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Bolt's Uncommontary and Education - 7/24/2009 10:51:30 PM
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bolt.
Posts: 1760
Joined: 4/29/2005
From: Canada
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Well, it's time for me to face facts. I'm a fully addicted forumer, and I need my very own thread.
Here's the deal. I just sent in my registration for Seminary, and I'm already contemplating whether I will be able to keep up. I was doing Seminary classes before I had kids, and now that my girls are 1 & 4, it's time for me to pick up my half-finished degree, dust off my brain, and get back to work.
Hey, at least I can type and spell better, now that I've spent a few years foruming on nearly a daily basis.
So, in order to fool myself and take advantage of my compulsion, I'm going to pretend all of my assignments are earnest questions that somebody out there in internet-land really wants to understand better. Then, I'll just have to answer their questions.
And you can all help!
So, when I say, "Somebody ask me... <whatever>." Then one of you pop in and say, "Yes, bolt, I really actually would like to know about... <whatever>." Throw in a few smilies and affirmations, and I just might make it through to a degree. It's all about the teamwork.
Are we ready?
_____________________________
Are you having trouble getting your daily dose of the life changing Word of God?
Let my friend Brian at Daily Audio Bible help you too.
>>audio link<<
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RE: Bolt's Uncommontary and Education - 7/24/2009 10:55:02 PM
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bolt.
Posts: 1760
Joined: 4/29/2005
From: Canada
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First assignment, to go in with the application form:
Somebody please ask me if I could... "describe my Christian experience including my religious background, my Christian conversion and growth as a Christian, my present understanding of God’s call on my life, my present and past experience of ministry, and reasons I want to attend Seminary."
Really, do, please. It means a lot to me.
_____________________________
Are you having trouble getting your daily dose of the life changing Word of God?
Let my friend Brian at Daily Audio Bible help you too.
>>audio link<<
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RE: Bolt's Uncommontary and Education - 7/25/2009 12:07:04 AM
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Bountiful
Posts: 786
Joined: 12/15/2008
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Somebody please ask me if I could... "describe my Christian experience including my religious background, my Christian conversion and growth as a Christian, my present understanding of God’s call on my life, my present and past experience of ministry, and reasons I want to attend Seminary."
Consider yourself asked!!
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RE: Bolt's Uncommontary and Education - 7/25/2009 9:59:02 AM
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bolt.
Posts: 1760
Joined: 4/29/2005
From: Canada
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Well, Edith-Bountiful,
It's so kind of you to be supportive of my assignment, and interested in my life of faith. Such personal questions, and we hardly know each other. You really do know how to get down to a good conversation right off the bat!
Well, I do have a religious background. I grew up in a family that was 'Churched' but not terribly Christian. When I was young, my family went to an Anglican Church, and I attended Sunday School, learning the 'stories' but not really thinking of them as anything real or true. At 12, I was given the option to quit coming to Church and promptly took it; I had no interest in God or spiritual things in my 'ordinary' life after that.
My journey to conversion began in my teen years, which were an extremely challenging time. Myself, I was rebellious and independent, and my parents responded with increasing degrees of disapproval, control, and emotional disconnection. This came to a head when I was 16, and I moved out 'on my own'. I was a deft manipulator of others, manging to stay in the homes of friends with sympathetic parents, and eventually to rent a room of my own in a shared accommodation. I was fiercely determined to make a go of it, and the resourceful intelligence that my parents had fostered in me served me very well for those months.
It was at this point I began to keep company with some Christian peers and friends, going to Young Life events, and finding a variety of opportunities to tell my 'sad story' -- receiving sympathy and often free food. I cultivated these relationships for that reason, but it began to dawn on me slowly that these new friends were somehow fundamentally different than the average teen... indeed quite different from myself, with all my strife and scheming and emptiness-of-heart. I began to wonder if their God, their Holy Spirit, might be an actual reality.
