Sem Life

I guess it's about time that I posted about seminary life, huh?

Where do I begin? Seminary life is living up to the expectation. I am just overwhelmed by the vast wave of bible knowledge that is thrown at me every week. My professors are so smart and so well-equipped that it makes my puny brain look even smaller. Regardless of the level of their theological competency, they are humble men who are such an encouragement to me. I want to write down everything that they say, but my little pen can only go so fast. I'm just afraid of my retention. I've always struggled with comprehension and long term memory, so I'm praying that the Lord works a miracle in my mind so that this life changing information will manifest itself in how I conduct ministry.

The content of what is being taught spurs me to a special work ethic. For some strange reason, I look forward to doing homework. I definitely have a heavier load than undergrad, but I really don't mind sitting down and hammering out hours of reading and hours of assignments. Why? Well, I think it's the drive. Not the car drive, but the inward drive. LOL. It's obvious that motivation is needed in order to accomplish your homework. But the motivation I have is an understanding that my work is not VAIN work. My assignments are just gushing with so much life application that I can't even keep up. It makes me want to do well. It encourages me to keep going. But it also scares me. It scares me because I know that more knowledge equals more responsibility, and I will be held to everything that I learn here. May the Lord be gracious with me as I travel this journey through seminary.

I wake up at 5 AM every school day (earlier if I carpool with Mark). It seems as though I'm becoming more of a morning person. Maybe it is because I'm actually sleeping earlier. Well, regardless of the reason, I am enjoying the early mornings and even the early morning drive. I am much more efficient because of it.

We have an incoming class of about 90 students (roughly). It has been a joy and privilege to meet new people almost every single class day. I am having a blast cultivating relationships with people who have wonderful testimonies about what the Lord has done in their life. We all come from different places, cultures, and upbringings; but our goal is the same. It's difficult to stay on task and NOT talk to them about life and ministry. A good problem I suppose.

Humility is something that I understood would come with attending TMS. Yet, I did not know how the Lord would place that upon me. So far, humility has manifested itself through the surfacing of my faults and shortcomings. It's easy to think you're the stuff when nothing seemingly "bad" happens to you, but when the Lord brings the hammer, He really brings the hammer. I've been humbled (even academically) in more ways than once, and it really keeps me grounded. It's funny how you pray for the Lord to keep you humble, but sometimes you really don't like how He brings that about. Lord, just keep me low.

I think about Loris everyday, even when I'm at school. Today marks five months of us being together. I sent her a text that said, "Ebenezer, darlin. Happy five." Ebenezer means, "the Lord has taken us this far." And that just really sums it up for us. God has taken us this far, and we hope and pray that He takes us even further.

Excuse any grammatical errors. I didn't proof read. Hopefully this was an encouragement for you. Thanks for the prayers.

-Micah