the next steps

I never thought i was a big planner but i’m discovering either i thought wrong or i’m changing. I’ve been thinking quite a bit lately about the next steps in my life. After I finish the rough draft of my theses, I fix up a few things, and sometime this summer I should become officially a.b.d. (all but dissertation.) That means that I have finished everything towards my Ph.D. except for the dissertation. Which means I can be hired as a professor.

But as the adventure of looking for a ‘real’ job looms upon me, the challenge of doing so presses upon me. Since it’s a rather specialized field with limited job openings, finding a university job can be a complicated (and a good fit might come up in the first year of writing my dissertation – or not until the last year – but no one knows). And as I’ve been studying and growing in faith and sensing what God wants from/ for me, these are the things that matter when i ask what a good fit is:
- I would like to teach more than just facts – I want to be able to ask ‘why does what we’re studying matter for you and the others to whom you reach out?’
- I would like to be an active participant in serving the Christian Reformed Church – both in a local church and on the denominational level
- I would like to continue to live in community somehow somewhere. I have been challenged so much about what it means practically to be a Christian here – and what it means to be the body of Christ.
- I would like whoever I work for to be at least as interested in my participation in ministry work as my participation in academic work.
- No matter where I live, I would like both the opportunity for significant exposure to other cultures (and languages) and the ability to spend time with my immediate family and friends (so if i live a plane ride away to have enough money and flexible time to visit awhile at least a couple of times a year).
As the community is here in Amsterdam (and I love the many cultures, many people, and haphazard adventure of life here) and the Christian Reformed Church is in North America (a significant portion of which is in United States of which i am not a citizen and don’t entirely feel like i belong there), i’m not sure how all of these things fit together.

And as i ask how things fit, i’ve been making plans for next year. The hope is that i might see more clearly what God might have for me – how i might spend my life serving Him, being challenged by Him, and using the gifts He has given me. and these are the next steps in my life:
- next year, I’m hoping to be a more active participant in the community here: i’d not only be given a responsibility in the community but to be able to participate in the discussions of what it means to dedicate one’s life to living in community and ministering in the Red Light District. As part of that, I’m spending half the summer in Amsterdam with my primary focus to improve my Dutch, participate in the community and better understand ministry in the neighbourhood.
- I’ve been accepted to teach two Old Testament classes at Calvin Seminary in Spring 2008 (Old Testament Narrative and Jeremiah & the Church). It’s for the sabbatical of one of my former professors. I’m pretty excited (but i’ve been dialoguing about this for half a year so the thrilling newness has kind of worn off :))
- I’m dialoguing with Calvin College about teaching a one-month class in January that gives an introduction to Christian Worldview and the topic of my choice. I taught the class in January 2006 on postmodernity and loved it. My proposed topic this time is Theology from the Red Light District. [update (14 march 2007): upon further reflection, i'm not so sure that i'm going to try to do this next year - as this is probably not the best avenue to bring forward this topic - and further update, in September 2007, i decided to teach that class although with a different topic]
- And the whole time, I’ll be working on my dissertation – and see how that fits in the midst of these other plans. And I want to begin to participate more in the grammatical work that my supervising professor is doing with computers and Hebrew grammar for prophecy and poetry.
We’ll see what i discover along the way – and i’m deeply thankful for the opportunity to get to do all the things i would like to do.