Free food being important, and my interest piqued, I weaseled my way into an expenses-paid weekend retreat. I went with a sense of pride and an idea of evaluating this Christian thing on my own terms... but God had other plans. The leader driving our car-full ended up lost, in the dark, out of gas, in rural BC -- and she seemed to think that her God could intervene. And God stepped up to the plate in fine form, teaching me that there was nothing in myself that could be relied on, but that He, the Sovereign Lord loved me and was calling me to be His own, under His hand.
Up to that point, oddly, my conversion was not exactly gospel-oriented, but rather it was the evidence of the Holy Spirit, and the power of God in action that lead me to the doorstep of Jesus. It was then that I began to realize just how my immoral, rebellious and prideful choices really were significant and sinful. The reality of my filthiness, my lost state and my own helplessness hit me like a ton of bricks, and I received the cleansing blood of Jesus with such gratitude and adoration that the moment and sensation has never faded from my mind.
Well, it's a long question to do justice to, so I'll take a pause, and get back to you on the 2nd half here shortly. I hope my story has been interesting to you so far...
_____________________________
Are you having trouble getting your daily dose of the life changing Word of God?
Let my friend Brian at Daily Audio Bible help you too.
>>audio link<<
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RE: Bolt's Uncommontary and Education - 7/25/2009 11:35:52 PM
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Bountiful
Posts: 786
Joined: 12/15/2008
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You're doing very well. I'll be looking forward to further instalments.
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RE: Bolt's Uncommontary and Education - 7/26/2009 8:24:09 PM
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bolt.
Posts: 1760
Joined: 4/29/2005
From: Canada
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Hmmm...
No lightning so far... but I might be asking for it.
Great. Now I have to be even more extra-super-duper-careful-and-perfect-in-every-respect about those answers. Crummy. As if it wasn't intimidating enough without the threat of spontaneous electrocution.
And now for the story of my handle...
I Bible College, I was in a class with >>this<< as one textbook. Just look at the names of that pair of authors.
As "Her-wazzz-n-will-i-min" became a 'word' that the class used frequently. I began to contemplate what ever possessed two guys with names like that to become authors -- I mean, wouldn't you just pick a pseudonym for the ease of your reading public? It's not like anybody's pronouncing your real name right anyways.
So I got thinking how badly my own last name would flow in such situations and circles -- because I've got a doozy too. Which eventually boiled down to "Bolt" -- not a real part of my name, but probably the way people who were forced to say it all the time would end up abbreviating it for their own sanity.
I like the multi-faceted connotations of "Bolt" -- a flash of sharp insight, a piece of hardware that holds things together, a cartoon dog that saves people from danger... (I should check the dictionary for more. I wouldn't want to miss anything.)
The other option for a handle was, "Professor Pam" -- an delicious irony. It was a nasty name that all the mean girls in jr hi school used to mock and belittle me to tears with... But now, if I ever actually become a professor, I'll actually be perfectly in my calling, and quite happy with myself and my life. It just goes to show that some times 'the mean girls' can be quite insightful, in their own nasty name-calling way.
But I guess I called them 'mean girls' -- I wonder if they have grown up happy and pleased with the kind of life ruthless insight, a sharp tongue, and power politics can gain you. Interesting thought.
_____________________________
Are you having trouble getting your daily dose of the life changing Word of God?
Let my friend Brian at Daily Audio Bible help you too.
>>audio link<<
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RE: Bolt's Uncommontary and Education - 7/26/2009 9:21:33 PM
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bolt.
Posts: 1760
Joined: 4/29/2005
From: Canada
Status: offline
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Well, enough 'uncommontary' and lets get on with that assignment.
I'm sure my 'reading public' are just desparate to follow up my conversion story with my "growth as a Christian, my present understanding of God’s call on my life, my present and past experience of ministry, and reasons I want to attend Seminary."
