Two things

This was a thought I wrote down from a sermon a few weeks ago, that I just reread and was reminded of how true it is.

There are 2 documents that say in black and white what you value and what you invest in. Those two things are your bank statement and your calendar. You can say you value a certain thing, but these two documents will show if you actually do. You can think you don't really care about certain things but these documents will show if you actually do or not. because these two documents will show how you spend two of your most valuable resources; your money and your time. And that shows what you actually value.

Celebrating Advent

Three days into December and I'm not doing great with the whole 'remembering the reason for the season' thing. I'm pretty sure my face was not the picture of peace and joy during another Christmas Concert rehearsal. Take a deep breath Erin, and remember it is not the end of the world if not everyone does the actions perfectly.

Anyway, at least 2 other people had a similar idea to me with celebrating this time of the year. I thought I'd let you know about 2 blogs I am following as they write daily about Advent.

Rare and Beautiful Treasures

and

The Advent Project

Enjoy :)

Vanuatu Night

Every term one of the girls in our Bible study 'hosts a country'. Instead of a normal Bible study we go to someone's house and they cook traditional food, we learn about the country and then pray for the country.

Of course, when asked if I would like to do one I jumped at the chance to share my heart country with my Bible study .

I went to the fruit and vegetable markets near my place, and was so excited to find banana leaves! Closest thing I would be able to find for laplap leaves. I knew banana leaves would burn a bit more than laplap leaves, but I was hopeful that it would give a bit more authentic flavour to the food. It took forever to find yam - lots and lots of taro, but I really wanted to find yam. Yam laplap is sooo much nicer than taro laplap. Almost did a happy dance when I found the one little stall that had yam.

I made coconut cream fish, 'soup and rice', yam laplap and banana laplap. ('soup' in this case is a beef stew like dish cooked with lots of beef stock, oil, some 'island cabbage' and 2 minute noodles added)

My biggest triumph was that I think I finally cracked making laplap in an oven rather than between hot stones.I blended raw yam until smooth (I recently purchased a crazy powerful blender) and preheated oven to 200 Celsius. Put thick oven dishes in oven to warm up. Lined one dish with Banana leaves and grease proof paper. Poured in yam mixture (I would normally add coconut cream on top but one of the girls is allergic to coconut). Covered with more paper and banana leaves. Added another dish on top to put pressure and also a solid heat above. Lowered temp to 180 and left for 2 1/2 hours. I think could have gone for longer (another hour?) or higher temperature but was still good, just not quite 'set' enough. We then put warm coconut cream on top to serve.

We sat on a mat in the lounge room, clapped after grace, listened to string band music and prayed for Gods work in Vanuatu.

Meet

We all come together, 7 young women, in the middle of the week.
To share lives together for a few hours on a Wednesday evening.

From many different backgrounds, but all at similar stages. Young women, finishing study or just out into the work force, without families or couple commitments. Press the button at the door, and the door buzzes open at the same time as a muffled "Hello?" is heard, because they know were coming. We all tend to turn up at the same time, call greetings up the stairs.

Settle down on the miss matched lounges, in the small flat in the inner West. Clearly furnished by parents extras and hand-me-downs from friends, the typical living of people just starting out.
Catching up on the week, laughter, friendly ribbing's, exasperated sighs about things we can't change.

They all drink tea, and I'm the odd one out with my glass of water. They discuss the different blends, allow the tea to seep in two tea pots, one green and the other with blue and white stripes. Someone pulls a sweet treat from their bag, baked if we're lucky, or bought if we ran out of time.

Then we settle down, pull books out of our bags. They all look different but contain the same ancient truths. Some books are small with creases and cracked leather that are falling apart, some have pieces of paper tucked in specific sections, one translation has Mandarin characters alongside the English words.

Heads bow for a moment as we open in prayer. Then the ancient but oh so relevant words are read and discussed. We ask big questions, and don't always have the answers. Opinions are tossed around the room, sometimes agreed with, sometimes puzzled looks follow a comment. We discover truths we hadn't realised before, or had forgotten for a while. Some of us have been reading this book since we came into this word, others didn't even know it existed until a few years ago.

We encourage, rebuke, teach, learn. Always seeking truth and Life.

