The 50 Page Syllabus and More!

Two weeks and a day until I get started with chaplain training. I received all of the forms and the syllabus by email last night. The syllabus was a mere 50 pages long. This is serious business!! One wonderful thing included there was the reading list. There are 3 or 4 books each term that are required and then there's a whole slew of books that we can choose from. This term the required books are:

Kitchen Table Wisdom, by Rachel Naomi Remen
The Art of Listening in a Healing Way, by James Miller
Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man’s Soul, by John Eldredge 

And these for the whole year-long program:
The Art of Being A Healing Presence, by James Miller
Holy Scriptures (per your faith tradition) - cool!!
Plus this textbook (with a textbook price!) - Transforming the Rough Places: The Ministry of Supervision, by Kenneth Pohly

I am REALLY excited to get started. I do love to read, and many of the books listed for the four terms are things that I think I will love. I checked out Kitchen Table Wisdom from the library today while I'm waiting for my copy to arrive in the mail. I read My Grandfather's Blessing by the same author many years ago and loved it. I expect this one to be just as good.

And then there are the forms and agreements! The goal setting form is a bit intimidating and I won't be filling that in until I understand a lot more about it. Several forms deal with keeping your mouth shut about the details of people's lives, and that's not a problem, so I'm good there. But I'm still trying to deal with the intimidation factor of my lack of formal education. I can do this. I think I can, I think I can.

And then there was the awesome news that I heard today about the hospice center for the homeless (The INN Between) actually opening their doors today. This has been in process for a long time and they weren't able to open as planned due to zoning requirements, etc. I'm crossing my fingers that I'll get to spend some time there with these folks who are dealing with two really hard things simultaneously - being homeless and very, very ill.

Here's a little news clip. Good stuff!!
Utah's first homeless hospice, The Inn Between, is open for business - Good4Utah.com