Seminary Life: First Taste

Well, here I am a seminary student!!!! This one of the dreams of my life that has actually come true and I’m extremely grateful to the Lord for leading and providing, and for my wonderful family for supporting and encouraging me in this. Thank you!

 I’ve survived orientation, my first full week of classes (classes actually started Thursday 9/10) and my first assignments! It’s a good thing I like to read, but I still have to take breaks and do something else for awhile. How many books have I read so far? I’d have to stop and think… a few and parts of 2 or 3 others. Also written 3 papers and most of another… At the moment I think I’m a bit ahead on my assignments, so that’s a good feeling!

I live a little over a mile away from campus and can ride my bike there if the weather’s nice (and not too hot!). I’ve found the cheap place to buy produce and am getting familiar with the area. We have chapel Tuesday and Wednesday and prayer groups on Thursday – which is going to be a really nice way to have some fellowship and build some relationships. Also on Monday and Friday I go to a mid-day prayer time at a church in Philly… if you saw my facebook post about it last week I said I met Miss Clara (from the movie War Room) – but not really, she just reminds me of her! It’s a nice break in my day of reading and study and a sweet time of prayer.

I am super blessed to enjoy reading and writing, but already there’s been moments when it’s been challenging. At times I’ve been feeling a little overwhelmed! If you would like to pray for me that would be a huge blessing to me! Please specifically pray for:

-Humility – At times my “flesh” would like to think I can handle all this, but I need the Lord’s help and I need to be dependent on Him.

-That I will prioritize personal time in the Word and in prayer.

-Time management & Focus - that I’ll learn to use my time in the most efficient way possible and be able to concentrate well on what I’m reading/studying.

-That I will trust the Lord and not be anxious about all that I have to do, or about my future. This has been an ongoing process for me in the last 2 years.

-Over-all self-discipline – not just with time, but in other areas as well. (example: that I will eat healthy and exercise. You want more specifics? That I’ll stay away from the Baskin Robins/DD that’s just down the street!)

-Friendships. I’ve made some friends thus far, but would love to see those develop more over the semester and have some close ones.

In case you’d like to know about my Classes here they are:

Biblical Theology I: This is basically theology of the Old Testament. 6 response papers, a research paper, mid-term and final…. Here we go!

Survey of Church History: Pretty much self-explanatory. This will be my easiest class as I’ve already had some previous classes in this area.

Survey of Reformed Theology: Similar to previous class, but is focusing on the development (or re-development) of Reformed Theology post-Reformation. Should be an easier class as well as I am familiar with much of this. Some of the reading/assignments even just this week has been more difficult just because of the Covenantal theology emphasis which I disagree with.  

Old Testament for Ministry: This class is a follow-up class to Biblical Theology I (supposed to be taken 2^nd year, but I’m taking it now). This is looking like it will be a more difficult class with a lot of reading and 6 papers! I was/am looking forward to this class as I think it will be very interesting, but there’s a lot of work to do!

Counseling & Physiology: This class is all about how man is dualistic and consists of both body and soul/spirit. We are not just one or the other. Furthermore, these two things intersect and impact each other more than we realize. This will be an interesting class for sure!

Apologetics: This will be a more intense class. It’s involving a lot of critical thinking and some more heavy reading. The good news? No papers for this class! Again, getting a good dose of Covenantal theology…

Also for credit I will also be attending CCEF’s national conference in Virginia Beach in October, and will have some short response papers to write after attending sessions.