We've been brought together, to this place, by the Author of this Book.

And He meets us there.

My Christmas; just thinking out loud

This year Christmas was different. There's a lot going on at the moment and so I felt like I was grabbing gifts at the last minute (and no time for being creative with pretty wrapping). Packing to come up to Mum and Dads was done over several nights at 10pm, the only time I could fit it in.

This year it was just the three of us, it happened that it was everyone's turn to be somewhere else this year. Dad wondered if we'd like to try something different, so the three of us went down to the local community centre to help at the free community Christmas lunch.

I was really keen to do it, but also a bit nervous. It wasn't anything I had done before and didn't quite know what to expect. The lunch was open to anyone who didn't have anywhere else to go, and wanted a nice Christmas lunch. I thought it would be a whole lot of people off the streets, and while there were a whole lot of people that clearly were doing it tough.
But there were also backpackers with heavy Swedish accents, families with kids, older couples dressed up in their Sunday best with no where to go.

I never consider myself to be wealthy. I can live well but I'm not rich by societies standards. Yet as I handed out turkey and beetroot (those were my dishes on the table) I was acutely aware of the nice jewellery I wore, my newly tinted hair, my presents waiting for me at home. Not that I would give them away but I was aware of the fact that there are people in my own backyard ( so to speak) who would see me as incredibly well off.

I wondered if I would feel pity, and I did. I wondered if that would make me feel self righteous for 'giving up' my Christmas to come help. I felt almost embarrassed serving these people; who am I to serve you? It almost felt awkward, like 'look at me, I'm such a good person helping you less fortunate people'.
Most of the people we served were lovely and appreciative (especially the elderly people, I wondered if they had family who couldn't come to see them, or if they were all alone) but some others gave me looks that made me more self conscious of the situation.

I think it was the kids that got to me the most (which is understandable). Did they get many gifts this Christmas? Did their parents do without to get them something? Did their parents feel embarrassed coming to one of these dinners? Or did they see it just as a free lunch to take advantage of? I kind of feel you have to be pretty isolated from most people to have no where else to go. I wanted to make up packs for them with colouring books and bubbles and a book to read. I wanted to do face painting.

At most parties and gatherings I often find myself ending up in the kitchen. I feel better when I have something useful to do with my hands, away from the crowds. As much as I wanted to sit and talk, I got shy and found myself in the kitchen, where there was a shortage of volunteers anyway, with a tea towel in my hand.
There's something calming for me about working quietly alongside like minded people. Moving the hundreds of plates and bowls through the dishwasher and drying, stacking, putting them away.

We came home and had a quiet afternoon, then had 'our' Christmas at night. It was yummy, but still quite low key compared to some years. I didn't miss all the trimmings. I missed the people, my brother and sister-in-law, Grandma, my Aunts, Uncles, Pa, cousins. When I daydream about having a large family one day, a tiny part is so one day I can have big Christmases like I remembered from when I was younger; when we would be back on furlough so Dad wasn't working Christmas day and we could go to where all the relatives were and have crazy big family gatherings. Now everyone is grown up and spread out far away.

I really liked today. We still could have the big crowds gathering even with just the 3 of us at home. I'd happily do it again. And I totally understand why if you were isolated you'd rather come to a big community lunch than sit at home across the table from no-one. But I'd also like to come home afterwards to a house full of people who I love, wear silly bon-bon hats, talk and laugh and be together.

For the Love of God

This year, the Bible reading plan I am following is the M'Cheyne Bible reading plan, devised by Robert Murray M'Cheyne in the early 19th Century. The idea is that you read through the Old Testament once and the New Testament and Psalms twice through the year.

I've started using my Bible app on my phone (I have YouVersion), which has it set up so you can select the reading plan you want and it will read it out. I like to listen to it on the way to work, I like that the app automatically moves onto the next reading, rather than needing me to manually search for the next chapter in the plan.

Then at night (inspired by an article about studing Gods word, not just reading it) I study one of the readings in more detail. I use my study Bible and Don Carsons book For The Love Of God (It's also posted daily on his blog) which takes one reading from the M'Chenyne plan each day and looks at it more closely (I can't remember if I've written about this book before or not, I've had both volume 1 and 2 for a few years and enjoy using them) .

