Sitting on the eve of the last of this term’s final exams, a day that will be the mark signifying the close of my first term in seminary, though it technically doesn’t end till Monday.\u00a0Eighty days ago I was leaning on the edge of another eve, standing in the garage staring at bed of my father’s truck, my belongings loaded and wrapped securely in tarp and ducktape, ready for the 13 hour drive from Iowa to Pittsburgh that we would do straight through on the next day, getting me there four hours before orientation.\u00a0 Seventy three days ago\u00a0the beginning of\u00a0my seminary education dawned as I\u00a0walked into\u00a0classroom and found a seat for my first lecture in\u00a0Church History.<\/p>\n
Much has happened\u00a0in that relatively short amount of time, so much that I can’t possibly transpose it all here and some can’t even be articulated with any sort of adequacy.\u00a0But in the current state of thanksgiving and the impending season of Advent, reflecting on the churning inside, all the good and the bad and the in between,\u00a0I can’t help but be grateful (Please note I am treating my gratitude for God as a given and I am expounding on specific things that I’ve received through God for which I am grateful).<\/p>\n
I am grateful for the community of friends I have made.\u00a0As excited as I was to come here, I was also afraid.\u00a0Afraid that I wouldn’t find a place here, that I would be what a lot of artists in the church experience – a great novelty item to have but left alone unless their skills can be rendered for a specified thing.\u00a0Since I was learning how to swim in waters I had never before tread\u00a0I was worried\u00a0I would drown, and be forced to face the disappointment of all those I loved who supported me being here and lose the new friends I would acquire. But those fears, like all fear, were unfounded, for daily I encounter love and acceptance from the people who form the pieces of my new life here, whether they realize they are doing it or not.\u00a0 The encouragement to grow and wanting me to share the gifts they see in me, allowing me an outlet to merge what I am learning with my art.\u00a0And for treating me as an equal.<\/p>\n
For the network of faculty and staff, who in all their various and sometimes unseen jobs do it all very well.\u00a0I have been pushed and challenged.\u00a0I have read more pages than I thought humanly possible in such a small amount of time.\u00a0I have wrestled, struggled, and strived to understand, remember, and memorize.\u00a0 And I have realized that the outcome to all the time invested in lectures, readings, homework, and quizzes isn’t necessarily to get a good grade, as nice as those are, but to be as prepared for the life of ministry I am seeking to serve.\u00a0So I am grateful and indebited to their knowledge and their care.<\/p>\n
And for the people who have seen seminary on my path long before I did, who waited for me to see it, and who celebrated with me when I found it.\u00a0For those who also saw this in my future and were very persistent in pursuing me about it.\u00a0For those who supported me whole heartedly when I announced I had discovered this path, who let me know no matter how far away I go I will never lose them.<\/p>\n
There is more I could expound upon, but in this current moment and in my current place, these are some of the things for which I am most grateful, because they have gotten me here, and here is where I am supposed to be.<\/p>\n