Notepad Session: Reflecting on 2008

here i am on the train going back to bible college in kitchener. man was the vacation great. it is true that mom andi got into 3 fights but god used them for good because he used them to show me the sin in my life that must be dealt with.

as i watch the train go through kingston and listen to the people around me playing music (i thought that u neededheadphones to play it) and people talk amongst themselves i look back at 2008. 2008 was an interesting year. i wenton my first missions trip with Campus for Christ and completed my first full year of university education. it sawme change my employment path from a secularized to Christian career path. it also made me confront areas of my lifethat i don't like. yes, 2008 was a very full year for me.

now here i am in 2009. god is already beginning to work within me and point to things within me and things withoutthat i need explore, ponder, and question. one of them is where should i go on with my bachelor in theology whenit is complete? i have been thinking about it. in the car today, mom and i discussed how the school would helpme move on from next year.

i told her i wanted to go into youth ministry, but now i am not so sure. i have been thinking about going into young women's ministry, but does god want me to end with a 4-year bachelor? perhaps he does want me to go on to a master's and then a PhD. i know the difficulties it would involve but i cannot help but wonder if a bachelor is notenough christian education for me.
one of the things that involve a PhD in theology or divinity is learning the languages of the original manuscripts:hebrew and greek. i know that the votes are in about the languages: learning hebrew and greek is difficult. but these are the languages that the forefather's of my faith learned, even Jesus knew them! i think it would be a cooland worth it challenge to overcome. that and i would love to become someone who has complete education to be able to teach the bible to my family and show that the translations we have are accurate and reliable.

but is this what god wants? does god want me to complete my master's degree and PhD? is it in god's will for me to become a biblical scholar in a male-dominated profession? is it the academic spectrum that is where god seesme working for him? would help me grow in my faith and strengthen my defense of it? these questions are very important for a christian like me because, like Jesus, it is important for me to carry out God's will to further His kingdom.

unfortunately there is no verse in the bible, regardless of the language it is in ;), that specificallysays what god wants me to do and what his will for the majority of my life is. that is the one problem with God'sWord is that it is individual specific for the people who are in it. meaning it only tells us what god's plan wasfor people like abraham, isaac and jacob and everyone else that is specifically in it. well, actually, we do notknow the fate of everyone. for example, only secular history tells me how we go from the Persian Empire in Ezra/Nehemiah and Malachi to the Roman Empire in the gospels. secular history is also what tells me about the fatesof all the apostles, including Paul, and how the early church grew into the modern church i see today.

it would be cool to learn the history of the world from a christian perspective. now that i have completed my secularized part of my education and my secularized history courses, i want to know the other side of the story. like how the faith and Christian background of the Father's of Confederation influenced the name of the unitedcolonies to be the "Dominion of Canada" in 1864-1867. or how the faith of Nellie McClung and the famous five(?) sparked and was the reason for the push for women's rights--> not the moving away from it, like what happened in the 1960's. who knows, moving forward with this might be my ticket to Israel!!!

but like I said, no verse in the bible says where god wants me to go. and this decision about my career path andacademic studies was decided by god before the beginning of the world. amazing. so, i need to pray and seek god on the matter to find out what decision he made. it would be cool, though, to work in a place where i can take the bible as seriously, and have the academic authority, instead of just working in a ministry where it could be a whilebefore i could be honest about people when they have to change their lifestyle. with a academic background in theBible...hey it would difficult for members of my family to question what i say about the bible.

but it is all up to god, and whatever god wants should be bringing glory to him and not glory to myself. so, i bestjust pray, read/study the Scriptures and walk with jesus and jesus will guide me in the way of righteousness andon the path that he wants me to walk.