Hey friends so this past week has been pretty epic (which has been awesome as well).
I guess it is good to start at the beginning of it. So Monday I got myself all registered for courses which is a bit of a crazy and hectic system here. So we started off by going to the international students offices to get our registration forms. Which was totally cool. We then got an updated list of course offerings (Faculty of Humanities). On this list I realized that there was no where near enough courses for theology students (let alone other students in the Humanities), so I was frustrated by the lack of courses. Anyways I picked out 3 of the required 4 courses off of the list of courses that I had. That meant unfortunately that I needed to find one more (but me being a bit stubborn I decided to wait untill I got to SORAT (The school of religion and theology), to decide on a 4th course. That was a very good idea, stressful at first but a very good plan. When I got to my faculty offices (I had known where they were, so I wasn't really stressing out but we went around as a large group of Humanities students to collect signatures). I started chatting with a proffessor about which courses were being offered by SORAT this semester and I showed him the green sheet (with the list of course offerings) and I said I didn't think that this was all of them. Luckily the proffessor brought me into his office and got to chatting with me about what it was that I was interested in doing while I was here (and he found out that I was the student about whom he had recieved an e-mail requesting for me to be between honours and undergrad level courses). He then proceded to invite me to a postgraduate information session that was just a little bit later on in the day. I was ecstatic! So I went to the information session and I met the acting head of SORAT, and some other students (which was helpful in keeping me from feeling to alone or awkard during that time). More importantly I got sold on 3 courses in the honours level program. and adding in a 4th class from the undergraduate level I was super glad to have made decisions about my modules for the semester. So then I had to start the process of gathering a signature for each of those modules from the lecturer who was offering the class. Luckily the Prof who I had met earlier was the lecturer for two of my classes. (Which saved me a lot of running around for those two signatures). Then later on that afternoon I got the last couple of signatures (Which was really good but a bit late in the day). So I currently have as my class schedule: Theologies of Transformation, Issues of Gender and Masculinity, Studies in Industrial Mission, and Biblical Theology (You will hear more about these courses in the coming weeks, and months especially as I get into the lectures).
Unfortunately I couldn't get my student card that afternoon (as I was late in getting signatures) but that was OK. So first thing the next morning I got my student card done. And I was super excited! (Just glad to have it ready to go and be able to use facilities in and around the school.) Other than that my tuesday was pretty chill. I read, I didn't have any classes, I met people in my residence.
Tuesday evening I went to the LAN (the computer room) and I added all of those last blog posts. After that I met a guy who was chatting and hanging out with a bunch of exchange students. John, is an agriculture student from Zimbabwe, and is a pretty cool guy. It also turns out he is a Christian who leads a cell group. (Cell groups for those of you who don't know are groups that meet generally for bible study, or prayer, or just to share their lives together,). And he invited me out to hangout with him and his cell group on Wednesday night. So I met him and a whole bunch of good guy friends as well on Wednesday night for a meeting. We hung out and played pool, and watched band of brothers. A really cool evening. It is also uplifting and makes me feel significantly less lonely when I know a group of christians who are willing to hang out.
Thursday Morning I had my first actual "class" sort of... It is an early starting class (7:45am normally) but this week as the Prof was away we started @ 8am to get a reading and sign into the class. So we met for 15 min. In that time I got to meet several really cool Undergraduate students Alice, Minnie, and Martin. The three of them I will be getting to know hopefully really well in the coming weeks. Basically this coming week is going to be the start of my class experience (Which promises to be a really good time).
Friday Morning, I went with one of the other Exchange students to go and get our laptops set up. Which was a complicated process of talking to the help desk and running between computers to try and figure out how it works. Eventually we got our laptops set up and working (so I should be able to skype tonight (God willing it should work). Then Friday at noon I went to a talk put on by The Bible Talks (TBT) which is a very cool group of people doing student ministry on the campus. Unfortunately one of my classes runs during their weekly meeting, but I think I am going to try to get involved with a bible study on their campus. This week's talk was "What would God say to Donald Trump?" which provided a very interesting look at what Jesus and the bible has to say about money and riches. It was really cool. Then Friday afternoon I went grocery shopping and on the way back to my residence I and Kate (an exchange student) bumped into John, we got to chatting and he invited us out to go and play touch rugby on Friday evening (Which was pretty cool). So we went and watched for about half an hour and then I hopped in on the game. I still am learning it but I had a lot of fun. After the Game I grabbed a bite to eat back at my Residence and got hanging out with one of the guys in my residence. He is very different from me in a lot of ways. but still he is a nice guy and I can get along with him.
