Life after Seminary

So, I spent my weekend visiting a parish.  Not visiting some place to fulfill some class requirement or to prepare for the next step of seminary, I visited a congregation which will one day be my first call as an ordained pastor.

So, that's happening.

I drove down with my wife, Andrea, as well as another seminarian who's also going to be joining me as a resident pastor for the next two years in the Quad Cities.  It's so surreal to think that, even though there are classes to finish and papers to write, the two of us have already been called to serve our first congregation.

Soon, this word will be synonymous with "Home."

It's almost like this whole seminary thing is about to wrap up.  I feel like it was only recently that I began this whole process and visited LSTC as a prospective student (Where, oddly, I met my new/future resident-pastor colleague).  The visit this weekend was a good first taste of what's to come in that congregation, but more than anything it made me realize that my time at LSTC is almost over - that May 19th is just over a month away - that soon I will be a pastor.

There will be more time to reminisce in the weeks and months to come.  Right now, though, I feel incredibly grateful for the time I've spent at LSTC, where I truly feel as if I've been prepared to go and do this job I've now been officially called to do.  And, as I wrap up my final classes, I know that even when the symptoms of senioritis are in full force, I'm still being prepared, and this place will still be teaching me until I hand in my final paper.  In fact, this place may in some way still teach and prepare me beyond that.  LSTC has changed me, and that is a wonderful thing.