Claimed, gathered and sent

The Spring term at LTSG began today. A few are not yet back from the Jan. term trip to Geneva, Switzerland, but even so, the campus is once again humming with activity. Most of my class came for the 2 week Summer Greek course in August. After Summer Greek, we were divided into 2 sections for the Fall session of Introduction to New Testament Greek. Some of us were in the turtle group while others were in the rabbit group. We were reassured by both profs that in the Spring we would all be together again. That is what happened at 8:30 this morning in our Witness of the Gospels class. We even met in the same room that we'd met in for Summer Greek and some of us sat in the very same seats we were in last August. That seems so very long ago now, yet at the time it seemed Summer Greek would never end. I am grateful for the safe return of most of us who started out together in August (one is still recovering from a car accident, but doing well). G0d has faithfully brought us this far. Thi...

One of the greatest blessings I have experienced this past year has been a relating to a spiritual director . We met together this afternoon for the last time before the move to Gettysburg for seminary. It has been just one year that we've been meeting monthly. We have connected on such a deep level that it seems as though we've been together on this journey much longer. I feel our time together has been great preparation for seminary and future ministry. Before we began, Pastor Linda went to her office and brought out a package for me. In it was a beautiful pink prayer shawl made by one of the women in their prayer shawl ministry. What makes it so special is that prayer is knitted right into it as the knitter prays for the person who will receive the shawl as she knits. There was a card with it explaining the meaning of the shawl and with some prayers. This was a recurring scripture theme . What an unexpected blessing--a reminder of God's presence and love as well as t...