I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. ~ Philippians 1:3-11
With the obvious exception of the imprisonment part, this greeting from St. Paul to the church at Philippi is very fitting for how I feel here at CTSFW. I am being given an incredible opportunity. I get to devote hours of my day to learning from and with awesome professors and fellow students about the “righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ.” I fully understand and appreciate the value of learning Greek this summer, but I’m thankful to now be taking a variety of classes that really get into God’s Word and why we believe what it says. For those who are interested, those classes this quarter are Church History I, Dogmatics I, Gospels I (focusing on Matthew), Liturgics I, New Testament Greek Readings, and Field Education I. God willing, I will be able to continue this task of learning for years to come and share this life-changing Gospel with others.
My family is constantly uplifted by the amazing support being sent to us. We receive cards and letters of encouragement on a weekly basis, many from people and churches with whom we have no direct connection. Some include gifts and others do not, but I assure you that they are all important in the “partnership in the gospel.” Our churches need good leaders, and leaders need other good Christians to walk alongside them. It’s deeply humbling to know we have so many people praying for us. I promise that we in turn “hold you in [our] hearts” and pray for all of you as well.
And now, a bit about the rest of life. Pamela and the boys have completed five weeks with their Classical Conversations community and are feeling comfortable with their new “classmates” and routine. Logan’s even trying to start a Beyblades club there. Logan and Camden are both participating in a six-week soccer program. They have practice Wednesday afternoons and local games Saturday mornings. Logan’s team won their first game. He was pretty pumped! They are also members of Trail Life USA, a conservative alternative to Boy Scouts. So far we’ve had two meetings and a one-night campout. It looks like there will be a good variety of activities to do throughout the year. Pamela always enjoys her weekly evening with other seminary women. During the academic year, they often have presentations by faculty which I believe are meant to give them more insight into what we seminarians are doing. Once or twice a month, the family explores a new location, usually with an educational emphasis. (Alas, I miss many of them when I’m in class.) Most recently, it was a trip to the Forks of Wabash, an interactive history site. We’ve been able to visit a dozen different LCMS churches in the area since arriving in June, but we’ll have a new “home” congregation after my field education assignment tomorrow. I’ll post about that soon.
Finally, if you missed it live on September 7, this video from the CTS opening service is worth a watch.
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