So far I've found this really good. I like starting the day with the different readings, I hate to admit that I tend to skip over parts of chapters I find repeditive, but having the audio means I'm forced to actually hear all of the words. The more detailed study of one chapter is also good, because I have the ability to unpack it and think more deeply.

While the aim is to do it each day, I admit I've gotten a little behind already. But thats ok, I just pick up where I left off (ignoing the date at the top of the page) and keep going. Something like this forces me to read parts of the Bible I don't normally read, and over the year or so I will have read the whole Bible which will be a good overview.

New Year

I took myself away, for a retreat of sorts. Just me, my Bible, note book and laptop for a few hours of prayer, reflection and planning.
I found a little beach on a map and set the GPS. It was peaceful, I laid out a blanket under a tree, away from other people.

I read God's word and prayed.

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

Philippians 1:10-11

I reflected on the year that's been. From this position, looking back I can say it's been a good year; I've stuck to several resolutions, watched special people get married, merged churches, made good friends, got new flatmates. I made mistakes and learnt from them. I've had my downs but been able to recover from them. I've laughed and cried and lived.

I planned for the year ahead. There's that quote about a wasted life is an unplanned one, but I can't really remember it. It's too easy to be swept along with life and not plan out what we're doing. Then suddenly you realise you are not where you wanted and haven't done what you thought you would. Life happens whether you do it intentionally or not. I'd rather plan for an intentional life. I chose a Bible reading plan, rejigged my weekly schedule, worked out when I would plan times for everything I want to do and everything I have to do.

I wrote down goals, and prayed prayers about the dreams I'm too scared to put to paper just yet.

What a lovely view :)

It was a lovely time, and I came home refreshed and rejuvenated (and unfortunately, a little sun burnt). I didn't get all the planning done I wanted too as the sun was too bright to use the computer effectively so I wasn't able to work on some blog posts and menu plans, but that's ok. I got the idea from a guest post at Keeper of the Home and it's something I hope to continue as a tradition. It's a great way to get ready for the year ahead and commit it to God.

Hope you all had a lovely New Years!

It was a week ago that I sat in the Sydney entertainment centre with 10,000 other evangelical Christians to hear John Lennox and John Piper speak at One

The theme was 'one savior, one life, don't waste it.'


I went because I wanted to hear John Piper speak, but need up quite liking what John Lennox said as well.

I was challenged to think about what I am doing with my life; am I living it for God or just passing time?
It gave me alot to think about. It has prompted me to begin actually taking steps towards plans I've had in the back of my mind for a while.

Identity

At church on Sunday night we didn’t have many people so we ended up doing a Bible study thing rather than having a proper service.


We were looking at 1 Corinthians 9


Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings
(1 Corinthians 9:19-23)

Something that our minister said  was that Paul was willing to give up anything to be able to tell people about God. It occurred to me that Paul’s identity wasn’t in the way he dressed, what he wore, his culture, his friends, his family. His identity was in Christ, and Christ alone.
I wonder what my identity is in? Is it in things that don’t last? Which things would I be willing to give up to serve God? My dreams, my health, my way of life, my comforts?

Blood, sweat, tears

A couple of weeks ago I was the poorest i had ever been. My bank account was empty, I had to going through the bottom of all my handbags to get enough change for a train ticket.
But I did find enough change to get to uni. And I was able to improvise meals from things we had at home rather than go out and get groceries. And I knew that on Thursday I would be getting paid.

But it got me thinking about how grateful I should be that I have these things. I’m never going to starve. It was an eye opener for me to be living day to day knowing I had no money.

It was around this time that I started watching a series on ABC2 called Blood, Sweat and T-shirts about factories in 3rd world countries that produce the clothes that we wear. The idea was that they took young people from England to see the factories that made the clothes they loved to buy in chain stores and see if they could cope with working in a factory. Then there was a series called Blood, Sweat and Takeaway, which is the same premise but looking at the food industry. The first stop was a factory in Indonesia which canned tuna.

