Sunday, July 25, 2010

Seminary, Part Two

I arrived in Colorado Springs two weeks ago and met a good friend's parents at the airport. Out of their amazing generosity, they were lending me one of their cars for two weeks, choosing to go with one car so that their daughter's friend could have one. They had also gotten me in touch with a man in the Springs who was alone with his dog in a really nice house on a hill overlooking the city. He had a basement with a bedroom, bathroom, and living space that I could stay in for free. He turned out to be an 88-year old retired Air Force Lt. Col who had flown in WW2 and taught aerospace engineering at the Academy. Since retiring, he had continued to work in the Lutheran school system and now continued his life philosophy of giving. He now invests heavily in hospital visitation.

Not meeting the basic requirements for the program, I am privileged to get to study with people who have decades of experience in global leadership. The oldest member of the class is 58 and he's spent nearly 30 years working in Afghanistan. Another class member is 53 and he's just started a second career as the construction manager for all of Africa for Wycliffe. We've also got a missionary in a 100% Muslim country, a church planter in the Amazon river basin, and a student ministry director in Romania. On the US side, we've got pastors from rural churches, inner-city churches, large churches, small churches, and even an online church and a Silicon Valley church.

While here, I got the opportunity to visit New Life Church, a megachurch that has been through losing a pastor to a homosexual affair and a Sunday morning shooting. I got to check out Garden of the Gods and drive up to 14,115 feet at the summit of Pike's Peak. Sitting on a rock on the edge of the summit, I met with God. I got to meet my girlfriend's cousin in Denver, and hang out with an old friend who goes to Denver Seminary. And, I did all this in the context of beautiful mountains and amazing Christian leaders that I built lasting friendships with.

Have you had times in your life when everything seemed to come together in remarkable ways to become a huge milestone blessing in your life?

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