Becoming a Christian profoundly reshaped me. I grasped that there was nothing worthwhile in my life, apart from God -- to learn about Him, to live the life He had for me, to attend to Him and worship Him. Knowing the black-and-white change within myself, I knew the truth of what I had found -- I wanted as much of this new reality as I could get my hands on.
I began doing youth group regularly (religiously) with the people I had connected to at the camp. I went to Church with them too, and Sunday School, and anything else that had the slightest potential to feed my hunger to grow in Christ. I have always been a quick thinker, and a questioner -- and I shortly began to drive my youth leaders crazy with the questions I asked about theology, Scripture, and how to interpret my own spiritual life. It surprised me when they did not have all the answers. It surprised me even more when they said they'd not really thought about some things, but that they thought my ideas might be on the right track.
I began to mend the strained relations I had with my parents, and moved back 'home' -- and although all was not rosy, the situation was much more workable with my comittment to live as a Christian, serving and submitting to my God and His Word. I met my future husband, brought him to youth group, and shortly began the comitted dating relationship that ended up in my current happy marriage.
After high school, there was no doubt in my mind that Bible College was the place for me. If there was more to know about God, Scripture, Christian spirtuality or ministry -- I wanted to know it. I wanted to know it, and to live it, and to teach it.
I suppose I didn't mention so far that through my teen years I had been consistantly involved in Air Cadets. (Cadets is a youth organization supported by the military, which focuses on leadership, teaching and also military skills.) This set of skills and accomplishments blended providentially with my spiritual gifts in... you guessed it... teaching and leadership. I took classes that reflected those gifts, plus a deep passion for the power of the Bible, and found myself to be well suited for a life of ministry.
As an introvert, I am not a fearless charismatic public and social leader. In a group, I am an initiative taker and a strong force in creating a 'new normal' -- I shape people and situations it was that seem sensible and natural to me, and as such I am an agent of change. I draw people to godliness, mostly because I consider that to be normal, and the opposite to be surprising. Given a particular task or a position of responsibility, however, I become more bold and capable: setting goals, assessing people's capacities, gifts and passions, providing accountablity -- getting things done, and bringing people along in their spiritual growth.
... What was the question again? Oh, yes...
All these experiences contribute to my sense of call. I'm not arrogant, but I know that my gifts and capabilites are not meant for life under a bushel-basket. I need to persue this until I reach the place in my life where my passion for Scripture, the insights I grasp, my teaching skills, and my capacity for life-leadership can find an avenue to reach beyond myself. I don't know what that looks like yet, but I know it's coming.
I've had a variety of minisry experiences, including...
Experiences where I contributed, but found little passion:
- teaching children in Sunday School & VBS settings
- working at youth events
- ministering one-on-one with youth
- managing worship service planning and leading worship
- planning awareness and fundraising events for a small missions comittee
- working with Church finances
- volunteering at a women's shelter as mentor, and providing child care
- occasional personal evangelisim
Experiences where I felt my gifts were making a real difference:
- teaching and leading in small group Bible studies (both within and outside of Church)
- preaching (occasionally at my home Church as well as a full summer's stretch at another Church)
- giving devotional thoughts, communion meditations, personal testemonies etc.
- participating in congregational leadership, vision casting etc.
- personal mentor-like relationships with college students
- working as an administrator and other roles at a Christian charity, which included a women's shelter
- providing support, advise and counsel within an online 'forum' community (ha ha)
- providing personal and practical support to disabled members of our congregation
- paricipating in and planning multi-Church retreats
- being a strong supporter, personally and in prayer, of friends and aquaintences who are engagin in missions or outreach as a calling.
- being a primary care-giver and spiritual tutor for my own 2 growing children, meeting the needs of both their bodies and their souls.
And why do I want to attend Seminary? Because if there is more to be grasped, I want to hear it. I want new ideas, fresh insight, and a community of learners who know that hunger. For me, Seminary is all about the power of God's living Word. There is nothing more deeply satisfying to me than to put my hands on a concept of understanding of God, or the life of faith, or whatever -- and to know truth for truth, and to have my own deepest self reshaped by that experience of knowledge.
