summer time

So some updates...

1) I am in VA for the summer working at Bethel Baptist for the 3rd summer in a row! It has been a blast and I can not believe it is almost August....I have been hanging out/mentoring/and teaching middle and high school girls all summer...it seems like last weekend I was just moving back
2) this summer High school camp was World Changers I was a crew encourager which means well you encourage them teem you are apart of as they are on the work sites each day and make sure they drink water...none of my students were actually in my crew but I had a good week...AND I faced my fear, my crew was building a roof and I actually got on the roof and helped build this wonderful lady a new one! It was such a great experience!
3) something else has happened this summer which is pretty exciting....I'M ENGAGED as most of you know who read this Nick came and surprised me a month ago and proposed..we are getting married on December 19th 2009 and are super excited.

I really am bad at this

So I am not good at keeping up with this. If it counts for anything I want to get better I really do! Part of it is time and part of it is I feel like I don't have much to say or worth saying, or the things in my head won't come out right or I am not ready to share yet.

A little update...I am in my last full week of classes and next week is finals. I cannot believe I am about to finish up my first year at Seminary. Preview conference was last weekend and man did I have flashbacks a year ago I was at that conference so excited to be here. I have learned so much in a year. My sin and shortcomings are ever before me in this place. I am aware of them here in a new way. The biggest thing God has shown me this year is how I am utterly dependent on him for everything. I can't take my next breath without him. I need him more today then yesterday and more tomorrow then today. There is nothing good in me that is not from God. I am aware of my depravity and my need for him in a new way this year. Classes have been so good, hard and not just work wise but so good! I am humbled and convicted as I sit in class and learn more truths about God and the Bible. At some point I may write more about what I have learned so far and what God has done but I still need to process.

In other news I am going to VA for this summer, which was not the original plan but I am excited to go back! I will be working at Bethel again for the third summer and I am super excited about that I love those girls!

Time for systematic II but if you have time read Revelation 21 great stuff! Beautiful!

second semester

It is crazy to think that I am in my second semester of Seminary and at this time last year I was filling out my application for this place. I found a journal entry today from March 4th it was actually a typed one saved online, that was the day I got into SBTS last year it was fun to read that and see where I was last year and where I am now. This time last year I was turning in my final stuff for my application waiting to find out where I would be....and now I am in my second semester.

It is the 3rd week of classes, it should be the 4th but the day before classes started we had a ice/snow storm that kept going until Wed. and power went out and we missed classes for a week (but I got to go to VA so that was nice). It is good to be back in classes but missing a week in grad school is not that easy, deadlines don't change much, the professors here are very gracious and some of my things have changed but it is grad school. God is continuing to teach me daily in this place-in classes, chapel, my personal times, and in conversations with friends. I was just going over notes for systematic II and came across this quote from my prof. Dr Ware that I wanted to share

"He is the giver of every good and perfect gift, he made us needy and empty so he can be the source by which those needs are met and we will then obey him and worship him...idolatry is when we are satisfied with something other then God, because that becomes what we give our thanksgiving and worship." -Dr. Ware

God never stops teaching me, humbling me and convicting me. Again this semester I have been reminded of how good and big God is and how him alone is better then any good gift, he does bless us and his blessings/gifts are wonderful but they can never compare to Him. He is the best gift, the best blessing. The fact that we can be united with him again and we can go to him because of Jesus sacrifice is the best gift. God alone should be what I am living for each day not his gifts and blessings, those are good and I am thankful but they should not make me forget Him.

I am a member of a church in Louisville now, I will always be thankful for By Grace and my time as a member there. I will always love my fam at By Grace but I am excited for the new doors God is opening in my life and the direction he is taking me in, even if it is not 100% clear all the time :)

Immanuel Baptist in Louisville is where I am a member now and I love it it is amazing to sit under the teaching and worship each week and to be apart of a body that truly cares about its members and about Christ and the reaching the lost, the churches here are amazing and it was so hard to choose one to be a member of but from the first time I visited Immanuel I knew I was supposed to be there and serve there

I am also working two days a week now so if you go to SBTS come see me in the cafe I'll be in there from 6:45-9:45 and 10:45-2:15 Mon and Fri.

Life is full and busy and I am tired most days but God is good and I am continually thankful that a year ago God called me out of VA to Louisville KY

its about time I update this

So I have been very bad at updating this thing and I am hoping this semester I will be better at it.

I can not believe that I am about to start my second semester of Seminary on Tuesday and I am done with the first one! This time last year I was filling out applications for Seminary and terrified of getting in but more terrified of not getting it :) So much as changed in just a year. As I look back and reflect on my life in the last year I can't help but to praise God. He has been so faithful in the good and bad. The last year has not always been easy but who ever said it would be, sometimes it is in the brokenness that we experience God the most.

I am enjoying Seminary and life and my new church Immanuel which I became a member of two weeks ago. If someone told me last year that my life would be what it is now I would have laughed. I am learning so much in this season of life and in KY I am learning a lot about God and myself and other people, and God is starting to show me what my future may entail, exciting stuff. Life is definitely not about me, God showed me that right away like the first week I was here I am being humbled constantly but I love it.

I look forward to this semester and the things I learn and the way God reveals himself to me. And I look forward to sharing those things w/ya'll so stay tuned