That evening Kate and I went with John and a couple of Guys from Cell group (that I had met Wednesday night) to go to his friends house to watch a movie. We ended up watching Flags of Our Fathers, which was a very interesting movie. It was really good to be able to hangout with some locals and get to know them better.
Saturday morning I went (That's today for those of you following at home) with John and again the same guys from last night (not kate) to a mens breakfast at his church. It was really good, we heard some testamonies, and had a good chance to be in fellowship with one another. Totally a good way to spend the morning (If not a bit tiring as I had maybe 5hours of sleep...). It was also good to be encouraged by the testamonies. The basic theme was to remain faithful to Jesus even in the midst of extreme difficulties. Even in suffering we need to cling to the Lord. It was really interesting to hear it preached by both a lawyer and a farmer, but the message was the same. Stay faithful to God above all other things. Which I totally agree with.
I guess this week has basically been about God increasing in me a sense of belonging and fellowship on this campus. Slowly I am getting to meet students, and people from all sorts of different disiplines, and church backgrounds which is very good. And As I am doing that God is meeting me with a community that loves and cares for me. I guess I am truely being blest by God in this experience in ways that I may not quite understand yet.
At least this is only the beginning of the story.
Peace!
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Settling in!
Hey Friends so I am sorry for the lengthy updates but I would feel bad if I left you hanging on some of these stories. so I have a lot to update to these first blog posts. Please take the time to read them first preferably so that you don't read the ending to some of these stories without the initial bits.
Anyways recent happenings since I last wrote on Friday night (I know I posted all of them today but the last post belongs to Friday night). So Saturday I spent the day walking through the community around me. It was really cool to be able to explore. I found some things that were very difficult to deal with. Firstly As I searched for Churches I realized that it is very helpful and welcoming to outsiders to have information about when services are. So I found a Church with times so that I knew when to go to worship. Saturday evening I spent a good bit of time hanging out at one of the other residences chilling with other exchange students. It was a good time and a great way to get to know some of them better.
Sunday Morning I got up and cleaned up as best as I could and went to church. I felt a bit odd being in clothes that I had used since Tuesday but I was feeling the song, Just As I am. So I went and I met people. In fact I met several really amazing people who were really welcoming and provisional. One older couple from the Church was really welcoming to me and were willing to help me with getting some clothes or a towel or anything else that I needed. Another guy James was really welcoming and brought me along to meet some of his friends later that evening at a Methodist Church. Totally great time. I met a guy who is also going to be doing theology at UKZN with me. I was really touched by how God could meet my provisions in such an amazing way. It made me wonder whether or not I would be willing to do the same for an exchange student? Or for that matter anyone else who had that same level of need.
One of the things that really striked me was the preaching. The two services I was at had very, and I mean very different preaching styles. At the Presbyterian Church I felt like the preacher pulled his punches. He was preaching on several Psalms that talked about how David ran away. and his main focus was on how this applied to him. I think that truthfully he could have brought the truth much stronger and encouraged the Church to follow God's calling and not to run away from his calling. (I also understand the predicament that that message has for many people who are in dangerous and abusive situations. For them Running away is actually probably a good Idea as it removes them from a dangerous situation. Which is what he was warning against. ). The second service at the Methodist Church was very bold preaching. but it was on one of the hard sayings of Jesus. It is about if you wish to follow me then you need to take up your cross and deny yourself. The preacher did a great job of preaching that often times we do need to go to Jerusalem, to a city that persecutes the prophets, but talked about denying oneself as developing a good work ethic. To me this was rather troubling. I have friends and yes even myself struggle with a relationship to work. It is not that the gospel calls us to lazyness (in fact quite the opposite) but this verse is more talking about how we should not even work hard for our own sake. But that we should be about Jesus even in the middle of great suffering.
Anyways I rant on and on.
more later!
Peace!
Anyways recent happenings since I last wrote on Friday night (I know I posted all of them today but the last post belongs to Friday night). So Saturday I spent the day walking through the community around me. It was really cool to be able to explore. I found some things that were very difficult to deal with. Firstly As I searched for Churches I realized that it is very helpful and welcoming to outsiders to have information about when services are. So I found a Church with times so that I knew when to go to worship. Saturday evening I spent a good bit of time hanging out at one of the other residences chilling with other exchange students. It was a good time and a great way to get to know some of them better.
