Extreme Makeover...God's Version

This is a long overdue update of my life. It seems as though I’ve only put off writing everyone for a few weeks but as I look back, I realize it’s been quite a bit longer.

At times, I cannot believe that I’m entering my third year of seminary this fall. The first two years have been difficult but delightful. God must have had August marked on his calendar for me as the month where he was going to give my life an extreme makeover. Not much will be the same in a few weeks…

Change/Blessing #1: Going into my third year at DTS, I needed to decide which track within the Masters of Theology program I wanted to pursue. After much prayer, sole searching, and council, I realized I wanted to be a part of a relatively new program at DTS for Media Arts. Although most of my classes will stay the same, the biggest difference is the required media arts internship. The church I’ve been at for three years does not currently use much media which meant leaving the church for my internship. Dallas is filled with a lot of large churches that would be great opportunities to learn. I think I’m choosing the best for media/creativity and most likely will be volunteering for at least a year at Fellowship Church in Grapevine. This will allow me to head into my fourth (and hopefully final) year of school with some new skills to begin an internship either at Fellowship or another church. Media Arts incorporates into ministry the elements of drama, video, readings, graphics, dance, art, etc… I believe it is something that the church in America needs to remain culturally relevant and as I continue to think of going overseas after graduation, many countries that appear dead to the church could benefit as well.

Change/Blessing #2: As a result of Change #1, I realized that I should move to Dallas to be closer to school and a new church. In order to stay out of debt, I began to seek an opportunity to leave rent free somewhere because even the cheapest rent was out of my budget. After telling a friend at DTS my situation, he recommended me meeting with an older couple from his Sunday school class that was looking to house a seminary student in exchange for help around the house. It worked out to be a natural fit between their expectations and my availability. So, I began the gradual move into their house in June for some summer courses. It is an amazing set-up. I’ll be living in the upstairs of their house, my own bedroom, bath, study, kitchenette, TV area, game room, and entrance from the garage. My duties around the house will be helping in their small garden, light yard work, and driving them around occasionally. It is their first time housing a student in this house, so it is a learning curve for both of us to find out what we’ll be doing.

Change/Blessing #3: Last semester, I stepped out of my comfort zone to tackle a residual fear of mine—public speaking! I auditioned for and got a job as a traveling speaker for Junior & High school students for Aim For Success. I gave an hour long program about sexual abstinence and reaching for goals and dreams in life. It was an amazing opportunity of dependence on God and refining my delivery for audiences ranging from a handful to nearly a thousand. While I imagined keeping this job until I finished school, my class schedule didn’t leave any days available to speak. However, in the midst of realizing that my schedule wasn’t going to open up. I received an email from a man I’ve never met that was offering a mentoring program for seminary students for fall/spring. As part of committing to the program (Common Grace Ministries) they offer a full tuition, fees, & textbook scholarship for fall and spring classes. It is their way of extending grace to students. Overwhelmed by this news, I saw that God was providing for me financially and removed my need for a job that paid enough for tuition. Leaving my current church role removed my greatest opportunities to build consistent relationships with others. A prayer request of mine for the next year was to find a way to have those opportunities outside the church. I applied again for what I believe has become the cultural “church” of America and sought employment at our beloved coffee joint, Starbucks. This has been a three year desire of mine to work there because I love people, serving people, and want to share Christ’s love for them as I prepare something as simple as a cup of coffee. Timing was never right to work there before this semester but God opened a job at one less than five minutes from my new house where my friend already works. It truly will be a ministry and opportunity to be relationally and a light to this world.

While I could go on, those are the three major points of my extreme makeover by God this month. I would appreciate prayers going into this semester as I handle a completely new life. I’m looking forward to my classes which include: Creative writing for ministry, Dynamic Speaking, 5^th Semester of Greek (Exegesis of Romans), & Old Testament Prophets.

Another commitment I’ve made to keep people updated on my life has been to start this blog. I plan to use it as a daily/weekly online journal for devotionals, God moments, and daily happenings. Obviously, you've found the address. εἰπέν is the Greek word for 3^rd person singular, aorist tense meaning “he said.” (I've got to act like I've learned something!) I thought it was fitting for an online journal and not too difficult to remember/type in. Hopefully, it will be updated consistently--meaning that throughout the semester you can see what all is going on in my life.

As you can see from my life – God is good. That is such a simple statement for such an intense reality. This summer was hard for me as I looked at and began to walk through the bittersweet emotions of change. In God’s grand finale for the summer, he blew me away, when at the last minute I was still lost and confused but he shed some light on my path and guided me through. It’s only by his grace that he poured light on my darkened soul years ago as he drew me into relationship with him and it’s still by his grace that he leads me on this journey of life. A journey that when looking back I realize that all the movements had to have been orchestrated by God himself because I could not have joined all the pieces together so intricately or wisely.