Wednesday, December 19, 2018

3 year degree - (2 years + 1 Semester) = 1 Semester left

It has been another amazing semester, and this time its been 2 months since I last updated everyone. I can't believe how fast time has flown by, and at this point I only have 1 semester left at Gordon Conwell before I graduate and leave the "holy hill." Fall has just about disappeared and winter has firmly taken its place. So much has happened within these two months and a lot of my time has been filled with busy work. As a refresher from last time, my week usually consists of Monday-Wednesday, doing instacart from 1-6, and having class in the mornings. Thursdays is a full day of class while Fridays is morning class and then off to church to meet with people for discipleship/dinner/baptismal classes/fellowship in the evening. Saturdays are usually reserved for catching up with whatever work that I have not finished or meeting up with people, and Sunday is church from 9-3:30, then basketball from 3:30-6. This semester has been less stressful in terms of the work load from school, mostly because I don't have to learn a completely new language, but in terms of overall work; it has been significantly busier. There are weeks where more work is required, and my weeks start to look pretty stressful, especially around the final few weeks of class. In order to tackle the last three weeks, I had to come up with a little schedule to plan out how I was going to finish the rest of my papers within three weeks. Praise God that everything was finished on time and I was still able to spend a good amount of time working and doing ministry. Throughout serving at church and going through classes, I was constantly reminded of the importance of discipleship and evangelism. Last update I mentioned how it was strange that we as Christians can talk about evangelism, and yet not know our next door neighbors. During the rest of this semester, God has continued to place those kind of thoughts in my heart, and as the rest of the Core team at Cross Bridge and I discussed how we will be doing Sunday School and stuff like that, we agreed to the idea of running a survey to gauge where our congregation was at. The last 2 weeks of school was filled with work and also prepping the survey to gauge where our congregation was at spiritually and aiming to work together with them to learn how we can serve them better and grow together.


Besides all the school stuff, I was blessed with the opportunity to go on two trips. On Oct 13,2018, some friends from CHARIS and I hiked Franconia Notch. I had gone on hikes before, but never one that was longer than 4 hours to go up and down; this hike was around 9 hours. We left early at 5:30 AM to drive there, and started hiking around 8ish. We didn't finish the hike til close to 5, and by then my legs were done. I remember how much I complained before going on this hike and all the craziness that must have gone in my head to want to do this. I felt tricked and was under-prepared, but that's mostly because I didn't read the descriptions on the event page... I will say, it was a one of a kind experience, especially since it was raining, snowing and hailing all the way up and half of the way down. Besides the muscle pains, the freezing weather and the constant slipping, this hike was actually really fun and amazing. The company was great and the view was even more amazing. Gazing out from on top of a mountain and seeing the view, it is hard to say that the majesty and vastness of all creation was just a coincidence. As I looked out and practiced my photography skills, I could only stand in awe of God's creation and all the things He has made. The second trip was on Nov 11-13 with Visalia and our good buddies Monica and Peter. It was really nice to go on another trip with them and just spend time in good fellowship.  We took a few days to explore Rhode Island and eat all the cute or yummy foods we could find. We also discovered this amazing store that gave us a great deal on lotion and sea salt that made our hands feel as soft as a baby's butt (that was the way he advertised it to us... and it was true!!!). Besides all the fun places we visited, it was nice to see how they grew together and how their relationship changed since the last time we all went on a trip, and it was great to see how me and Visalia had changed and grown as well. I always enjoy the conversations that we have, and the way
that we encourage and lift one another up throughout the trip.

Another thing that happened in between these two months is the opportunity to preach at Cross Bridge again. On Nov 4, 2018, I was blessed with the chance to preach from 1 Thess 5:12-15. In the process of preparing for this sermon, there were a lot of things going on in the back of my head. I struggled on how I wanted to frame my sermon, as well as how I wanted to structure it. All in all, this felt like one of my least prepared sermons. As I practiced it, days before Sunday, for some reason, I could not get it down. It felt like no matter how many times I practiced it, I just wasn't ready to preach it. After some more time, I was able to memorize the gist of what I wanted to say. On Sunday as I got to church, I was confident that I would be able to preach my sermon, but I had recognized in my heart that this was probably one of the sermons where I didn't feel ready for. However, God seemed to have His own plan in mind, because as I got to church, I felt the presence of His Spirit ready to be at work. For some reason, different people kept coming up to me and offering me prayer, which had not happened last time. Sure one or two people prayed over me the first time, but this time... it was like God knew I needed to surrender this into His hands completely. This really reminded me of who was in control, and who was the one who moved hearts. After the sermon was over, different people came up and shared how the Spirit had convicted them through the sermon. Even though I say it all the time, it is different to watch as God works through my weakness.

In reflection of all that has happened within this last semester, I realize that it has been a season of preparing to transition from Seminary into the real world. As much as I loved seminary, God has
shown me that the next stage in my life isn't going to be here. Although I am still discerning where God will take me, the community that I have at school is one that I am about to move on from. Instead of trying to get to know everyone and make relationships with everyone, I realized that God was calling me to be more intentional about each relationship. Instead of the passing conversations that we have, I tried to instead spend time in getting to know my classmates and those in my church. Especially with how busy I was this semester, I had no choice but to be more intentional with meeting up with people instead of just letting it happen on its own. One specific group of people is my brothers. I never really had much time to hang out with them when I was younger, nor did I really take the time to. However, the more I reflect upon how my first ministry should be to my family, it makes me wonder why I shouldn't try to love them better and spend more time with them. During the last two months, we haven't really hung out all too much, but there has definitely been more of an effort to spend time with them, and bring them along on adventures. Visalia has also been really encouraging in pushing me to spend more time with them and being intentional about inviting them to eat and play. Last thing to reflect upon is the fear of the unknown. It was great being at seminary, but now that I am about to graduate, it is scary to think that my life is about to change again. Although God has constantly been showing that He always provides for me, I am still learning how to surrender my life to Christ completely. With the short December break that I have, I hope to use the time to start applying for churches as well as continue to discern God's will.


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