Sunday Morning I got up and cleaned up as best as I could and went to church. I felt a bit odd being in clothes that I had used since Tuesday but I was feeling the song, Just As I am. So I went and I met people. In fact I met several really amazing people who were really welcoming and provisional. One older couple from the Church was really welcoming to me and were willing to help me with getting some clothes or a towel or anything else that I needed. Another guy James was really welcoming and brought me along to meet some of his friends later that evening at a Methodist Church. Totally great time. I met a guy who is also going to be doing theology at UKZN with me. I was really touched by how God could meet my provisions in such an amazing way. It made me wonder whether or not I would be willing to do the same for an exchange student? Or for that matter anyone else who had that same level of need.
One of the things that really striked me was the preaching. The two services I was at had very, and I mean very different preaching styles. At the Presbyterian Church I felt like the preacher pulled his punches. He was preaching on several Psalms that talked about how David ran away. and his main focus was on how this applied to him. I think that truthfully he could have brought the truth much stronger and encouraged the Church to follow God's calling and not to run away from his calling. (I also understand the predicament that that message has for many people who are in dangerous and abusive situations. For them Running away is actually probably a good Idea as it removes them from a dangerous situation. Which is what he was warning against. ). The second service at the Methodist Church was very bold preaching. but it was on one of the hard sayings of Jesus. It is about if you wish to follow me then you need to take up your cross and deny yourself. The preacher did a great job of preaching that often times we do need to go to Jerusalem, to a city that persecutes the prophets, but talked about denying oneself as developing a good work ethic. To me this was rather troubling. I have friends and yes even myself struggle with a relationship to work. It is not that the gospel calls us to lazyness (in fact quite the opposite) but this verse is more talking about how we should not even work hard for our own sake. But that we should be about Jesus even in the middle of great suffering.
Anyways I rant on and on.
more later!
Peace!
Peanut Butter and Tomatoes????
Hey so I am safely in Pietermaritzburg!!! So my connections from Paris to here were quite eventful and are forming up into a pretty crazy story. Anyways Yes I am here safely but without any of my luggage. This is day two here in PMB. I am betting that I smell pretty funky (Since I have been travelling in this same outfit since Tuesday. Thank God that I remembered to toss an extra tee shirt into my carryon luggage.). So anyways stories about travelling.
So From Paris to here we took one of the really really big two floor jets! And it was a very empty flight so unlike my flight from Detroit to Paris, I was able to really sleep well. I had three whole seats to myself so I was able to lie down. Also I bought two 1L water bottles and drank them throughout the flight. Then I arrived in Johannesburg which was alright, our flight was about 2 hours late in arriving so by the time I got through the Visa check point (which went by rather quickly) I went to wait on my luggage. So I went to the carousel and slowly one of my bags shows up. It was the one with pots, and pans, and the majority of my clothes (Pants, shirts, sweaters,) and several other major items like a towel, shoes, etc... Throughout my waiting for my other Bag I heard them calling something that sounded like a very weird pronunciation of my last name, but they didn’t call my first name so I was confused about it. While I was waiting there my other bag didn’t show up. They took me over to the counter where they said that they were calling me because my other Bag did not show up in Johannesburg. For those of you wondering what pray tell was in that bag well it had all of my plates and bowls, utensils, knives and other kitchen things, almost all of my tee shirts and all of my boxers, and socks. They told me that it was left in Paris and they were going to transfer it all the way to Pietermaritzburg by way of Durban. But they needed me to have a contact number or an address. Which I didn’t really have either.
Then I had to rush with my one bag that I did have. So by the time I left the luggage counter I had a porter grab my bag and rush me to the check out desk (around noon). We basically power walked through the airport and went up escalators with a trolley for my suitcase. We got to the ticket counter checked my bag (which was 2Kg over) so I took out my books and my Novacks bag (My Bible and let justice roll down) and checked my bag there. Then I rushed off to go to my flight. I made it with like 10min to spare but then I realized I lost my water bottle (So I left it there where ever it now is in Johannesburg Airport). I hopped on my flight a cramped little twin prop plane (3 seats across the whole width of it) and soon enough we were off to Pietermaritzburg. We had a beautiful flight even though I was a bit stressed at losing my first piece of luggage. We arrived and hopped off the plane into the dry but warm winter weather here in Pietermaritzburg. Then we entered the Airport where the 4 students hopping off the plane were met by Andrew, Kim, and Prof Guest. We then had a quick luggage pick up and the worst thing was that my Luggage didn’t show up there either. So Andrew and I went over to the luggage check desk and told them about my missing luggage. They took Andrew’s Cell phone number and told him that they would call him when they found my luggage. Now it is Friday Night and I am still lacking my luggage, but tomorrow (Saturday) I am going to get a cell phone and call about my piece that went missing in Paris. Also Internet access here is spotty for the moment, (As you can tell I am posting twice in the same day as I need to get something up to start logging these stories.) so forgive me if you are desperately waiting to hear from me.
