Time is really flying by, and I cannot believe that I am quickly approaching my last month of my first year as a seminarian. This also means that exams and papers are approaching just as quickly, and most of my time this month has been spent studying. Especially this week after my reading week has mostly been devoted to catching up and studying for exams. I had my Systematic Theology II exam this Monday, will have my New Testament Survey Exam tomorrow, and will have my Greek exam the coming Wednesday. All of these classes have been insightful and caused me to think more about my faith and the truths of the bible, especially my Systematic Theology class. We spent the last few weeks talking about Evil and the image of God. Both topics have different sides arguing about different points of views and how it all fits in to who we are in relation to God. Especially the image of God where it challenges the difference between image and likeness. We took the time to look into different theologians and their views on how we are connected to the image of God, and what we lost from the fall and what we retained. Different views like the structural view which believes that the image is the essential part of humans that distinguishes them from animals such as; reason, freedom, creativity; and likeness is a non-essential thing that was given to us like grace, which we have lost from the fall. Another view is the relational view which believes that what we lost was original righteousness, which is essential to our human nature, and all we have remaining is a relic of image and likeness that distinguishes us from animals. The main difference between the two is that one believes that after the fall we lose something non-essential to our human nature yet still remain a proper human being, and can get to know God when we regain that lost part; the other believes that we cannot come back to God on our own and our human nature has lost something essential to it. Small things like this argument helps to challenges the little knowledge that I thought I had about Christianity and to think more openly.
Something new that started this month is my serving at CBCGB. I have started helping out with
teaching their baptismal classes, and that has been very exciting. Right now there are three young adults who are in the class, wanting to get baptized. This was something that I never had any experience with before, and was actually really excited to start. Having the opportunity to teach these classes really helped to reinforce the basics and foundations of Christianity within myself. Thankfully I had taken Systematic Theology I before teaching this class, which has some similar aspects to the baptismal class, which helped in my teaching of it. The class goes through 10 different lessons which focuses on things like: the authenticity of the bible, who God is/his attributes, the person of Jesus, the Holy Spirit, etc. Each class is always interesting in that the students are always bringing up questions that I would have never thought of. They show a passion to learn and grow in Christ, and just from their commitment to being at class every week with their busy schedules shows their dedication. What's even more exciting is that each of them have slightly different perspectives on things/being challenged as a Christian in different areas which becomes a boon for their spiritual growth with each other as they share their different circumstances. It encourages me to see people have a passion to learn more about the faith that they are believing in, and not settling for comfort.
I was also given the opportunity to go home once again during reading week. It feels like I come back
at least once a month, which helps because I would die up here if I did not go back to New York every now and then to eat real food!! Normally I plan all my studying and reading around my reading weeks so that I can take time to rest and relax back at home before jumping back into school, but this time I realized that Greek can not be given a rest. I found out that as long as I spent 15 minutes a day on Greek, it was much better than not studying Greek for a whole week and spending hours on it afterwards. So this time, I remembered to at least be diligent with my Greek. Anyway, coming back home was a really good time for me to just take my mind off studying for a little and see friends and family again. When I went back to NYCAC, I was pleasantly surprised with a new pastor that was speaking at our church. What surprised me even more was one of the worship songs that he asked the worship team to lead, "Onise Iyanu." Ever since I moved up here to Gordon Conwell, I have been increasingly interested and blessed by worship from different languages, and seeing that song be sung at my home church was really encouraging. I had always been in a Chinese church and been surrounded by predominantly Asian American Christians. Now that I am up in Gordon Conwell, I had been blessed with the opportunity to experience different cultures and how they worship and serve the Lord. The pastor said one line that still stands out to me now about my church, but I think would apply to different churches as well. He pointed at the flags that we had on the side of our sanctuary and said "you have the flags, now all you are missing is the people!" This really stood out to me because it revealed the huge need we had for outreach and the fact that Christians were not just made up of one race or culture. I am learning more and more to take to heart the importance of sharing and worshiping with different people from different backgrounds and cultures. Not that I hadn't already, but that I felt God convicting me to not be so closed off in my own little bubble of Christianity.
Another interesting thing that happened was actually just two days ago. So as most of you know, I now have a car, and it is a manual. Learning that has been a whole new experience all on its own, but now, I have some confidence in my ability to drive it. Two days ago, as I was out practicing, my car stalled at a 4-way stop sign, which sometimes happens because I let go of the clutch too fast.
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My cute little Honda Civic named Destiny. If I ever get a new
car in the future, it shall be called Destiny's child!! |
Anyway, so I turned off my car, and attempted to start it back up as I usually do so that I can get out of there and not impede traffic. However, when I turned the key, no sound was heard, and the car was not starting. I tried a few more times and well... nothing happened. I was stuck in the middle of the road and my car had died. Thankfully I didn't freak out too much, instead I turned to prayer and called up people to come save me. I waited for the cars behind me to clear up so that I could go into neutral and back away from the stop sign (since we were on a slight hill, gravity saved me). Then when my friend arrived, we attempted to jump start the car, but that didn't work, since it didn't seem like the battery was dead. I ended up calling a tow truck to drag me all the way to an auto repair shop that ended up helping me fix my car, and I was able to pick it up yesterday. This was all a first for me, and honestly, I thank God that it did not happen in a busier area or a location that was hard to reach. I also saw how kind the people in the neighborhood were as they would all stop their car and ask if I needed any help. Even though this situation seemed depressing, it actually gave me time to reflect as I waited for my car to be towed. I realized that I had not spent a lot of time in God's presence because of the hustle and bustle from studying. I took this time to reflect and rest once again in God's embrace, and realized that this car trouble was a blessing in disguise. It gave me time away from everything to spend with the Lord, and also, I am blessed that I got my car fixed now so that it won't break down in some obscure place, or the highway.
Last but not least, final update, after a few months of talking and praying, I am now officially dating the girl that I was seeing, and well clearly I'm the blessed one in this relationship. A girl who can deal with me must be amazing right!! Anyway feel free to ask me more about this or anything else you may feel curious about, and please continue praying for me as I will continue to pray for all of you!
Time is really flying by, and I cannot believe that I am quickly approaching my last month of my first year as a seminarian. This also means that exams and papers are approaching just as quickly, and most of my time this month has been spent studying. Especially this week after my reading week has mostly been devoted to catching up and studying for exams. I had my Systematic Theology II exam this Monday, will have my New Testament Survey Exam tomorrow, and will have my Greek exam the coming Wednesday. All of these classes have been insightful and caused me to think more about my faith and the truths of the bible, especially my Systematic Theology class. We spent the last few weeks talking about Evil and the image of God. Both topics have different sides arguing about different points of views and how it all fits in to who we are in relation to God. Especially the image of God where it challenges the difference between image and likeness. We took the time to look into different theologians and their views on how we are connected to the image of God, and what we lost from the fall and what we retained. Different views like the structural view which believes that the image is the essential part of humans that distinguishes them from animals such as; reason, freedom, creativity; and likeness is a non-essential thing that was given to us like grace, which we have lost from the fall. Another view is the relational view which believes that what we lost was original righteousness, which is essential to our human nature, and all we have remaining is a relic of image and likeness that distinguishes us from animals. The main difference between the two is that one believes that after the fall we lose something non-essential to our human nature yet still remain a proper human being, and can get to know God when we regain that lost part; the other believes that we cannot come back to God on our own and our human nature has lost something essential to it. Small things like this argument helps to challenges the little knowledge that I thought I had about Christianity and to think more openly.
