenot and Jason Murray, joined Primerica Financial Services. They told me about what they were doing and how they help people. The company is a subsidiary of Citigroup, has a rating of A+ with the Better Business Buearu, has a rating of A+ by A.M. Best, and is a member of Insurance Marketplace Standards Association (IMSA) which promotes high ethical standards in the sale and service of life insurance and long term care. After looking into the company and assessing their credibility, I decided to join. I joined with the understanding that I could only work 5 hours a week due to my commitments to school and work. Since then, I have studied and received my life license for Missouri. Working with Primerica has been great for me. I've gained a lot of financial knowledge. I got an analysis of my current financial situation and now know where I am at and what I need to make after graduation. I've been helped by Primerica by getting my car insurance through them. I was able to save about $900 a year or $75 a month on car insurance. This impacted my life greatly has I was able to get car insurance after not being able to afford it for a long time. As a result of the rate I got through Primerica, I had car insurance when I had a wreck a couple weeks ago. Had I gotten the car insurance at the rate I expected through most other companies, I would not have had insurance on my car when I had a wreck, because I knew I could not afford the other rate and I would have let it lapsed due to not being able to afford it. I am therefore very grateful for the service Primerica gave me. Working with Primerica has had even greater impact on my life. In Primerica you learn to become a leader. To do the work you must do for Primerica, you must learn people skills and work on personal development to become a leader. I took the challenge for personal development, as a result, I feel like a new person. I've noticed that as a result of taking the challenge for personal development and applying what I learn Primerica, I've felt much happier. One of my pastors here in St. Louis said to me recently that he noticed I have developed more confidence and become more assertive. That is due to what I have been learning and applying from Primerica. Working with Primerica has forced me to develop communication skills and become more relational. Overall, the benefit I have received from taking the Primerica Business Opportunity has been immense. See my Primerica website at: http://primerica.com/josephmoreland.
While going to school and starting a Primerica business, I had also been working for a promotion at my regular job. I work at Brookdale Senior Living, a retirement center for the elderly. I have been working as a busser in dining room. I was told since this last post that they would give me a job promotion to server. This job promotion is very significant, it is a $4.35 an hour pay raise. Whereas I have been struggling to get by on my current pay, this pay raise will get me closer to what I need to make each month. I start training for my new job as server starting this Monday, 2/14/2011.
Another thing I mentioned briefly that has happened in the last 6 months since the previous post, is that I had a car wreck. The wreck happened about 3 weeks ago now. I was traveling west on a main road when a truck that was trying to turn left pulled out in front of me. I did not have time to stop and so hit the truck. The accident totaled my car. The accident was the other guys fault and his insurance company took all the liability for the accident. I have also had some back pain since the accident. I went to a chiropractor a couple of times. However, I am stilling have some back pain and will being going back to get more medical treatment soon. Unfortunately, I only had a rental car for a week, because that is all the insurance would pay. So, I have been without a car for two weeks. I have been having to depend on friends to get me to and from work. I just got paid from the insurance company and am currently looking for a new car. So, if you know of someone trying to sell a car for $2,000 or less please let me know.
One final thing that has happened recently is that I switched degrees. While talking with Brad Anderson, who is on staff here at Covenant and Mark Ryan, one of my pastors, I decided to switch. The reason for the switch is that I was told that I could still do what I want to do vocationally and graduate with less debt if I switched degrees. So, at the recommendation of the Covenant Staff and my Associate Pastor, I switched my degree from M.div (Master of Divinity) to MATS (Master of Arts in Theological Studies). The MATS degree is 30 credit hours less than the M.div degree. So, the switch saves me about $15,000 or more. As a result of the switch, I could technically graduate this May, because I only have 10 credit hours left to take. However, I decided it would be better to spread out the hours over two semesters. The advantage to doing this is that I would be able to have a reasonable time frame to work with to find a pastoral job and I could take care of my current financial situation by working more. There is even a chance that I may graduate at the same time would have any way (May 2012) and so spread out the 10 hours over 3 semesters instead of 2. This possibility is due to the fact that I have to work in another class somewhere while it is being offered. So, I may have to be here in the Spring semester of 2012 to take this 1 class. I am still working on the details of this though and I will see what happens with it and update you later.
That brings us up to date now. Please keeping checking back as I update the site. I will never let this long go by again with out updating if it can possibly be helped. I'll continue to send out email notifications when the site has been updated. God Bless.
The Load Down on this Summer's Events
(Posted August 6, 2010 at 11:36 a.m.)
This summer has been very restful for me. Since, coming to Covenant to study for master’s, I’ve taken classes every January and summer after the regular semester. Consequently, I have not had much of a break and was beginning to burn out. This last semester was difficult to get through, because I needed a break, but could not take one. After this last semester ended I still was not through with classes. I finished up my independent study on Luke’s use of the Septuagint in Luke-Acts.