Anyways I Bought some basic supplies to live here in residence. I got sheets a comforter and a couple of pillows. And for groceries I got bread and Peanut Butter, Tomatoes and Apples (that has basically been my diet for the last 24 hours and tomorrow I may treat myself to some sort of lunch or dinner out because I don’t think that I can survive on Tomatoes and peanut butter sandwiches). Today we had an orientations session where I started to meet other exchange students. Tonight I am going out to a party to just chill for a couple of hours. After the orientation session they took the students out to go on a cultural tour we went to a nearby township and saw a wonderful community center that is providing all sorts of services, like lunches for school children, and space for other happenings. We continued our tour with a visit to see some children do cultural Zulu dances. It was wonderful (check out my pictures on Flickr). After that we went to visit a Sambango (A healer pardon my spelling), it was interesting to see some of the local cultural beliefs on ancestors and how herbs and different sorts of things work to do healings for different physical ailments. From there we drove to Marick falls (300ft high) and a very small river that apparently when it is managed properly they can provide water for all the people from Pietermaritzburg down to Durban (Pretty impressive). Then tonight I walked down to the local shops (Grocery store and complex) to see about getting a cell phone for my time here. The shops were closed so I returned back to my residence (A bit of a lengthy walk away especially given that I had to go around campus).
I guess I should share some significant cultural differences that I have already noticed. People are very friendly and open. When you are walking by they will say hello. Which is pretty cool and wonderful if you ask me, I wish I could have enjoyed it more but I have been very stressed and frustrated about my luggage. Also South Africa is a very big country on security it seems. I need to keep my door locked, lock my stuff up in wardrobes, have a key for the front door of my building, and a card to swipe to get into the complex of my residence area, (same thing to get out as well).
I have a lot of things that people could pray for in particular. I could really use some prayer around my courses, as of right now I am probably about as confused as I could ever be (some of the second semester courses don’t show up on the time tables...). Also if you could pray for my luggage to arrive that would be pretty awesome. Also finally could you pray that I could be bold enough to extend myself into relationships both with exchange students and with local students.
So From Paris to here we took one of the really really big two floor jets! And it was a very empty flight so unlike my flight from Detroit to Paris, I was able to really sleep well. I had three whole seats to myself so I was able to lie down. Also I bought two 1L water bottles and drank them throughout the flight. Then I arrived in Johannesburg which was alright, our flight was about 2 hours late in arriving so by the time I got through the Visa check point (which went by rather quickly) I went to wait on my luggage. So I went to the carousel and slowly one of my bags shows up. It was the one with pots, and pans, and the majority of my clothes (Pants, shirts, sweaters,) and several other major items like a towel, shoes, etc... Throughout my waiting for my other Bag I heard them calling something that sounded like a very weird pronunciation of my last name, but they didn’t call my first name so I was confused about it. While I was waiting there my other bag didn’t show up. They took me over to the counter where they said that they were calling me because my other Bag did not show up in Johannesburg. For those of you wondering what pray tell was in that bag well it had all of my plates and bowls, utensils, knives and other kitchen things, almost all of my tee shirts and all of my boxers, and socks. They told me that it was left in Paris and they were going to transfer it all the way to Pietermaritzburg by way of Durban. But they needed me to have a contact number or an address. Which I didn’t really have either.
Then I had to rush with my one bag that I did have. So by the time I left the luggage counter I had a porter grab my bag and rush me to the check out desk (around noon). We basically power walked through the airport and went up escalators with a trolley for my suitcase. We got to the ticket counter checked my bag (which was 2Kg over) so I took out my books and my Novacks bag (My Bible and let justice roll down) and checked my bag there. Then I rushed off to go to my flight. I made it with like 10min to spare but then I realized I lost my water bottle (So I left it there where ever it now is in Johannesburg Airport). I hopped on my flight a cramped little twin prop plane (3 seats across the whole width of it) and soon enough we were off to Pietermaritzburg. We had a beautiful flight even though I was a bit stressed at losing my first piece of luggage. We arrived and hopped off the plane into the dry but warm winter weather here in Pietermaritzburg. Then we entered the Airport where the 4 students hopping off the plane were met by Andrew, Kim, and Prof Guest. We then had a quick luggage pick up and the worst thing was that my Luggage didn’t show up there either. So Andrew and I went over to the luggage check desk and told them about my missing luggage. They took Andrew’s Cell phone number and told him that they would call him when they found my luggage. Now it is Friday Night and I am still lacking my luggage, but tomorrow (Saturday) I am going to get a cell phone and call about my piece that went missing in Paris. Also Internet access here is spotty for the moment, (As you can tell I am posting twice in the same day as I need to get something up to start logging these stories.) so forgive me if you are desperately waiting to hear from me.