The girls in the English group gave part of their wages to the lady they stayed with – and she burst into tears because the equivalent of $1.50 meant that she could afford to get a bus to go and see her children; something she couldn’t afford to do very often. How sad to think she worked all week and couldn’t make enough to catch the bus to see her children.
It seems too awful to even consider living like that.

What kind of price do other people have to pay so that I can live the life I’m accustomed to?
And yet when I go the grocery shopping I agonise over every cent because I'm conscious that I'm on a budget. I go for the bag of flour that costs $1.20 rather than $2.30 because that $1.10 could be used to buy milk instead. But am I adding to the problem by buying the no-name brand? And how do I know if the more expensive brand treats its workers any better?

The world is a mixed up place. I don’t have any answers. Yet I think that at least thinking about it is the first step.

(photo credit)

Healthy Hospitality

At Equip Mum went to an elective on Hospitality – I decided to get double for my Money and read her notes. It looked like the hospitality seminar was really good, not just a reminder about why we should offer hospitality, but also practical tips.

One note that struck me in the booklet, was a reminder to cook healthy, low fat meals when having people over – the idea being that if you offer hospitality as often as you should then you could easily put weight on if you aren’t be careful about the food you serve. And it reminds you not to put off hospitality if you are trying to lose weight.

I have been trying to be a lot healthier in the last few weeks, but often when I have people over I think of it as a ‘free’ meal. But that’s not a good attitude to have.
Also I realised that if you serve up a healthy meal you are doing a double service to people you have over. If the people you have over are trying to lose weight they don’t have to feel bad about eating at your place.

So I’ve been thinking about how to have healthy hospitality, and here are my thoughts.

- Instead of having chips out to begin with, have chopped veggies and rice crackers and a low fat dip.

- It’s a good idea to have the meal self serve; it means you can control your portion size without making a big deal about it. If other guests want to eat less they can as well. (And the guys with huge appetites can fill up their plates)

- Have a huge green salad on the table; you can fill up your plate from that.

- Grill wherever possible – chicken, steak, kebabs are all good low fat options which can be easily cooked on mass.

- In the cooler months have a huge soup which is low fat; home made pumpkin or minestrone are good ideas.
Or make a casserole with heaps of veggies, and with both the casserole and pasta/rice self serve you can fill up on the veggies and have less of the carbs.

- Desert is tricky, but after a nice meal you don’t have to have anything big. Consider a nice fruit salad or a fruit crumble with a small scoop of low fat ice cream.

Do you have any other ideas for healthy hospitality?

Not the way I wanted

On Saturday Mum and I and a couple of ladies from church went to Equip. It was a really great day, I missed last years so I was eager to go this year.

The talks were from Esther, which is one of my favourite books in the Bible. (As a child I loved the books of Esther and Ruth, probably because they both were named after women - but now I love them for the stories of faith). Esther also proves somethings I've always believed firmly; "There's no such thing as coincidences, just God at work."

After the talks Nicole did a live 'blog post' with Ali. I ,of course, poked Mum and said - "hey I know her!" (which I don't really, but I do read her blog)

Ali said something which struck a cord with me that she had learnt from Esther. I can't remember exactly, but what I remember was something along these lines;
Sometimes we think that because we can't serve God the way we wanted to then we don't have to try - that God has gotten it wrong. Instead we should look for how God wants us to serve him in the life he has given us.

Some times I fall into that trap, I think 'Well God I was going to do this for you, but you didn't let it happen so that's a bit of a waste isn't it?' instead I should be saying 'So God, this is where you have placed me and I believe you have put me here for a reason. Please show me how I can serve you here.'

I imagine that when Esther was young she didn't plan on being married to the King who had her people in exile, having to wait until he called for her, and spending days in the harem with no (or little) access to her family. But God used her where he had placed her, though it mightn't have been what she expected.

Wanting to live outside the box

At church on Sunday our minister said something which caught my attention. During question time afterwards he expanded it a bit.

We talked about how we are physical beings, created to live in a physical world. And some of the problems we can encounter are exacerbated when we try to ignore this fact.

It was something that struck a cord with me. I've been withdrawing more and more each day, spending time in front of the computer or TV because it's safer there.