As I mentioned in my previous post, I have been playing guitar more. That was especially true at the beginning of this summer, but I have played less since then. However, I have recently starting giving guitar lessons. I’ve been posting ads on Craiglist to get students. I haven’t got a lot of response, but I’ve been able to give a couple lessons and I get other people inquiring about lessons. I currently have someone interested in taking lessons from me twice a week. We’ve been trying to work out the hours to do it. I hope this works out with this student.
Besides playing guitar, I’ve been working this summer. I was wanting to pick up some extra hours, and told my boss so a couple times earlier this summer. However, I never got the hours I requested. That was a little disappointing, but I’m not too disappointed overall, because it would have meant having to go in to work at 6:45 a.m. many mornings, an idea I’m not too thrilled about (I’m not a morning person).
I’ve also been using this summer to focus on getting my finances back on track. As you know, I lost my job in May of 2009, and it took me until January of this year to find my current job. Through that experience God taught me of the need to be a better steward of my finances. As a result, I’ve been trying to get my finances back on tack. I’ve been able to for the most part. However, I’m not making enough at my current job and have been having to supplement income by doing other things such as selling stuff and finding people to give guitar lessons.
Another thing that God has been teaching me is the need to be a better steward of my time. I’ve learned more of the need to plan. That’s an important point for me, because I hate planning just like to go with the flow and put things off until there’s just enough or barely enough time to get them done. However, just going with the flow doesn’t work well in seminary. Since, coming to Covenant I’ve had to learn how to plan to be able to do well in my classes. I have also come to see more of the value of having the day planned. I find that when I make a schedule I’m much more focused on only the things that need done and am more productive. Planning does not come easy to me, but I’ve been trying to do it more to be a better steward of the time God’s given me.
I’ve had the opportunity to preach a couple times to preach this summer. I preached earlier this summer at Sovereign Grace Reformed Church, a church affiliated with the OPC (Orthodox Presbyterian Church). I learned of this opportunity through Covenant. Joel Hathaway, who is on staff here at Covenant, emailed me and some other students about the a couple of preaching opportunities this summer. I immediately responded to both and got one of them. I drove down to Doniphan (a 3 hour drive) and stayed at the pastor’s house so I could be ready to preach the next morning. I made a few improvements to a sermon I prepared for my Christ-Centered Preaching class (one of the classes that teaches you how to preach) and preached it the next morning. The sermon was titled Proclaim God’s Blessing and it was all about how Genesis 12:1-8 provides us with the motivation to proclaim the gospel in Christ to all nations. I preached this sermon again last week at my home church, Cross of Calvary Church, in Oklahoma City. The sermon went well overall, but the delivery when I preached at my home church was a little rough. Prior to that when I preached the same sermon at Doniphan the delivery was better, and was actually the best I’ve ever done delivering a sermon.
This last week as I mentioned, I had the opportunity to go back home to Oklahoma. I left for home Sunday, July 25, and returned Monday, August 2. The trip went well. The first day I got to Oklahoma I called up a couple friends and went to a Bible study with them that Sunday night. The Bible study was at the house of one of the professors from OBU, Dr. Litherland. At Dr. Litherland’s house I saw Omar and Shelly Zuhdi (Omar taught me latin for three years in high school and Shelly taught me world history in high school). It was good to see them again and we got caught up some on what we had been doing. After I was there a little while, I was surprised to see Dr. John Mullen come walking in the door (Dr. Mullen taught me philosophy at OBU and we met several times over the summer to talk about different issues. He was the only professor I ever met with while at OBU that I got to know outside of class). We talked a while and then the Bible study began. The Bible study was on Ezekiel 45 and was led by Mr. Zuhdi. All the teachers in the room made for an interesting Bible study. They analyzed the dimensions of the building being built and how it would have been about ten times bigger than the house we were in. Mr. Zuhdi somehow was even able to weave his knowledge of Egyptology into the discussion at points. After the Bible study I went back home and most of the week was spent with my family. On Tuesday night, I went with my mother to the support group see has been going to, to deal with the grief from the passing of my father. There I met her friends in the group, and then we went to Van’s (a barbecue place) to eat afterwards. We had a garage sale that Friday that I arranged to account for some of the lost income due to being home, and I was able to make more than I would normally have. I picked up two extra shifts before coming down and the income from the sale covered the rest of the days of work I missed. The next day on Saturday, my grandmother, aunt, and little cousin came down from Edmond, Oklahoma to visit. We spent the day with them and went together as a family to eat out again at Van’s. The next day, Sunday, I went to my home church’s morning service. There I got caught up with some friends in the church. I learned from one friend, Jovan Morgan, that a couple of my other friends I did not get to see, Matt and Lacy Ives, had a baby. After church, I met up with another friend, Chris Fritch, for lunch. We ate a Poblano’s, a mexican restaurant. It was the first time I had seen Chris since my father passed away. We talked and got caught up on recent events, and I learned that Chris and his wife Kaysha had just learned 4 weeks ago that they are pregnant. When they found out, they had already been pregnant for 4 weeks. We talked a little more after that and then left. I then went to Starbucks to run through my sermon before preaching at the evening service that night. Then I preached. I talked to some friends a little after the service and went back home. Monday morning I got ready to depart for St. Louis, spent a few final hours with my mother and left at about 2:00 p.m. I arrived at my apartment in St. Louis a little after 10:00 that night and finished unloading my car a little after 11:00 p.m.