Anyways I Bought some basic supplies to live here in residence. I got sheets a comforter and a couple of pillows. And for groceries I got bread and Peanut Butter, Tomatoes and Apples (that has basically been my diet for the last 24 hours and tomorrow I may treat myself to some sort of lunch or dinner out because I don’t think that I can survive on Tomatoes and peanut butter sandwiches). Today we had an orientations session where I started to meet other exchange students. Tonight I am going out to a party to just chill for a couple of hours. After the orientation session they took the students out to go on a cultural tour we went to a nearby township and saw a wonderful community center that is providing all sorts of services, like lunches for school children, and space for other happenings. We continued our tour with a visit to see some children do cultural Zulu dances. It was wonderful (check out my pictures on Flickr). After that we went to visit a Sambango (A healer pardon my spelling), it was interesting to see some of the local cultural beliefs on ancestors and how herbs and different sorts of things work to do healings for different physical ailments. From there we drove to Marick falls (300ft high) and a very small river that apparently when it is managed properly they can provide water for all the people from Pietermaritzburg down to Durban (Pretty impressive). Then tonight I walked down to the local shops (Grocery store and complex) to see about getting a cell phone for my time here. The shops were closed so I returned back to my residence (A bit of a lengthy walk away especially given that I had to go around campus).
I guess I should share some significant cultural differences that I have already noticed. People are very friendly and open. When you are walking by they will say hello. Which is pretty cool and wonderful if you ask me, I wish I could have enjoyed it more but I have been very stressed and frustrated about my luggage. Also South Africa is a very big country on security it seems. I need to keep my door locked, lock my stuff up in wardrobes, have a key for the front door of my building, and a card to swipe to get into the complex of my residence area, (same thing to get out as well).
I have a lot of things that people could pray for in particular. I could really use some prayer around my courses, as of right now I am probably about as confused as I could ever be (some of the second semester courses don’t show up on the time tables...). Also if you could pray for my luggage to arrive that would be pretty awesome. Also finally could you pray that I could be bold enough to extend myself into relationships both with exchange students and with local students.
Paris Comment Je T'Aime
So just some a quick update about my time in Paris. I had a wonderful time, absolutely fantastic. So I got into Paris after a long and sleepless flight from Detroit. I wandered around the terminal until I could find my way out. (I didn’t need to collect my luggage there ) so with my carryon bag I went to the RER Station and hoped a train down to Notre Dame. I went into the cathedral and just wandered about. After I was done there I wandered up the Siene till I found a restaurant I sat and had really bad pizza and, a coke and just people watched. I didn’t think it could get any better in Paris until an accordionist came over and serenaded the restaurant. Hilarious what is more stereotypically parisienne than that. I continued to sit and enjoy the day and then a film crew came and set up across the way. It turned out that Woody Allen was shooting a movie in pretty cool. After Lunch I wandered through the city and just enjoyed the architecture. Beautiful City I personally love it. I had dinner with a wonderful Belgian beer, Trappiste Rocheforte. Then I went back to the church and sat in a park at the back of it with Wifi and hung out on the internet and listened to some live Jazz music. By about 6:15pm I went to a church service in Notre Dame (I wasn’t content with just the walk through tourist experience). It was a very conflicting time for me to sit in that church and listen to the mass. It was very beautiful to here the mass in French in such a location. The place oozed feelings of holiness (Def. A place that feels set apart by God. Not a presence of good energy or anything else but a feeling a sacredness). Unfortunately that was very tarnished by the tourist crowd taking pictures with flash even of the mass. As I sat there I was blown away at how God’s house had become such a huge tourist attraction. I was glad to see that the entrance to the Cathedral was free, but the flashing lights of cameras just ruined alot of the place. I could sit there, hearing the mass chanted and be left with an elevated feeling like I was sitting in the throne room of the kingdom of God and yet at the same time be insulted by the ruining of the beauty of the place when the flashes went off. It kind of makes me wonder how my time will be here in South Africa. I wonder if I will just be a spectator like those with the cameras taking pictures and enjoying the architecture of the church, or if I will be a worshiper present to God and the community. This Sunday I am going to try to find a church and see about getting myself well rooted in a couple of weeks. Please pray for me around this issue as well!
