once upon a time

HOWDY STRANGER!!!  Hope you are well. I was thinking about you this morning and deeply missing the good ol’ days when I got to use my words for CREATING and CONNECTING instead of GRADING and GPA-ING. As you might remember, I used to do quite a bit of writing here and even had a few pieces published elsewhere…

…but then came seminary.

Oh those sweet precious memories of a time when words could be purposed to encourage spiritually rather than to succeed academically. I dimly remember how it felt to mold and shape them to evoke laughter or thought or emotion instead of to fulfill technical rubrics.  I could just swoon at the thought of having the time and energy to write for fun anymore.

Don’t get me wrong, I love school. I am one of those bookworm deskdork types that asks Santa to leave me highlighters and quality pens in my stocking every year.  Make no mistake about it; NOTE-TAKING IS MY LOVE LANGUAGE. But one side effect of going to grad school is that you have to expend the majority of your creativity academically, which can stifle the exercise of doing so spiritually (also, you are very, very tired). Luckily, being a student at Dallas Theological Seminary allows me to combine the two quite often, but the result is usually a little more scholarly and mechanical than my usual voice and therefore not really blog material (please let me know if I am mistaken and any of you actually want to read a 10 page piece on The Biblical and Historical Marks & Works of True Ecclesiology- if you struggle with insomnia, this may be your cure.)

This used to be the “library” in my once peaceful prayer closet. Please join me in prayer and repentance of what has become a holy hoarding area (in Jesus’ name).

And while I miss the expression of creative writing and getting to connect with my readers, I nevertheless believe wholeheartedly that if I am going to be talking to folks about Jesus, I ought to know what I am talking about (seems important, no?). 😉

So I shall continue with my studies.

The good news in all of this is that while I may be a bit stymied creatively, this deep dig into Scripture has only fanned aflame my love of the Word and of Jesus. God continues to astound me and reveal himself to me through my studies, and for that, I am profoundly grateful!

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So even if all this schooling never results in actual “vocational ministry,” it has certainly deepened my knowledge and appreciation of his loving character. That being said, writing theses and taking finals – while certainly sanctifying – is also exhausting, leaving me little stamina with which to piece words together for the shear joy of it.  So in an effort to satisfy my longing to create & connect (while still completing my assignments & earning an actual living,) I will be doing some reposting and resharing of some of my favorite pieces. Please be forewarned that I will likely also do so without re-editing and I shudder at some of the grammatical and technical mistakes I can now so clearly see as I browse through some of these (may the Holy Spirit serve as a veil between my mistakes and your eyes, friend; I am too tired to even correct myself.)

I hope you will join me in re-reading some of these, and I even hope to OCCASIONALLY post a short new piece (but I promise to wait until I have material other than a historical exploration of the old testament kingdom covenants in original Hebrew.)

Thank you for your patience and for hanging in there with me while I try to get real smart about this Jesus stuff so I can really encourage and equip you in your walk at a later date. And if you have not already subscribed to start receiving my posts via email, please make sure and do so today!

Delirious but Dealing,

Christine