Happy Thursday!

Having a class that only lasts two weeks is just a bit hectic (please forgive and note the sarcasm)! There are so many things due within seemingly 5 minutes of each other that it is hard to remember what is due and when. But tomorrow I have a test (please pray!) and a referral paper due. My paper is complete and ready and I am mostly ready for the test in the morning. I will write a paper over the weekend with another one due later in the week and the last one due the next week. We do not have class that last week so I have all week to write the paper. Our groups have to perform pastor/parishioner role play in front of the class and a couple of other similar activities all due very soon! Say lots of prayers please!!

John 4: 34 “Jesus said to them, My task is to do the will of Him that sent me, and to finish His work.”

I was coming home today from class and thinking about how important achieving this degree is to me. At the end of this month of July I will have 19 hours and will have received full acceptance into the Master’s of Divinity Program at Brite. I have submitted my application for candidacy to the synod. I have given the papers to Pastor Joel to become registered with the synod as a candidate from Advent Lutheran Church. I have done all that this process has required of me aside from completing this degree and I am working on that. How many times did I say I in the last sentences?

Today I prayed to begin our class. I began by singing, “Jesus, You are, You are everything I’m not and everything that I want to be. Jesus, You are, You are the creator of my heart. Finish what you started in me.” The way for God to complete what He started in me is for me is to make His Will, my only will. When God’s Will becomes my only will then God guides me and the purpose He has set for my life is guided by His loving and creative hand. I get a little worried that I have so far to go to complete this degree,(I have 19 hours of an 81 hour degree) but I believe that God has set me on this path and I must finish the work.

If we are to follow God down whatever path He chooses for us then all of our desires must be brought into oneness with His Will for our lives. If we have the courage to place our will into His hands then God will finish what He has begun in each of us.

Take joy in the journey. Wear comfortable shoes, count your blessings and say your prayers. Please pray for me and I will most certainly be praying for you. Love you all, Bruce, Gaylene, Geni and Travis.

Gcapplenotes@aol.com

I am not moved by what I see. I am not moved by what I feel. I am moved only by what I believe and I believe God.