Just a quick overview of this post you are going to get the original story of why an exchange and why South Africa? The events leading up to my exchange! And some of my hopes and expectations, and a part of my vision and understanding of this trip. So you will have to pardon both my grammar and the length of this first post but hopefully after you read this you will have enough context to be able to follow large picture stories throughout this exchange!
So First off a little more context around me. Firstly you should know that I am a Christian Theologian. That is going to be a lot of where I write from get used to it. God for me is not inactive, it would defeat the purpose of Faith. (Let’s get a definition straight here I don’t mean our modern sense of ‘Belief’ the ‘I have faith in God’ Statement that actually means when you get down to it ‘I think that there is a God-like being that exists’ but rather when I talk about Faith and Belief it means that There is a God that is Real and is also Active within our world. He is active in ways that we often will not be able to understand particularly using the modern methods of science.) So that means that get excited as God is going to be a major character. Which is sort of the purpose of this blog. The stories that you will find in this blog, are here to tell you stories to get you inspired and thinking ‘what if’ sort of questions. Everyone is going to have their unique stories of what God is doing but I find that hearing other peoples stories helps to reinforce the truth of who God is.
I guess that kind of sets me up for a story. A crazy, crazy story that starts long before I have met many of you...
High School Grade 10; Spanish Language class; Something changes in me. I start becoming interested very heavily in international travel and study (In particular at this point in my life I am looking for language as the most important factor as a way of developing fluency in languages while gaining an interest in the cultures of places). So why now? Why South Africa? Don’t worry about it all these questions will be answered in due time.
So Fast forward with one more critical detail by the end of Grade 12 I decided that I was going to go to school for languages and I decided to do that I wanted to have my grade 12 french (Which I didn’t have yet). So I organized up a year and decided to take some time to travel and volunteer. So I went to Costa Rica and Nicaragua for 4 months (PS If you haven’t heard stories about it message me/ask me about it at some point in time when I get into your area). I got back and finished high school and met my wonderful Girlfriend Emily.
Fast forward to Semester One of Year two at Huron; Switching into a BTh Degree in Biblical studies studying Hebrew and exegesis as the majority of my classes. Something came up that semester. I think I was looking into exchanges but I wasn’t sure of whether or not it was an I want to go and do this thing for myself, or on the other hand if God was calling me into a something that I wanted. I think the application point that was hitting hard in particular is go back and look at what God has taught you. So I went to Huron Chapel one night after Bible Study and I sat and prayed and looked through some older manuscript bible studies that I had done. Soon I found the very first large group manuscript that I was involved in which was Genesis (It’s really funny I wasn’t really applying these things at the point of study too, too much but now it is an awesomely amazing set of texts. Check it out Gen 1-11, it may help to scratch out the preconceived titles and try to find the original breakup of the text). The thing that really struck me was in the first account of creation (for those of you who don’t know what I mean please read Gen 1-4 or so and tell me how many times God creates the world and If you want the theology of how two different Creation narratives can work together to shape and make a bigger picture of God Please e-mail me and I can hash it out for you). Anyways... In the first account of Creation, God (Elohim for those of you following Hebrew names) Starts by Seperating Light from Darkness, and Sky from Sea, and Land from Sea. Right days 1, 2, 3, then in days 4, 5, and 6 He does this really awesome thing of filling space for something. Day 4 he creates starts and the Celestial Rulers, day 5 Birds and Fishes and Sea Monsters, day 6 He creates all of the Land animals, creeping creepers, Crawling Crawlers, and Beastly Beasts. And Best of All he adds them into the orchestra of creation. He creates space then he fills it. Equally cool is the second account of creation where God creates a longing in his groundling for a partner fit to him. And then slowly builds that longing and fills it with exactly what God was intending. This is kind of my experience around exchange. God created space and a longing in me and said “Hey I created a longing in you and it is good, and I have presented you with the options and none have been good enough to fill it so now I will let you experience the full joy of this experience as I have intended it.”
So Basically at that point I was super excited and started looking for exchange opportunities, the thing was none of the schools I found filled that space. I was looking at options like St. Andrew’s, Leeds, and a school in New Zealand (Not that any of those spaces are inadequate for teaching theology in fact they have many a great programs and God can work at any of those spaces, like my friends Rachel and Alan who met at Leeds!) but they left me feeling empty as I considered studying justice theology in a relatively First World situation. (It does make sense to me to study Latin American Liberation theologies from a Scottish professor). Anyways at that point I stopped looking at those schools and returned to Huron Exchange options. And Within the next 48 hours I had found 3 theology programs at schools that I had just rejected because I couldn’t find info about theology from them. And at that point in time I was like HOLY $%!# God is provisional. So I trusted into his calling and applied for those three and got accepted. Oh and before I forget here is the crazy good story in all of this. So in January before I go in for my application God gives me a dream/vision saying “Come and See” so I was like sure I am in. I also went and asked my community for advice and they boldly called me into going for a year (Including my Girlfriend Bless her heart).