Since I’ve been back, I’ve just been working. However, last night I hung out with some friends for the first time since I’ve been back. It was good to be back in the presence of friends. We didn’t do anything in particular other than just sat around and talked about different things.
That brings us up to date now. Please keep checking back for more updates and to stay in contact. God bless.
As I mentioned in my previous post, I have been playing guitar more. That was especially true at the beginning of this summer, but I have played less since then. However, I have recently starting giving guitar lessons. I’ve been posting ads on Craiglist to get students. I haven’t got a lot of response, but I’ve been able to give a couple lessons and I get other people inquiring about lessons. I currently have someone interested in taking lessons from me twice a week. We’ve been trying to work out the hours to do it. I hope this works out with this student.
Besides playing guitar, I’ve been working this summer. I was wanting to pick up some extra hours, and told my boss so a couple times earlier this summer. However, I never got the hours I requested. That was a little disappointing, but I’m not too disappointed overall, because it would have meant having to go in to work at 6:45 a.m. many mornings, an idea I’m not too thrilled about (I’m not a morning person).
I’ve also been using this summer to focus on getting my finances back on track. As you know, I lost my job in May of 2009, and it took me until January of this year to find my current job. Through that experience God taught me of the need to be a better steward of my finances. As a result, I’ve been trying to get my finances back on tack. I’ve been able to for the most part. However, I’m not making enough at my current job and have been having to supplement income by doing other things such as selling stuff and finding people to give guitar lessons.
Another thing that God has been teaching me is the need to be a better steward of my time. I’ve learned more of the need to plan. That’s an important point for me, because I hate planning just like to go with the flow and put things off until there’s just enough or barely enough time to get them done. However, just going with the flow doesn’t work well in seminary. Since, coming to Covenant I’ve had to learn how to plan to be able to do well in my classes. I have also come to see more of the value of having the day planned. I find that when I make a schedule I’m much more focused on only the things that need done and am more productive. Planning does not come easy to me, but I’ve been trying to do it more to be a better steward of the time God’s given me.
I’ve had the opportunity to preach a couple times to preach this summer. I preached earlier this summer at Sovereign Grace Reformed Church, a church affiliated with the OPC (Orthodox Presbyterian Church). I learned of this opportunity through Covenant. Joel Hathaway, who is on staff here at Covenant, emailed me and some other students about the a couple of preaching opportunities this summer. I immediately responded to both and got one of them. I drove down to Doniphan (a 3 hour drive) and stayed at the pastor’s house so I could be ready to preach the next morning. I made a few improvements to a sermon I prepared for my Christ-Centered Preaching class (one of the classes that teaches you how to preach) and preached it the next morning. The sermon was titled Proclaim God’s Blessing and it was all about how Genesis 12:1-8 provides us with the motivation to proclaim the gospel in Christ to all nations. I preached this sermon again last week at my home church, Cross of Calvary Church, in Oklahoma City. The sermon went well overall, but the delivery when I preached at my home church was a little rough. Prior to that when I preached the same sermon at Doniphan the delivery was better, and was actually the best I’ve ever done delivering a sermon.
