I Freaked Out the First Few Days in Seminary...

Hey Harbor Cov!

I remember my first couple of days as a student at Princeton Seminary. I would sit in class and listen to the person on my right engage in the class discussion and share their thoughts, and I thought to myself, “Oh my goodness, you are so smart. What am I doing here?”

I grew up in a simple church in the Central Valley in California, was a humble history major from Fresno State, and yet found myself in an Ivy League town and high-profile academia. I was freaking out.

The person on my left then started to contribute to the conversation in the class, and as I listened to what they were saying, I thought to myself, “Oh my goodness, you are so dumb. What are you doing here?”

It was then that I realized… “Ok, with some effort, and by the grace of God, I can do this." And I did. I am thankful for the opportunity I had to spend learning about church history, theology, worship, and the Bible.

One of the things I took away from my time there is that the Gospel is simple, but it’s not simplistic. It’s simple in its foundational claims… God made you, God redeemed you, God always loves you. But it’s not simplistic in its application. Wars have been started over what has been written in and about scripture.

So what do we do with this ancient and divine wisdom in our modern context? That is the question I ask a lot anyway.

Here is a cool (AND FREE) class from the Bible Project that I suggest checking out if you're interested in trying to make sense of what we read in the Bible. Most people don’t go to seminary, and even those who do should always keep learning.

I share the Bible Project stuff a lot, because I love that it’s free, it’s creative in its lessons, and they make depth of scripture accessible to anyone who is curious enough to learn. They also have a whole Youtube Series on how to read the Bible.

Check them out!