I know that if the Christian community at-large neglects the Word, it will starve and stagnate in the humanness of endeavour. I know that not everybody has the mind to do the hard work of deep Bible study -- so I believe it to be the duty of those of us who can -- who even find delight in it -- to do so with a good will, on behalf of those who depend on us. For me, to share I must learn, and to learn I will greatly benefit from the wisdom, community and structure of Seminary studies.
_____________________________
Are you having trouble getting your daily dose of the life changing Word of God?
Let my friend Brian at Daily Audio Bible help you too.
>>audio link<<
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RE: Bolt's Uncommontary and Education - 7/26/2009 9:24:19 PM
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bolt.
Posts: 1760
Joined: 4/29/2005
From: Canada
Status: offline
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OK -- feedback anyone?
(1) Does anything not make a lot of sense, not form cohesive sentences, or not fit together in paragraphs?
(2) Does anything sound overly arrogant?
(3) Does anything sound childish?
(4) Does the story flow properly?
(5) Do I need to attend to any practical issues? (Aside from spelling -- I'll check that myself.)
(6) If I have to 'trim' this to size, what's the best part to leave out?
_____________________________
Are you having trouble getting your daily dose of the life changing Word of God?
Let my friend Brian at Daily Audio Bible help you too.
>>audio link<<
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RE: Bolt's Uncommontary and Education - 7/26/2009 9:28:53 PM
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bolt.
Posts: 1760
Joined: 4/29/2005
From: Canada
Status: offline
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Or you can just copy and paste this:
"Good job, bolt! That was very <insert positive characteristic here>. I'm sure the admissions department will be very impressed."
_____________________________
Are you having trouble getting your daily dose of the life changing Word of God?
Let my friend Brian at Daily Audio Bible help you too.
>>audio link<<
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RE: Bolt's Uncommontary and Education - 7/26/2009 11:27:52 PM
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Bountiful
Posts: 786
Joined: 12/15/2008
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OK, you want feedback. I don't feel I'm in a position to tell you what admissions would want from you, but I thought your reply was well thought out and well put. The only thing that I might consider as "missing" is: After you described your experiences that didn't really seem to "fit" and then the experiences that did "fit," it seems that perhaps God's specific leading through prayer and the work of the Holy Spirit perhaps should be included.
I too love studying God's Word and have a tendency to constantly ask questions. One thing I've learned is that I have a need just to ask the questions, whether I receive an answer or not. Sometimes the questions themselves lead in a specific direction (if that makes any sense).
I've taken numerous "spiritual gifts" tests. While they are very helpful, they are only a guide. We need the Lord's leading and direction most of all.
I love your enthusiasm and I am very excited for you. Look forward to reading more.
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RE: Bolt's Uncommontary and Education - 8/1/2009 11:59:51 PM
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Bountiful
Posts: 786
Joined: 12/15/2008
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I apologize if I said anything hurtful in my previous post. I hope you will come back and continue your thread.
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RE: Bolt's Uncommontary and Education - 8/6/2009 10:03:38 PM
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bolt.
Posts: 1760
Joined: 4/29/2005
From: Canada
Status: offline
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Akkk! I'm not offended! I was out of town and out of touch.
I think you're my only fan... don't go...
_____________________________
Are you having trouble getting your daily dose of the life changing Word of God?
Let my friend Brian at Daily Audio Bible help you too.
>>audio link<<
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RE: Bolt's Uncommontary and Education - 8/6/2009 11:18:33 PM
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Bountiful
Posts: 786
Joined: 12/15/2008
Status: offline
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Hope you had a good time out of town.
Just figured it was better to be safe than sorry. Sometimes what we say online doesn't come out the way we intend.
Don't worry - I'll be around.
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