The Start of a New Journey

As I prepare to set out on a vastly different journey than anything I’ve ever experienced and I’m looking at being so far from family and friends that I hold so dear, I’ve decided to start blogging to share what’s going on in my life and whatever God teaches me. I realize that few will likely read this blog, but I’m also writing for me so that I will make sure to take consistent time to thoughtfully consider what has been going on in and around me. For those of you who don’t know exactly what I’m going to be doing and how I got to this point, I want to give some quick background.

About a nine months ago, I was in the midst of considering plans for after graduation from Union University (which is one of the best places on earth for those of you considering what college to go to). I had decided on Southern Seminary in Louisville when God changed vastly changed those plans. I ended up on the phone with my former youth pastor Freddy T. Wyatt on Thanksgiving break about coming up to NYC to intern at The Gallery Church for… two years! I had been looking at a semester internship, but two years was a much bigger commitment and life change especially with my best friend/girlfriend of 4 years still in Tennessee. Ultimately, God made clear to me that this was the path for me. So come Tomorrow August 17^th I will be flying to NYC to go to work with the Gallery and attend Southern Seminary at the extension center there, which happens to be housed at the Gallery. I know that the next two years will stretch me beyond my limits, and I can’t wait to be able to see the limitless measure of God’s grace that will cover for those weaknesses of mine.

The past week and a half I’ve been struck by a couple of things that God has used in His sovereign timing to refocus my eyes fully on Christ. Not quite two weeks ago, my great uncle John passed away. Fortunately, I am confident that he is rejoicing in heaven now, for the fruit of his relationship with Christ was great. He was a pastor for many years and then a chaplain for the army. His funeral left a lasting impression on me. While he might not be widely recognized, his impact was obviously deep and profound on many men and women that he ministered to over the years. The men that preached his funeral were direct evidence of the incredible impact he had by the grace of God during over sixty years of ministry. He humbly set his eyes on Christ and followed Him with all his heart. He loved his family as a godly man should and his wife as Christ loves the Church. And he shepherded the flock that was placed under his charge toward Christ always. A humble, godly man he was, and the likes of which I can only hope to attain. Secondly, I have been impacted by another man of God… this one you might recognize: A. W. Tozer. I read his biography this past week, and I have been incredibly humbled to see his deep thirst for God. While Tozer has his faults (as were clear in the biography), God has used his passion to set my eyes aright on Christ. My studies had become dry and too academic, yet once again God has given me a thirst for Him just in time for this new part of my journey in life. I highly recommend reading Tozer’s works especially Knowledge of the Holy and Pursuit of God, which, by the way, Tozer wrote on a single train ride with nothing other than a Bible, pen, and notebook paper.

I want to leave you, especially my brothers called to full-time ministry, with a quote about Tozer that we should make true of ourselves: “Tozer concerned himself with the depth of his ministry and left the breadth... up to the Holy Spirit.”