Steve and Jenny Valentine

A good portion of my time these days I can be found nestled into the seat of an airplane listening to how to quickly and calmly exit the aircraft through the clearly marked exits in the case of an emergency landing. In a matter of minutes after the important safety briefing I have already forgotten what doors not to use in the event of a water landing and I turn to one of the limited activities that can be done while wedged between the person sitting next to me and the side of the aircraft. Most of the time I will open a book or listen to some class lectures, but when all else fails I like to plug my headphones in and listen to channel 9. Do you know about channel 9? On United flights, channel 9 is the station that allows you to listen in to communication between your plane, surrounding planes and the various air traffic control towers. Although this might sound a bit dull, I find it quite interesting that while flying at over 500 mph 30,000 feet in the air with a plane packed full o...

I will not lie, my heart was beating a little faster than normal as the tires of our large nine passenger van came ever so close to the edge of the shear cliff. The long narrow road and the blind corners of the switchbacks made for an uneasy muscle tensing trip up towards the summit of the mountain. As we got higher, soft patches of snow began to line the side of the road and an occasional mountain goat would watch us as though we were the wildlife.  As I watched out the window, it appeared as though we were getting so close to the clouds that I might be able to reach out and touch one.  As that thought made its way through my senses I forgot about how high we were and how close we were to death at every turn.  N oticing my childlike gaze up at the clouds, the driver leaned over and jokingly said, “I wonder if God hears our voice louder from here?”  Even though the driver, whom I would call a good friend after that trip, was joking it provoked my mind to thought for...

While sitting in class the other day with the 'after lunch heavy set eyes' taking over me, My mind was captured by an argument posed by my Old Testament professor. He was discussing the fall and the role of Adam and Eve. Through a series of connections with Hebrew verbs he presented the argument that Adam was to be a soldier-priest. One who would protect the garden while living in communion with God. To close the argument the professor made the claim that Adam's true failure was not that he followed his wife by eating of the tree, but his true failure was allowing the serpent in the garden to get to his wife. It will still take me some time to processes this theologically, but there is a pearl of great truth in the idea of Adam protecting the garden and his wife. Walking outside the other day to go to church I heard a commotion from the downstairs apartments. 3 young ladies and one guy were standing on the sidewalk pointing back at the door of their apartment. I asked th...

There are many things in life that can be "out of place" without causing a much of a problem. For instance, In my classroom at my school there is a great chance during the day, with 56 kids in the room, for some stuff to be misplaced. Sometimes papers are placed in the wrong pile, supplies not returned, or books not put where they belong. When this happens it puts a small inconvience in the day. Now if I were to misplace one of my students this would be a different conversation. When things are not in their place in the classroom, though, I have not only myself to blame but also those 56 little ones that blur in and out of my room. My first tendency is usually to blame them. Funny though, many times it was me who misplaced something. Yet day by day my first response is to turn to the kids when something goes missing or is not in its place. What about in my own llife? My spiritual life (I say this loosley believing that my life in Christ has everything to do with everythin...

5:50 and I spring to my feet. Knowing I should have been up 20 min ago to have enough time to grab breakfast and hit my knees to pray before the day, I hurry along to the bathroom. I get dressed and ready for the day in record time. I then proceed on my morning routine and head to the bedroom to give my wife a kiss and tell her to have a good day. I leave the apartment, race down the stairs and jump into the car just to find myself sitting to let the car warm up. In that moment of sitting I realize two things: one, that I had not gotten nearly enough sleep and I am very tired; and two, I am almost out of gas in my car. I think to myself, I can't stop I need to get to work because I have a meeting starting at 7:00 and stopping for gas would make me late. I leave the parking lot, pull out on the street, pass the gas station on the right and get on the highway with hope that I made the right decision on not filling up. Cruising along and doing quite well, I think to myself I knew I c...

After a nerve racking couple of weeks, we finaly received confirmation that I had been accepted to seminary. I was overwhelmed as I began to think about the future. My mind tore through all the thoughts as though I had to come up with the answers to every question and have every detailed planed out. When would I start? How much does it cost? Where are we going to work? Oh no, we need a truck!!! How big of a truck do we need? 16ft? 22ft? 28ft? Do I need my CDL? So, I really didn't think about getting a CDL. I did, however, think that I would need a cool trucker hat and Jenny and I would need CB radio call signs like The Professor and Pretty Lady J . Not to mention, learn all the trucker lingo and find out all the stops between here and Orlando that we could stop at and hang out with our fellow truckers. Ok, so a bit ambitious and a little wierd I know, considering our truck will be about 16ft, only have 6 wheels and say Penski Rental on the side. None the less my mind became very ...