Now we come to the third blog in the Camelot series. This is the last portion of the change in direction that occurred in my life as we moved into the new century.
I made a decision to take a step in the calling of becoming an Interfaith Minister. It seemed to come out of nowhere and involved direct connection with my Divine side and my collaboration with spirit.
I started my seminary program in the summer of 2003 with a trip to New York City with my dear friend who had challenged me to start the program. We got to New York and stayed at a Catholic Retreat Center in the center of Manhattan. It was used by the clergy. When you left the facility you turned over your keys at the front desk. They had a breakfast buffet downstairs run by the Nuns that cost $3.00.
At seminary there were 100 of us from across the planet. In our class was; a well-known writer from Australia, one of the top Astrologists in the United States, along with various alternative medicine doctors and other experts in their fields.
I was very active in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and I had missionaries over to the house for Sunday dinners. It gave me the chance to learn about an experience I missed out on and learn first-hand what it was like. Overall one of the memories that was so important to all the missionaries was the fact that for two years they had nothing to do but to talk about God, share about God and experience God - how powerful! That is what it felt like - having the opportunity to gather together over the two-year seminary program with truth seekers from all over the world.
The first year we gathered together and were up until the wee hours of the morning talking, debating, sharing, and experiencing each others perception of the Divine. It was an opportunity to really see the Divine right in front of us.
The second year we would be going through a series of tests in order to be ordained. We had formed alliances and smaller groups as we worked together. One of our groups came about when we put together a church service. Eight of us came together a week early to gather at a cabin in the woods in upstate New York. For the entire week we talked about God, personal responsibility and moral obligation. We talked about our personal vision of what kind of minister we wanted to be. In the midst of all that, we studied our material and talked and talked and talked. It was another profound time which was expressly designed to help me personally explore who I was and what it was I was doing. We just don't get opportunities like that very often. I think it is very important that we try to design times in our lives to have such experiences. I will never forget that time. It helped guide my direction and my obligations as a minister. It has always given me a set of standards to live by that are even clearer than the set of ethics set up by our seminary. It's something we don't get to do often.
When is the last time you stepped back and hit the pause button to decide what the next steps will be? We all need this type of time and it is so rare. Now is the time to design some time for this in our lives.
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