What a Semester!

It is Wednesday night, December 8, 2004. I just got done watching The Natural (1984) starring Robert Redford. Yet another great movie. I am all moved in to my new room upstairs and I like it so far. I definitely like having more room and it will be better once we fill it in with furniture and stuff. Tomorrow, I am making the long drive home to Isle of Palms, South Carolina. It should take about 9 hours, maybe more. I have a lot planned for my month long break. Saturday night, I am headed to the Working Title concert where Anberlin will also be playing. Monday, December 13th is my 26th birthday. Then, I plan on working most nights at On the Border while I am home. Well, now I just want to take a moment to reflect on my first semester here at THE Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
I arrived I think on August 12th and moved into my quaint room on the first floor of Whitsitt Hall room 1103. Next, I found Blair and we went to El Tarasco with two new guys named Adam and Jason. I don't hang out with Blair or Jason at all but Adam is a good friend. It turns out that the hall they put me on is dead. No one ever comes out and no one ever goes in. Well, lucky for me, I will be in a new room next semester around some folks who are fun to hang around. The classes were amazing. Dr. Block immediately blew me away with his talks on the Trivialization of the Old Testament. I soon found myself reading through Genesis to Ruth, learning and being captivated by God's sovereignty and plan. New Testament would be just as good with Dr. Cook. Now, come to find out I am attending Dr. Cook's church and am pretty sure I will join next semester. I was blessed to be able to take Dr. Robert Stein's last class he would teach in Biblical Hermeneutics. I found out quickly that he wrote the book on Hermeneutics. I will never forget him and will often look back to his book Playing By The Rules for reference in making sure I study the Bible in context. Unfortunately, I had to drop Greek due the number of hours I was taking. Formations being a class on Friday afternoons was rough but turned out to be a great class for spiritual growth and learned a lot from Dr. Ewart and his experiences in the ministry.
I made some great friends here, mainly on the second floor and also in some of my classes. I had my lunch buddies like Nick, Don, Josh, John, Lindsay, and others. I also made some great friends at On the Border up here that I hope to spend more time with when I return. I was able to attend some awesome concerts. I saw Switchfoot at the fair. I heard Chris Tomlin at Southeast Christian. I rode with Adam to Indianapolis to hear Alter Bridge play and we were on the front row. Over Thanksgiving, I got to hear Third Day and Toby Mac play. That concert was one of the best of the year. I also had some great times playing soccer with the guys Wednesday mornings in the gym and Friday afternoons on the Joe Bowl. The amateur team was also fun the times we played against Div. II and III colleges and won. I will now try and make a top 10 list of the things I learned this semester.

1. The Old Testament contains three-fourths of the Protestant Scriptures and should give more attention to them.
2. Seminary is a lot of work with reading, studying, and applying but is definitely worth it so that I can better serve God's kingdom with sound doctrine.
3. I need to use my passion for soccer to serve God and am going to look into coaching soccer also.
4. Satan would like nothing more than to distract me from focusing on God and the unreached peoples of the world.
5. Relationships with other Christians are important and we need to focus on building each other up and getting to know people better and be with them in their high and low points.
6. It is easy to lose focus on what we are studying. We could focus more on the texts and forget the person behind them.
7. Prayer should be one of the most important parts of our life and ministry because we need to talk to God.
8. It is important to have a mentor in your life as well as someone that can hold you accountable. Just ask Billy Graham.
9. If I want to get married one day, I just need to run hard after God. He has the best thing for me at the right time. I want someone who loves God, has a heart for missions, and wants to spend the rest of their life with me.
10. I need to get organized in many areas and come back next semester ready to do my best for God by doing my best in classes, serving the church, sharing the Gospel, building relationships, and draw closer to God.