Simpleigh

I got a call from Candler. It's the assistant dean, she wants me to call her back. I figure it's because I haven't told them if I am planning on being at Emory in the Fall. I call her during my lunch break at work, she answers. I start to tell her I'm sorry I haven't been in touch about attendance in the Fall, but apparently she wants to talk about something else. "i just wanted to call and tell you that we can offer you a scholarship!" "Really... How much might be available to me?" "how much did Wesley offer you?" ... "we can beat that!" For a moment I'm tempted, it would make sense to go where I have more resources. But I JUST decided yesterday where I want to go! Why now? What do I do? Then I realize... God will provide. I realize I will be sad if I don't go to Wesley. I realize life is about choices and trusting yourself, and having faith, even when the answers are cloudy. So I say thanks, but no thanks. ...

 "As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.  Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.  There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called;  one Lord, one faith, one baptism;  one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all." -Ephesians 4  Five years ago I felt God calling me into ministry. It was at the same time both completely unexpected and totally obvious. One of the first things I understood about my calling is that I am supposed to go to seminary. I've thought about it for so long, and it feels unreal to say that starting this Fall I will actually be a seminarian.  I remember my first night of youth group; I was completely unfamiliar with the bible. I knew the apostles creed, I knew the Lords prayer, I kn...

This week I learned a strange fact about the Knights Templar. Apart from what I've heard in that Nicholas Cage movie (" I'm going to steal the Declaration of Independence !"), I don't know much about them. Apparently when the church baptized one of the knights they would be baptized with their sword, but they wouldn't take their sword under water with them. Instead, they would hold it up out of the water while the rest of them was immersed. It was their way of saying to Jesus, "I belong to you, all except this part of me. This part of me, I won't compromise." I think you know where I'm going with this...  We all know there are areas of our lives where we refuse to give up control. What I don't think we realize is how destructive this can be to our relationship with Christ. Although some religious traditions talk about having a formal —almost distant— kind of relationship with God, when Jesus prayed he got very personal. He called...