Why is it when I'm feeling listless, and bored I wander into the lounge room and turn on the TV rather than go outside for a walk?
Why do I feel the need to constantly multitask instead of taking the time to do things properly?
Why do I spend more time reading blogs of people I don't know than cultivating friendships with people I do know?
Why do I grab bites to eat, watching DVD's rather than take the time to prepare a nutritious meal and being thankful for what God has provided?

Don't get me wrong, I think the internet and TV and technology is great - lots of info and great way to expand my world. But I wonder if maybe I'm using it all to escape from the real world, trying to hide from things I don't want to have to face. Am I growing as a person, or am I dissolving away? Am I just trying to pass time until something better comes along?

I don't have the answers. And I'm not about to throw away my TV or computer. But I think I need to take a long hard look at how I'm spending the majority of my time and if it's really what is best for me.

Creatively work to transform it

At the camp book store I picked up Daughters of Islam by Miriam Adeney. Its a very informative read.

One paragraph caught my attention;

Christ calls us to be 'salt' in our societies. We are to remind the world continually that God is King. He reigns over nature since he created it and maintains it. So we care about deforestation. We care about water management. We care about public health - nutrition, immunization, family planning programs. In the same way God reigns over people since he created us and redeemed us. So we care about schools and jobs and national heritage.

Every country, every neighbourhood, desperately needs such citizens. People who neither condemn or condone their culture but creatively work to transform it. People who know that evil is powerful but that God is even greater. People who can look sin in the eye without losing sight of grace. People who can affirm that beyond every cross there is the possibility of resurrection.

(Miriam Adeney, Daughters of Islam, p.82, my emphasis)

In amongst the information about culture and customs, among the stories of real women and the real life they lead were these two paragraphs which took my attention and caused me to think. These paragraphs don't just apply to 'missionaries', but reminds Christians everywhere to be activiely working to bring Christ to all cultures.

Be quick to encourage

Last Sunday was the last Sunday School for the year. There was the annual 'report to the church about what we've been doing' segment during the service.

We also give a small gift to each child in our class.

I had finished the report on what the preschool class had done during the year, complete with photos on the big screen which made one of my little pupils beside herself with excitement.

As I gave each child their gift I thanked them especially for something that they bring to our class.

For example one little boy always makes sure that everyone has a seat at group time, and will always take peoples craft to them if they forget it, so I thanked him for 'being so kind and loving to everyone'.

The little girl who loved seeing her photo is the most happy little thing and will burst into song at any moment (and now she is beginning to talk, I can actually understand some of the words :) ) so I thanked her for 'bringing her happy, bubbly spirit to our class'.

It was a simple thing that I didn't think too much about after I'd given the talk, but the reaction I got from other people in the congregation was amazing. They were so happy to hear positive things about people in our church.

It made me wonder, are we more willing to share the bad with each other than the good? As a church do we complain so much more than we encourage?

It shouldn't be that way, we should be building one another up in love. We should be encouraging people in the little contributions they give to our church family.

It was a definite wake up call for me, to be more positive in the way I talk, and to be more proactive in my encouragement of those around me.

(As a side note, I'm spending Christmas with Mum and Dad, and have decided to spend a few extra days with them to recover from 'life'. While I'm up there I'm planning on taking a blog break, so I'll take the time now to wish everyone a Happy Christmas celebrating our Lords birth, and a fun New Year. I'll be back in 2009!)

(photo from sxc)

. . . comes before the fall

One of the things I struggle with the most is pride and self-righteousness. I am very good at believing I know best.

I'm also someone who (I think) looks at situations from lots of peoples points of view and is able to think about how each person would be affected.

And I also get emotional easily.

So when a decision is made which I believe is not right, when a decision leaves out the interests of many people, I get upset.

But how much of my getting upset is me wanting the best for everyone, and how much is me being full of pride and believing I know the best, and feeling hurt because my opinion wasn't considered?

(photo from sxc)

Warning

I use to be the kind of person who would fill up the car as soon as the dial hit quarter full. These days with the price of petrol I try to leave it for as long as possible. Now I only start looking for a petrol station when the fuel light comes on on the dash board.

Every time I see the light I am reminded of the time when my friends and I were just learning how to drive. My friend ran out of petrol one day in the middle of no where and had to be rescued by her Dad with a can of fuel.

