Well...It's once again that time of year. Well; actually it's already a few weeks in. That time when students all over return to another year of study and learning. I'm privileged to have returned to a school that I find great enjoyment in attending. It's now my third and senior year here at New Brunswick Bible Institute.
There has been really too much time that has past since my last post to cover in much detail. My second year at school turned out to be harder than I expected...I really started to get distracted by the world and just wanted to live life and be at school to enjoy myself and do the things I wanted. Funny thing is that a principle that seems to hold true in our lives is that when we try our hardest to chase down what we think will bring s happiness and satisfaction were left with emptiness and guilt. There were great times of learning but also great times of struggle and failure last year. However in a way it's a necessary part of growth. We cannot just continually learn new things and then move on to the next new discovery in life. Growth takes testing and trying in order to fully develop and mature (Kinda cool that this concept is what I'm preaching on this Sunday at our evening service from James chapter 1). Sometimes in order to take what we know in our head and transfer it to a conviction and principle in our heart we must go through periods of failure and defeat and struggle. As I've mentioned before there is a reason it's called dying to sin. It's a whole lot like dying; it's a painful process and it takes a lot out of you (part of you is dying after all :P). But the more I realise my weaknesses the more God's strength and grace become real to me. Even when I feel like I cannot overcome a certain temptation or sin I can know that my God is powerful enough to keep me and Jesus' sacrifice was enough to forever break the power of sin over my life. Granted we don't live in light of that freedom all the time but that doesn't make it any less true.
So even though it was a hard year for me last year there were also many incredible opportunities to see God work both around me and through me. In days when I had my focus right there were plenty of opportunities to encourage another, to share something I was learning, or to simply testify of my God and what He is like. I also again had the opportunity to take two weeks at the end of the year and tour with a drama team from the school called SEM (Special Events Ministries). This was an incredible time of seeing God at work and constantly having opportunities to testify about Him and see his power at work in the lives of youth, kids, and adults as well.
Finally to catch up to the school year was my summer served at New Life Camp. Though to give what I learned fair justice will take more time to process and think through camp is always a challenging time that causes me to more clearly see myself as well as my need for God. I certainly learned to trust God more this year in any situation and circumstance and my trust in Him was definitely stretched like it hasn't been before. Perhaps another overall challenge was that I was confronted with the whether I truly care about and love others or not. It's so easy to just appear busy in our culture today and sometimes go the extra mile. If we are busy we receive the applause and the praise of others; but we can so often neglect the actual care and love for others souls. The appearance of love is often easy to fake; the true sacrificial love that God calls us to will certainly cost us much; but how great a reward and joy when we truly learn to love as Christ did. It was a great challenge and it's something I'll be learning for the rest of my life; but I believe it's incredibly vital. After all if we consider what Christ called the greatest commandments "Love the Lord you God with all of your soul, heart, and mind" as well as "love your neighbour as yourself" it shows us the incredible importance of love. Again people know that we are Christians by our love! Such an important thing to learn. Though I could go on I think I'll continue my thoughts later...but maybe I'll just leave with this thought. True and productive growth takes time and it often involves pain and trial. A tree grows over many years and most of the visible growth happens rapidly followed by many months of strengthening and hardening. O the other hand a squash grows in just a few short months...I'd rather be a tree though; how about you?
