Good Evening!

It has been around two weeks since my last post! I am sorry that I have not been posting as regularly as before. Seminary has kept me very busy. This brings me to this post. First it would be nice to give ya'll an overview of how school is going so far. Although tiring and lots of work it has been very awesome. The days are full and I mean full of classes, spiritual formation, extended orientation sessions, fellowship, and yes lots of reading. All this is very rewarding no matter how tired you become throughout the week. This Sunday will be my first to take part in leading worship at my field education church. To fill ya'll in on this I am at St. Paul's Lutheran church in downtown Columbia. The church is over a 120 years old! The sanctuary is beautiful, the building's are well kept but besides its aesthetic qualities what stands out among everything are the people there. It is a very mixed congregation in far as age, ideas, and walks of life but the one thing that brings them together is their sense of community. I had the chance last Sunday to "sneak" into worship as a visitor and simply watch the congregation. I use the word sneak in parenthesis only because it was hard to sneak in. I was warmly welcomed by several members of the congregation. It is the south and when a visitor comes you are made to feel at home and that is exactly what happened. My supervisor this year is Pr. Tony Metze( a southern alumni). I feel that it will be a very enriching experience working with Pr. Metze over this first year. Continuing with the worship theme here Steve and I are leading chapel this coming Monday morning at 10 (please pray for us!). The unique thing about Steve and I leading worship is that we are both junior M. Div's. This may seem like no big deal but in our rota group we just happened to run out of middlers who are to lead chapel and juniors are only supposed to read. I think we have planned well and will do very well this monday. Switching gears again this week should be intersting we have two papers due along with the usual studying. I also have a presentation to do on the outreach for Lutherans of African Decent on monday. On top of all this there is some serious UF football watching that will be taking place tommorow night upon completion of homework. With this I say goodnight!

Peace,

Jason

Well the new week is starting. This is the week where we get the full brunt of classes for the first time. The week starts out with chapel then to history, multicultural, intro to the bible and then onto junior worship practicum and good ole Greek! Despite the challenges of learning another language I am extremely excited. We will be learning at a much slower pace then summer Greek which will be very good. On the other aspect of learning Greek I am excited with anticipation of putting sentences and words together in translation. I am dying to be able to read my Greek new testament. Yes the whole entire thing is in Greek. Some of you may think I ma crazy but if you think about it we are always reading a translation of a translation. With the course in new testament Greek I will be able to read the closest we have to the original. It could almost be as if I was there! I just hope that over the next couple of weeks I am able to keep the same enthusiasm. Well keep looking for updates as usual.

Peace,

Jason

A Review of The First Week

Good Evening All,

Well this is the end of the first week here at seminary. This week has been awesome, interesting, and enlightening. With this said I believe a great deal of stress is to come given it has been a so called light week for us here. I am still awaiting my first intro to bible class, greek, worship, and a contextual ed course. Throughout this week I have learned a lot academically and much more about myself. The challenges here so far have not been academic but more on the am I really here side and am I supposed to be here. The answer is yes I am supposed to be here and yes I am really here at Southern Seminary. Throughout this week I have been struggling coming to grips with the so called vow of seminary poverty. That statement may sound more serious than it really is but also be taken as it is. I have been taking my first steps toward my future on my own. Yes of course I have been to undergraduate school or college and stepped out on my own but this type of stepping out on my own has taken a whole new step. I have come to find true peace here among the bustling city of columbia and more so against the backdrop of the Aue Claire community. I truly feel that I have taken up my cross and am following Christ. This image is what I have been meditating on throughout the week. What does my cross look like. So far it looks like ramen noodles, Stafford loans, bank account draining expenses, labyrinth walks, prayer, scripture, and making a joyous noise in chapel( notice the stress on noise). I am able to continue my ministry here as a member of the larger Christian church with the fellowship of classmates. Now I do understand the whole throwing into the fire of life and coming out stronger for that. With this said I would like to say that I love all of my family who may be reading this so very much and everyone in my life here and abroad who have made me who I am today.

May the Peace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ be with you all!

Peace,

Jason

Good evening all! It is again another ending to another fabulous day. Today we started with chapel at 10am then to church history. From there we ate lunch together as community. After lunch came theology of pastoral care. These two classes were amazing. Each class is started with devotions and prayer. Which not only is it important as a Christian to be enveloped in reading and prayer but also allows us as a community to center ourselves on the Spirit. Tonight has been homework from the time I was able to sit down to now. I still have some to go tonight but not that much. Which brings me to the topic of my post this evening. I just finished my first 6 of many other chapters to go in church history. The point of reflection whcih I am mulling over in my tired head is that of the firm standing of the early Christians. This in reference to the Christians of the Roman empire and more specifically to those who were persecuted for simply being Chrisitan! Imagine for a moment that you were just baptized, not as a child but just baptized. Take it a few years later still young in your faith and the government sees being a Christian a crime. That if you are found out to be a Christian you are brough to trial. Once there you are given a choice. The first is to recant to the Roman government and their hellenisitic roots. You must worship the Emperor above all else. Next you must curse the name of Christ our Lord and Savior. If you do not commit to either acts you are executed for holding true to your faith. If we could only today have the same firm roots as the Christians of the past.

