God has a sense of humor!

Why? Because I have landed in Waco, Texas. Never in a million years did I see myself going to seminary here. I envisioned Wake Forest or Ft. Worth or New Orleans. Waco? Didn't even know there was a seminary there!

Many have been curious as to the turn of events that led to my big move south. Here it is:

How did I end up here? Well, it is most definitely a God-thing (working thru Amy & Wes!). As you know, my plan was to move to New Orleans and enroll at NOBTS. Before I left for camp in June, I mailed in all of my information and forms....with the hope to hear of my acceptance before coming home in August. Obviously, that did not happen. During my time at camp, I began to talk to Wes and Amy Butler a lot about my Journeyman term and about my decision to head to NOBTS in the fall. Amy began to share with me a lot about Truett Theological Seminary (she's a pretty good recruiter). So, I figured I could at least apply. When I first looked, the application deadline had long since passed. I couldn't tell you why, but I looked again the following day and the deadline had been extended and that meant I had 9 days to get all of my application materials in (mind you, I am in the middle of camp out in CA!). Don't know how it happened....but everything made it in my deadline time - references, transcripts and all!! The Friday after I got everything in, my application went before the admissions committee and I was granted acceptance! Never heard back from New Orleans, which made the decision easy. But, I felt complete peace about packing up and moving to Waco.

I am beginning to love it here. I have been impressed with the school and my professors. Probably for the first time ever, I somewhat enjoy going to class (minus the whole getting out of bed thing!). So, I am a Baylor Bear. Craziness. No idea how long I will be here, but I am going to soak up what I can while camped out here in Waco, TX.

Next time: The Mormon Encounter

One time at summer camp....

It has been a eons and eons since the last post. Life got busy. There is much to write about, but I'll just tackle one thing at a time. We'll start with the beginning of the summer.

I worked camp for the first time in my life, this summer. I was a part of the Centrifuge staff at Jenness Park, in Cold Springs, CA. My job was leading Bible study every day for 5 weeks, to 9th-10th (3 wks) and 11th-12th (2 wks). It was an amazing experience. Every week, God used something in our Bible study to challenge me. We spent the summer studying Moses and his journey of faith and tried to apply the lessons we learned to our own lives. Aside from leading Bible study, I led volleyball and backpacking track times.

One might think that taking 25-30 students on an overnight backpacking trip every week would cause me to dread Thursday nights. However, this couldn't be more wrong. I couldn't wait for Thursday nights to arrive. By far, my favorite night of the whole week and it always ended up being one of theirs (after I told them they couldn't get out of it!). There were definitely some groups that had me a little concerned....but something happens on the trail - you bond. It was always neat to see.

One of my favorite moments came after almost an hour of hiking. For the first bit, we were hiking pretty much straight up the mountain. So, as you can imagine, there was lots of complaining! And that could be underestimating it. It was in this first segment that I often wondered to myself why I signed up for this. But when we changed trails, we came to a look-out....where you could see everything. It was then that I knew why I did this. Their expressions and attitudes changed instantly. They were in awe of God's creation. It never ceased to make me smile. And it happened every week.

Another favorite was our share time around the fire. The group would have bonded even more while setting up camp and cooking dinner....so this time became a chance to share life stories and all God was doing. I was blessed. One night, actually the last trip of the summer, something very cool happened. After we all shared, I encouraged them to take advantage of where they were for the night....in the middle of God's awesome creation and just allow God to speak. I told them that I wanted them to see God as Creator. While in the jungle, I spent so much time looking at the stars. I always stood in awe of the fact that He placed these balls of gas exactly where He wanted them. I shared this with the group and told them to look up and be reminded that God cares for us so much more and He is faithful to finish the work He has started in us. At this exact moment, the biggest and brightest shooting star flew across the sky. Not one of us missed it. In that moment, they got it. They won't forget that night. I won't either.

Week 5 Backpacking Crew