As second semester wore on I filled out applications and the expectations of a year’s exchange got swapped around to a year of Study abroad, to a half year exchange. But Hey it all worked out in the end.
And here I am sitting in Paris at an airport waiting to fly to Johannesburg. I will update you with more tails later on I am just getting a bit tired and wearing down.
Anyways one last brief thought to give some vision and excitement about this exchange. There is this really interesting thing that God tends to do. It looks slightly different every that it happens but it sure isn’t a new thing. It is kind of what God called the Israelite into after slavery for 430 years in Egypt. It is kind of like the prophets becoming desert people and eating from the bread that ravens brought. It is kind of like When Jesus went out to the desert for 40 days. Or more like the Early Church laying claims to the abandoned frontiers and wildernesses while they were persecuting. Or more accurately like the early Church Desert Fathers did When the roman emperor made Christianity a state thing. They leave into the wilderness and find out better the picture of What God longs to see from the Church. And so I go. Not because I know the brokenness of my Church, nor because I feel like being prophetic around the church in shaking it up. But Because God has called me to go. I have a lot of problems and slavery to work out of me, some of it developed from the society and the places that I have inhabited, some of it comes from the church that has surrounded me. The truth is that almost every human that lives is subjected to some form of societal slavery, or Church taught problems. So I go not to subjugate myself to them. But to learn from God about the truth of my situation, and where necessary and when I feel led to by the Holy Spirit I may speak truth about other’s situations. So yeah basically I am inviting you on a journey with me. So follow along, read with me and travel through my wildernesses and maybe together we will see the Kingdom of God.
So First off a little more context around me. Firstly you should know that I am a Christian Theologian. That is going to be a lot of where I write from get used to it. God for me is not inactive, it would defeat the purpose of Faith. (Let’s get a definition straight here I don’t mean our modern sense of ‘Belief’ the ‘I have faith in God’ Statement that actually means when you get down to it ‘I think that there is a God-like being that exists’ but rather when I talk about Faith and Belief it means that There is a God that is Real and is also Active within our world. He is active in ways that we often will not be able to understand particularly using the modern methods of science.) So that means that get excited as God is going to be a major character. Which is sort of the purpose of this blog. The stories that you will find in this blog, are here to tell you stories to get you inspired and thinking ‘what if’ sort of questions. Everyone is going to have their unique stories of what God is doing but I find that hearing other peoples stories helps to reinforce the truth of who God is.
I guess that kind of sets me up for a story. A crazy, crazy story that starts long before I have met many of you...
High School Grade 10; Spanish Language class; Something changes in me. I start becoming interested very heavily in international travel and study (In particular at this point in my life I am looking for language as the most important factor as a way of developing fluency in languages while gaining an interest in the cultures of places). So why now? Why South Africa? Don’t worry about it all these questions will be answered in due time.
So Fast forward with one more critical detail by the end of Grade 12 I decided that I was going to go to school for languages and I decided to do that I wanted to have my grade 12 french (Which I didn’t have yet). So I organized up a year and decided to take some time to travel and volunteer. So I went to Costa Rica and Nicaragua for 4 months (PS If you haven’t heard stories about it message me/ask me about it at some point in time when I get into your area). I got back and finished high school and met my wonderful Girlfriend Emily.