Peace,

Jason

Grace, Peace, Fatih, and Fellowship

Today was orientation day. Yes I said it orientation day not afternoon but day. Given its length it has become yet another awesome day here at Lutheran Southern. This morning started off with a key point of life here which is chapel. We have all been to many church services throughout our walk with Christ Jesus. Every experience is different, energetic in its own right, and fulfilling also in its own right. I say this with a bit of a bragging tone but it cannot be helped. Chapel this morning was the most amazing church experience I have ever had. There was no sermon, communion, peace, or creeds. Rather it was filled with true spirit filled song, prayer, and scripture reading. It is truly an amazing experience to see a group of people from truly every walk of life gather together whether MDiv/MAR/TSM, faculty, or staff gather together and make a joyous noise for the Lord. This is where true grace began this morning for the community here. We were lead by faith throughout that day by learning about the seminary, forming groups and sharing stories and meeting new people. Today truly was an awesome day of fellowship. This all leads me to share a truly grace filled story. I have a good friend here already at seminary named Steve(another Florida-Bahamas Synod candidate and Gator fan!). Today we were talking about our work in the computer lab. Specifically hoping to make an income enough to pay a few small bills, put gas money in our pockets, and hopefully eat(thank God for Ramen!). The story picks up many hours later after our community wide dinner in the quad. Shortly after during cleanup the dorm was able to take home a gigantic plate of chicken fingers. This seems like an irrelivent event in itself but relating it back to the earlier converstaion of the day it truly was a " I will take care of you" from God. So it is true that one can find God's grace in a simple thing as a plate of food. As Judy & Judy will tell you this is no coincidence. Feed there stomachs and there souls and spirits too will be fed.
Amen!
Peace,
Jason

I figured some pictures would be good. The one of the left of course is me but with the new look. I will have to be wearing a what I call clergy shirt when assisting in chapel and at my field ed. parish. The picture on the right is the back wall of my room overlooking the chapel. It is hard to see but the chapel is the building that looks to have long vertical windows. I plan on getting some more pictures soon while out and about. I do appologize for the quality, the only camera I could find at the store is a very inexpensive one but it does the job.

Peace,

Jason

A New Week, A New Place, A New Life

Good Morning! Well this is the beginning of a new week as I sit in a new place(LTSS) and start a new life/chapter in my life. Tommorow we kick off the year with orientation day at 830. The day is to be filled with fellowship, worship, spiritual formation, and much needed ins and outs of the seminary. The rest of the week leads into Church History, Theology of Pastoral Care, Field Ed. I am excited for this week, the new people I will be meeting, and the fellowship I will be a part of. I will keep ya'll posted throughout the week!

Peace,
Jason

Isaiah 32:8

We know not the plans the Lord has for us but that they are to prosper and not perish(Jeremiah 29:11). This passage from Jeremiah has followed me for the past few years in my walk with Christ. Only recently have I truly begun to understand this most true piece of scripture. As many of you know I am at seminary and from my desk in the dorm I am writing this reflecting on the journey thus far. I have been called to first have the courage to leave my family who I love dearly to attend Lutheran Southern. For anyone who has moved you may understand what I have been experiencing. This experience at first was a bit scary with the fact that I was being thrown into a new environment, meeting new people, living with these people who I have never met before. I am now getting accustomed to Columbia and the surrounding area. It could be said that my bearings are being fixed within my new environment. With this said my reflections and meditations have revolved around the usual for many people i.e. money, settling in and overcoming the distance between myself and loved ones. In these reflections Jeremiah 29:11 has come full circle in my walk with Christ. Tonight while doing my bible readings I came across Isaiah 32: 8 "But the noble man makes noble plans, and by noble deeds he stands." In this section Isaiah is portraying what will overcome the oppressor nations during his time and thus imaging or shall we say forseeing God's glory and what will come. Verse 8 seems to be of minor relevance to the section of verses 1-12 however it can speak towards how one should act in our modern world. That we as Christians and as Lutherans are called to be noble and yet humble in our actions. We must take in account what we have and thank God for how much we do have and how little we do have. The greater is that of our worldly possesions the lesser is that we are still and always will be trying to understand our purpose for God and our lives in him and our Lord Jesus Christ. I offer this insight up for all those who may feel that hope is lost at times and the odds are stacked against them. I pray that you will not give up hope but instead let go and let God. Trust in him, mind your actions from the smallest task to the largest and know that God is God and we are his.
Amen!

The Time Has Come

First I must appologize for not being on top of my blog over the summer. To recap my oh so exciting summer I worked and visited with family. Beyond those two things nothing too exciting happened until yesterday. September 2nd was the day when I packed the truck, said goodbye to the parental units ( my Mom and Dad ) and headed north on 95 to South Carolina. I was abruptley met on the northside of Jacksonville by a large thunderstorm which lasted all the way to Brunswick Georgia. Shortly after the rain let up the boxes in which I had my stuff packed decided that they would let their lids fly around in the back of my truck. It seemed there for a while this was an impossible trip, however this made me even more determined to get here. Despite the interesting drive and the lugging four heavy boxes up four seperate sets of stairs I am here, moved in, and somewhat rested from the move yesterday. Now it is time to find a job, continue to get settled, meet new people and prepare for the first day of class next wedenesday. Please keep an eye out for some pictures of the dorm room and campus! God is Good!

Peace,

Jason