It's Back to School time!

     When there is a slight chill in the air in early August, it has meant one thing to me for nearly 40 years; it's time to go back to school. This year, it really does mean back to school time for me as well. I have started on a doctoral degree in Educational Leadership from Bethel University in Minnesota. Most of the degree work will be online.  This summer I did my first residency in St. Paul, Minnesota to start the degree program.  Going back to live in a dorm room after 30 years of being out of a dorm room was quite an adjustment. The academic challenge of thinking about leading for the future of the church has been an area of interest to me for a number of years, so now I am officially pursuing another degree.  At night when I come in from a day of work with the church, and sometimes late in the evening after meetings, I still have homework. Going back to school has brought with it a lot of challenges.  Two nights ago as I sat down at the kitchen table under the brightest lights in the house to work, I still could not see the words clearly.  So the great search for the strongest pair of reading glasses in the house began. I had to lay aside my real glasses, and put on the stronger reading glasses to start on my homework.  My reality, I need new glasses in order to be able to read at night when my eyes are already tired. Yesterday, I went to the eye doctor to order new, stronger glasses that she had already prescribed. She told me I could try to get by with my old prescription as long as I could.  I figured out that if I have had to go buy a stronger pair of reading glasses from CVS just to be able to read to do my homework, I probably do need the new prescription.  Education is expensive.
     Spiritually, going back to school at the age of 47 to get another degree has been a life journey. I have always loved to learn, but I have not been at the place in my life to be able to start a degree for some time. One of the big spiritual questions I have had to address is why do I want to do this? Is it worth the money and the sacrifice it will cost me?  My faith based answer to those questions was not quick to come in the discernment process, but the answer did come. Peace came with the answer: do the degree because you can, even if you don't know where it will lead, God will take care of the future.  I have had to decide on my world view of life, and decide am I at a place of winding down, or winding up.  My choice is to wind up and to get all the education I can to make a difference for Christ in my community.  Somehow God has given my the understanding that lives deep inside of me that I can still make a difference. Borrowing a few words from Jeremiah Chapter 29, I believe we would call that a future with hope, and living into God's plans for us.
     So whatever the cool chill in the air of an early August morning may mean to you, for many it means going back to school. Our future is filled with possibility and with hope, new friends, new technology and stepping into whatever may be the plans God has in store for each of us. I am excited that God's plan for every person is to give us a future with hope, made possible through our Lord Jesus Christ.