"Didn't you see the warning light?' I asked.

"Yeah, but I thought it would start flashing or something to let me know I was really running out."

I laugh about that now, but I wonder how often we do that same thing in life. When we begin on the road to sin there is always a warning light telling us to stop and pay attention. But we ignore it, and think it's all okay. When we find ourselves in deep trouble we protest "But I didn't know it was that bad, I didn't see a flashing light."(or words to the equivalent)

We need to have our eyes and ears open to God warnings. Be willing to change the little things before we get caught up in sin.

But if you do warn the righteous man not to sin and he does not sin, he will surely live because he took warning. Ezekiel 3:21

photo from sxc

Go and Tell

Reading through the beginning of John's gospel I was struck again by how eager the disciples are to tell people about Christ.

First Andrew in Chapter 1 verse 41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, "We have found the Messiah" (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus.

Then Phillip in verse 45; Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."

Am I like that? Am I so excited about who God is, so sure that knowing him is what people need that I can't keep it in? That I drag people to meet him even if they are unsure (verse 46)?

Do I love it?

At church we were having a discussion about the idea of justification by faith alone, and thinking about times when it is implied that this isn't true. Someone mentioned that sometimes they felt that people say that to be saved we have to read the Bible everyday and if we don't then we arn't really a Christian. (This is one way of looking at it, of course someone who is a Christian should spend time in Gods word, and we should still even if we don't feel like it)

In answer to this Paul (one of our elders) said something really cool - I'll try and remember how he said it.

"We often turn good things that God gives us into obligations. If you don't read the Bible for a few days don't think that God is up in heaven angry and condemning us to hell, rather we have missed a wonderful opportunity to grow in our faith. Same with praying, if we don't do it we are actually denying ourselves the privilege of communicating with our God."



It was a way of looking at it that I hadn't thought about before. Before when I miss my quite times I beat myself up by saying things like "What kind of Christian are you? God must really hate me now." and then make myself do double what I normally do to make up for it.


When in fact God doesn't want me to spend time with him because I feel forced to, dragging my feet and hanging my head.

He wants me to love spending time with Him, He wants me to delight in what he is teaching me and to want to talk with Him.

photo courtesy of the bbp

How will I use my degree?

For a while I have been wondering what I will use my teaching degree for. The more I spend time with children and doing prac I realise I am more suited to working one-on-one with children or in small groups. I wonder how I will cope with a whole class.

My small Sunday school class, which is 5 children, is as large as I can teach comfortably. I had always said that I would like to work in Preschool but that is always because I don’t agree with the educational philosophy in most schools and I don’t want to work in child care.

What I would like to do is run small playgroups or MOPS type groups in a church especially to reach out to young mothers or new immigrants. Or I would like to be a house mother in missionary boarding school somewhere.

But these always seemed to be far fetched ideas, and not really careers. And unless God means for me to marry, I do need some way of supporting myself. (Unless my little business takes off and I can support myself through that a few days a week and spend the other days on Gods work. A girl can dream right?)

All these thoughts keep swirling around my mind while I sit day after day in class. Learning good and interesting things but wondering if it is worth while.
Then one day we had a visiting lecturer from the government who is a case worker for young children with disabilities. She works with the family; coordinating support, helping the family learn new skills, finding good day care and preschools. Even though it looked like hard work it looks like something I would be interested in doing.

And then at Bible study at church while I was talking with Felicity about what I had learnt, her husband (who works for Quiz Worx) stepped in and said that they had been thinking about creating an early childhood type Sunday school thing and he thinks I would might be able to help them with that after I graduate. (I teach their son in my toddler/preschool Sunday school class).

And it reminded me that in the back of my mind I have been toying with the idea of creating an easy English Sunday School curriculum that doesn’t require fancy equipment like paper and glue and stickers, (which we take for granted in our western churches, but which for many parts of the world are too expensive to be used without thought). I wanted to write a curriculum that could be easily translated to be used in Indigenous communities in the out back, or in the islands of a Certain Pacific Nation, or anywhere else it’s needed.

It was a lovely reminder that while I may not have the same aspirations as the other students beside me, He will be able to use my degree to serve Him in the future.