How I came to go to seminary, Part 1

Then ...

     Well, Seminary starts back up next week for the fall semester. Before this semester started I wanted to step back and let you know a little about how a 54 year old makes the decision to quit his good paying job and go back to school for 3-4 years. The decision was not easy and it wasn’t made because of any one event (except God’s call of course) but many things led up to the final decision. So this will be only the beginning of a multi-part story.

     I guess it began as soon as I became a Christian back in my “first” college days at the University of Illinois. I was challenged at an early stage in my Christian walk to deny myself, to take up my cross and to follow Jesus. I was also taught a great respect and urgency concerning Christ’s command for us to make disciples of all nations. Therefor, I have always felt like I needed to make myself available to Jesus for any task he might ask me to do at any stage of my life. I have tried to do that all of my Christian life. Therefore, age was not really a factor, after all Abraham, Moses and others were called at an older age.

Strangely enough, my journey toward seminary began with a battle with my own body. What bothered me as recent as two years ago was my health and fitness. I was overweight and out of shape. My cholesterol was high and I was on medicine. I didn’t feel good and I was sick and tired of being tired. My doctor used the word “obese” while I was having a physical exam. That hit me hard. I began to consider, “If God did call me to something extraordinary, could I do it physically?” I knew that I was guilty of the sin of gluttony. Before you react, let me say that people come in different shapes and sizes. You don’t have to be skinny as a rail to be healthy and not all people who are larger in size are guilty of this sin, and others have medical conditions that cause weight gain, but I knew deep in my hear that I was guilty of gluttony, and that I was not treating my body as the temple of the Lord. I think this affected my spiritual life as well as my discipline in my spiritual life was not good. I just wanted to be disciplined in something if you know what I mean.

     I began to get serious about exercise and then diet. Not for looks, but to feel better and to able to do what God would call me to do. Paul the Apostle said, “But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.” The result is that I feel so much better, my cholesterol is under control and physically I am ready for the challenge of seminary (at least physically lol!). Therefore, my physical exercise program has become an essential part of my spiritual life. That’s the first part of my journey toward seminary. If you are interest to hear more of my health and fitness journey you can go here. More to come later!

Now ...

Rob