Faith and Textbooks

Ok, so our first week of seminary has ended (well about 4 days ago.  Sorry for the late post!).  After a full week of classes, syllabi, and job-hunting, I think our seminary experience will mostly be summed up in two words (as shown in the title of this post):  Faith and Textbooks

Of course the "faith" part is usually implied, but I must admit that I had never thought life at seminary would require so much of this often-used word.  Before, I thought I knew what faith meant, but now I am beginning to grasp the concept in a much deeper way.  For the sake of the reader, I will list out the reasons:

1) I am a newly married man who has no idea what I'm doing (and I figure this out more each day).
2) I am new here.  As stated in the first post, there are many differences between California and Mississippi!
3) Seminary really is graduate-level learning!  Yes, this should have been known, but, let's be honest, most people (including myself before last week) think seminary is merely "Bible school" and picture it like VBS or Sunday School. 

Number 3 brings me to my next word which defines my life: textbooks.  Laura and I have developed a new hobby called "reading".  It is a new concept to both of us, but I think it will grow on us.  And, while we absolutely love learning and growing through the reading of textbooks, we are definitely in over our heads after one week of seminary and probably about 250-300 pages of reading after one week of class.  Thus, we must use our first concept, faith, to even believe we will ever pass classes! 

Laura and I are enjoying marriage, California life, and school more than we can ever imagine, but let us please remember that we can NEVER accomplish anything in these three areas outside the marvelous hand of our King.  For that, I am thankful to know that my strength is inadequate.  I have learned that it is in the most physically and spiritually demanding times that I learn and grow the most.  As I have heard quoted many times, it is in the valley where the fruit grows and not on the mountain top.  Praise God from whom all blessings flow!  He has brought us here, and he will sustain us here.

In Christ,
Steve

Moving to the Bay

Life as we know it has officially been turned upside down and we are loving every minute of it!

We wanted to make sure to keep you all updated on what God is doing here and in our lives so we decided the best way to do that was start a blog. We will be sure to include everything from the funny and exciting moments to the confusing and thought provoking moments of our lives here. Make sure to check back often and let us know if we are slacking!

We decided to pick a few of our favorite memories from the bay since we've been here...

When we first arrived we did not have Internet at our apartment, so we were forced to go to Starbucks. It was interesting to "people-watch" while we were there. Our company ranged from business men to mom's with wild children and other Internet junkies like ourselves. The most interesting of characters, however, came halfway through our visit. He was dressed much like a hippy wearing cropped pants and an untucked button down shirt with a matching footlong beard and shoulder-length hair. He looked to be about 50 years old and was carrying 2 walmart bags of grocery's with him. His drink of choice was a small cup of water with about 7 sugar packets mixed in. Soon after he sat down another friend of his whom we cannot describe to you joined him. We can not describe him because he was invisible. Yes our hippy friend started talking to himself. It was fascinating to watch. He would talk and then give ample time for his friend to respond. Most of the time it was hard to hear what he was mumbling but a few of our favorite quotes we could make out include "What do you mean the sun isn't hot?!! You can look at it and tell it's not hot!" and "You can't do that!! You'll get sued!" If only we could have heard the other half of that conversation...

(Enter Steve with his comments)

Yes, life here in the Bay is definitely different from anything we have ever known.  We escaped the land of 4x4 trucks and Walmart to find ourselves in the land of hybrid cars and Starbucks. 

My favorite moment must have been our first church experience in San Francisco.  Laura and I had decided that we wanted to check out church in the city, so we drove across the bridge (which actually costs money....since when does it cost $6 to cross a bridge?!?) and parked ourselves in downtown.  After entering the church and passing their coffee bar (so far every church we have visited has one of these) we found a lovely couple from the seminary to introduce us to the church. We talked for a few minutes then the service began.  While the church building is similar to everything we had ever known (complete with hanging lights, choir loft, and those stained-glass windows with pictures of Jesus petting sheep), we quickly noticed that the congregation was different from anything we had ever experienced.  Much like our Starbucks experience, we saw people of various cultures and upbringings.  Attire ranged from your traditional khakis and buttoned shirt to shorts and tee-shirts.  If any of you know me, you know that this excited me!  Laura and I knew that this would be a worship experience like no other.


As we sat down and the choir began to enter the choir loft, I noticed a few things.  First, the choir was small with a grand total of 5 members.  Secondly, the choir matched the multi-cultural make-up of the congregation to the extreme.  Of these five members, there was an elderly lady of Asian descent, two middle-aged ladies of Asian descent, and two males (one African American, and one Hispanic gentleman).  Laura and I were amazed and excited!  As we joined in worship, the passion in the choir and congregation was like no other.

While this story isn't quite a funny story in itself, you must imagine how Laura and I felt as we have spent our entire lives surrounded by middle-classed, Caucasion congregations.  This was definitely a culture clash for Laura and me.  I am not ashamed to admit that, for a moment, we didn't know what to do or think.  And, while it was not really funny, I couldn't help but to laugh.  And, for some reason, through all the weird thoughts and confusion, it just felt right.  Now we know that this church, like all others, has its problems because it involves humans, but we can't help but to think that for all the money and stained-glass glamour that is typical to our "church" life, this experience seemed to be a more biblical view of every tongue, tribe, and nation crying out to the One True God.  Yet it still isn't perfect.  There are literally thousands of ethnicities in San Francisco alone which aren't apart of this worship.  We are excited to be here and serve in a place where the nations are at our doorstep.  Welcome to the Bay!