Before I came to Seminary: Conclusion

Hello friends! I have stretched my memory as far as it can go, so I will now be wrapping up my seminary series. I hope you all have enjoyed it! If you have any suggestions for future topics, please send them to me. Keep in mind that this whole series was someone else's idea, not mine! The best ideas come from my friends, not me!


Life lessons. During my many years, I have learned so many life lessons--some the easy way, some the hard way. My experience has shaped who I am and who I am becoming. I have countless people to thank, but time and space would fail me if I were to try to include them all here. For a nice list of lessons I have learned recently or refined over the years, please reference: 2011: An Awesome Year and What I've Really Learned. The most important life lesson I have learned in the importance and necessity for love. As Paul says, "If I speak in tongues of mortals and angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing." Love.


Dominoes. Looking back over the years has been an interesting endeavor for me. Things make more sense in hindsight. Such observations remind me of a scene from my favorite movie V for Vendetta: 
     Finch (character): The problem is, he knows us better than we know ourselves. And when I was there, I suddenly had this feeling that everything was connected. It's like I could see the whole thing, one long chain of events that stretched all the way back. I felt like I could see everything that happened, and everything that is going to happen. It was like a perfect pattern laid out in front of me. And I realised that we are all a part of it, all trapped by it.




Symbol. "A thing that represents or stands for something else, especially a material object representing something abstract." I have a bunch of these... little mementos of sorts. For instance, on my hockey helmet I have stickers of certain initials and numbers of beloved friends of mine (who I played hockey with) who are no longer with us. These stickers represent their memory. On a more religious note, I used to have a stone from a "community Ebezener." It is a tangible way to remember that God is always with us, always. Anyway, I see my BA degrees and my eventual MDiv in a similar light. They're symbols and they have nothing to do with me--despite the fact that they have my name on them. They show support, and advice, and caring, and help, and community, and others' sacrifices, and hope, and faith, and most of all... love. These degrees really belong to other people--my friends, my family, my community, my church, etc etc etc.


So that's how I got to seminary. God's plan, not mine. Step by step, not making much sense to me along the way, but moving forward with faith and trust. "Here I am, LORD, send me."

Peace and blessings. =)