Fast forward to Semester One of Year two at Huron; Switching into a BTh Degree in Biblical studies studying Hebrew and exegesis as the majority of my classes. Something came up that semester. I think I was looking into exchanges but I wasn’t sure of whether or not it was an I want to go and do this thing for myself, or on the other hand if God was calling me into a something that I wanted. I think the application point that was hitting hard in particular is go back and look at what God has taught you. So I went to Huron Chapel one night after Bible Study and I sat and prayed and looked through some older manuscript bible studies that I had done. Soon I found the very first large group manuscript that I was involved in which was Genesis (It’s really funny I wasn’t really applying these things at the point of study too, too much but now it is an awesomely amazing set of texts. Check it out Gen 1-11, it may help to scratch out the preconceived titles and try to find the original breakup of the text). The thing that really struck me was in the first account of creation (for those of you who don’t know what I mean please read Gen 1-4 or so and tell me how many times God creates the world and If you want the theology of how two different Creation narratives can work together to shape and make a bigger picture of God Please e-mail me and I can hash it out for you). Anyways... In the first account of Creation, God (Elohim for those of you following Hebrew names) Starts by Seperating Light from Darkness, and Sky from Sea, and Land from Sea. Right days 1, 2, 3, then in days 4, 5, and 6 He does this really awesome thing of filling space for something. Day 4 he creates starts and the Celestial Rulers, day 5 Birds and Fishes and Sea Monsters, day 6 He creates all of the Land animals, creeping creepers, Crawling Crawlers, and Beastly Beasts. And Best of All he adds them into the orchestra of creation. He creates space then he fills it. Equally cool is the second account of creation where God creates a longing in his groundling for a partner fit to him. And then slowly builds that longing and fills it with exactly what God was intending. This is kind of my experience around exchange. God created space and a longing in me and said “Hey I created a longing in you and it is good, and I have presented you with the options and none have been good enough to fill it so now I will let you experience the full joy of this experience as I have intended it.”
So Basically at that point I was super excited and started looking for exchange opportunities, the thing was none of the schools I found filled that space. I was looking at options like St. Andrew’s, Leeds, and a school in New Zealand (Not that any of those spaces are inadequate for teaching theology in fact they have many a great programs and God can work at any of those spaces, like my friends Rachel and Alan who met at Leeds!) but they left me feeling empty as I considered studying justice theology in a relatively First World situation. (It does make sense to me to study Latin American Liberation theologies from a Scottish professor). Anyways at that point I stopped looking at those schools and returned to Huron Exchange options. And Within the next 48 hours I had found 3 theology programs at schools that I had just rejected because I couldn’t find info about theology from them. And at that point in time I was like HOLY $%!# God is provisional. So I trusted into his calling and applied for those three and got accepted. Oh and before I forget here is the crazy good story in all of this. So in January before I go in for my application God gives me a dream/vision saying “Come and See” so I was like sure I am in. I also went and asked my community for advice and they boldly called me into going for a year (Including my Girlfriend Bless her heart).
As second semester wore on I filled out applications and the expectations of a year’s exchange got swapped around to a year of Study abroad, to a half year exchange. But Hey it all worked out in the end.
And here I am sitting in Paris at an airport waiting to fly to Johannesburg. I will update you with more tails later on I am just getting a bit tired and wearing down.
Anyways one last brief thought to give some vision and excitement about this exchange. There is this really interesting thing that God tends to do. It looks slightly different every that it happens but it sure isn’t a new thing. It is kind of what God called the Israelite into after slavery for 430 years in Egypt. It is kind of like the prophets becoming desert people and eating from the bread that ravens brought. It is kind of like When Jesus went out to the desert for 40 days. Or more like the Early Church laying claims to the abandoned frontiers and wildernesses while they were persecuting. Or more accurately like the early Church Desert Fathers did When the roman emperor made Christianity a state thing. They leave into the wilderness and find out better the picture of What God longs to see from the Church. And so I go. Not because I know the brokenness of my Church, nor because I feel like being prophetic around the church in shaking it up. But Because God has called me to go. I have a lot of problems and slavery to work out of me, some of it developed from the society and the places that I have inhabited, some of it comes from the church that has surrounded me. The truth is that almost every human that lives is subjected to some form of societal slavery, or Church taught problems. So I go not to subjugate myself to them. But to learn from God about the truth of my situation, and where necessary and when I feel led to by the Holy Spirit I may speak truth about other’s situations. So yeah basically I am inviting you on a journey with me. So follow along, read with me and travel through my wildernesses and maybe together we will see the Kingdom of God.
Hey Friends!!!
So I have finally arrived safely in Pietermaritzburg and I have many stories to share. I typed up some of my thoughts during my trip on my laptop but I am currently having difficulties trying to cut and paste from Microsoft word. Stories will be added to here in the next couple of days and I will try to update it as cronologically as possible so please bear with me for the time being!
I have lots of thoughts that I can't wait to share with you so that I can better remember my time while I am here.
I will try to update again later on tonight! Peace!
So I have finally arrived safely in Pietermaritzburg and I have many stories to share. I typed up some of my thoughts during my trip on my laptop but I am currently having difficulties trying to cut and paste from Microsoft word. Stories will be added to here in the next couple of days and I will try to update it as cronologically as possible so please bear with me for the time being!
I have lots of thoughts that I can't wait to share with you so that I can better remember my time while I am here.
I will try to update again later on tonight! Peace!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)