This last week as I mentioned, I had the opportunity to go back home to Oklahoma. I left for home Sunday, July 25, and returned Monday, August 2. The trip went well. The first day I got to Oklahoma I called up a couple friends and went to a Bible study with them that Sunday night. The Bible study was at the house of one of the professors from OBU, Dr. Litherland. At Dr. Litherland’s house I saw Omar and Shelly Zuhdi (Omar taught me latin for three years in high school and Shelly taught me world history in high school). It was good to see them again and we got caught up some on what we had been doing. After I was there a little while, I was surprised to see Dr. John Mullen come walking in the door (Dr. Mullen taught me philosophy at OBU and we met several times over the summer to talk about different issues. He was the only professor I ever met with while at OBU that I got to know outside of class). We talked a while and then the Bible study began. The Bible study was on Ezekiel 45 and was led by Mr. Zuhdi. All the teachers in the room made for an interesting Bible study. They analyzed the dimensions of the building being built and how it would have been about ten times bigger than the house we were in. Mr. Zuhdi somehow was even able to weave his knowledge of Egyptology into the discussion at points. After the Bible study I went back home and most of the week was spent with my family. On Tuesday night, I went with my mother to the support group see has been going to, to deal with the grief from the passing of my father. There I met her friends in the group, and then we went to Van’s (a barbecue place) to eat afterwards. We had a garage sale that Friday that I arranged to account for some of the lost income due to being home, and I was able to make more than I would normally have. I picked up two extra shifts before coming down and the income from the sale covered the rest of the days of work I missed. The next day on Saturday, my grandmother, aunt, and little cousin came down from Edmond, Oklahoma to visit. We spent the day with them and went together as a family to eat out again at Van’s. The next day, Sunday, I went to my home church’s morning service. There I got caught up with some friends in the church. I learned from one friend, Jovan Morgan, that a couple of my other friends I did not get to see, Matt and Lacy Ives, had a baby. After church, I met up with another friend, Chris Fritch, for lunch. We ate a Poblano’s, a mexican restaurant. It was the first time I had seen Chris since my father passed away. We talked and got caught up on recent events, and I learned that Chris and his wife Kaysha had just learned 4 weeks ago that they are pregnant. When they found out, they had already been pregnant for 4 weeks. We talked a little more after that and then left. I then went to Starbucks to run through my sermon before preaching at the evening service that night. Then I preached. I talked to some friends a little after the service and went back home. Monday morning I got ready to depart for St. Louis, spent a few final hours with my mother and left at about 2:00 p.m. I arrived at my apartment in St. Louis a little after 10:00 that night and finished unloading my car a little after 11:00 p.m.
Since I’ve been back, I’ve just been working. However, last night I hung out with some friends for the first time since I’ve been back. It was good to be back in the presence of friends. We didn’t do anything in particular other than just sat around and talked about different things.
That brings us up to date now. Please keep checking back for more updates and to stay in contact. God bless.
Now That Finals are Over
(Posted June 1, 2010 at 9:18 p.m.)
I recently finished up the school semester. I had a total of five finals. I’m not sure how I did. The finals were more than I could possibly prepare for (i.e. too much information to cover in a short period of time). I realize now that I took too many classes this semester to be able to do well at finals. However, the rest of the semester went well. Prior to finals I had A’s in all of my classes except for one. Since, I have finished finals I have been enjoying my free time. I’ve had more time to hang out with friends up here. We watched the series finale of Lost together. We thought it was the best episode ever, until the last 5-10 minutes. Those last few minutes was a very huge disappointment. We all felt cheated and disappointed in the ending. My friends and I also threw a party for a friend named Kyle. It was his going away party. He left to go train with the Navy. I also just got together one night to hang out with some friends, which was on the birthday of a friend named Lee. We had celebrated with birthday prior to that before everyone left for the end of the semester. I've been enjoying time playing my guitar. I’ve been putting in more practice now that I have more time. I hope to put in even more practice in the next up coming weeks. I’ve also been dedicating more time to trying to sell stuff online since I’ve had more time. I began selling things on eBay, Amazon, and Half.com to supplement more income. I haven’t done so well, but then I haven’t had many in demand or good products. I am finally getting better stuff to sell. I now currently have a 6th generation 160gb iPod Classic for sale, and a Digitech guitar effects pedal for sale. These are my best items. Other than these I also have a new John Piper book, When I Don’t Desire God and a new book on World Religions Made Simple. You can see what I'm selling on eBay by clicking here.
I am planning on staying here working this summer. I’ll be working bussing tables, and picking up more hours.
I got a new roommate today. His name is Mike Sense. He is from Indiana, and worked for Campus Crusade for Christ for the last 11 years, which he enjoyed. He came early this summer, because he is taking Greek.
I preach at Cross of Calvary on August 1. I’m planning a sermon on the temptation of Jesus. I want to discuss the parallels between Jesus and Adam, making application of that to us today.
That's it for now God Bless and have a good day.
I am planning on staying here working this summer. I’ll be working bussing tables, and picking up more hours.
I got a new roommate today. His name is Mike Sense. He is from Indiana, and worked for Campus Crusade for Christ for the last 11 years, which he enjoyed. He came early this summer, because he is taking Greek.
I preach at Cross of Calvary on August 1. I’m planning a sermon on the temptation of Jesus. I want to discuss the parallels between Jesus and Adam, making application of that to us today.
That's it for now God Bless and have a good day.
