January Prayer Update

I just arrived in Birmingham a couple of days ago after my four-week hiatus over Christmas, and I am refreshed and renewed to begin my new semester next Tuesday! In fact, I am looking forward to studying in Samford University’s Library once again.

I love being in the University Library because it has an excellent reference section for seminary books that I use for my papers, and it does have a great selection of theological books as well. However, the University Library’s collection pales in comparison to some other libraries such as the one I visited at Gettysburg Seminary in November 2011. Wentz library has an reference room (maybe 30’x30’?) with shelves full of books, some dating back to 1800’s that includes collections of Luther’s writings, occupying every square inch of the wall space. In fact, the entire library houses 190,000 theological books! Now you have to understand that this seminary was founded in 1826 and is the oldest of eight seminaries of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. They had plenty of time to collect those books and I am sure this library has been useful for many ministers in the Mid-Atlantic area. If I ever return to the Mid-Atlantic region again, this library will probably become my favorite place!

OK – enough about libraries. I wanted to take some time today to share with you – my supporters and prayer partners – some things I praise God for and how you can pray specifically for me over the next semester. The reason why I share all of this is because your prayers DO make a big difference while I am at Beeson Divinity School, and I want to share a part of my life with you.

Praises

1. For quality time with my family, friends, former co-workers at MSD, and fellow co-laborers of Christ from my home church and Deaf Teen Quest. I am always encouraged and spiritually uplifted when I am with them because I am reminded of the reasons why I am here at this time and season of my life. I am thankful that God has made it possible for me to make this trip back home for four weeks.
2. For a safe trip back home and to Alabama (two days of traveling each way). The drive back here was poor with rain and fog for most of the way until I reached Georgia, and I had several close-calls along the way. I am grateful that I made it back safely and am settled down in my apartment once again.
3. For God’s steadfast faithfulness, mercy, and grace toward me, a sinner unworthy of His never-ending love. His steadfastness is what makes me praise him every day because He is the solid Rock upon which I can count on with my whole life.

Prayers

1. For humility while I am taking my classes. I realized quickly that humility is the key ingredient when it comes to studying theology and preparing oneself for a life of ministry, and the temptation to puff oneself with knowledge is always present in seminary.
2. For wisdom to figure out how I can apply what I have learned in my classroom and readings for my ministry in the future and to make the God’s gospel message more clear and understandable for Deaf and Hard of Hearing people.
3. For strength and perseverance to do my best through my studies because I want to glorify God through my efforts. I realized quickly last semester that sleep is a rare commodity for all seminarians because there is always something to read, a paper to write, and an exam to study for. If I am not careful, I can easily exhaust myself and not do my best in what I am doing.
4. For Deaf ministry in the Birmingham area and across Alabama. There is a great spiritual need in Alabama, and I have always felt like this area was impoverished by the lack of Deaf churches and ministries. As far as I know, there is only two Deaf churches and a Deaf Church of Christ in the entire state of Alabama, and one of those churches are currently without a pastor. In addition, Liz, a good friend and colleague of mine, is the Ministry Site Director for a local Deaf Teen Quest ministry at Alabama School for the Deaf (ASD) in Talladega, AL. She is always looking for more leaders and volunteers (especially females) to help out with her monthly meetings and small groups held through the week, and they seem to be in short supply. I am trying to discern how I can contribute my talents and gifts to serving Christians in the Birmingham area and the DTQuest ministry at ASD while remaining focused my primary calling as a seminary student at Beeson. In addition, I have been praying a lot about starting a small group for young adults to gather for fellowship,  games, and Bible studies in the Birmingham area sometimes during this semester.

I have a lot of things to share with you over the coming months, so make sure you return to this blog often because I will be updating this site on a regular basis. You can follow me through several different means: 1) Google Friend Connect, 2) one of your favorite RSS feeds, or 3) by e-mail (they are listed out on the right side).

I thank you again for your continued support and prayers while I am in Beeson!