Grove City, Take One.

After 17 hours of driving, I have finally arrived. It has been two days since I first arrived, and everything has been better than I even expected. I am not sure what I thought I was getting myself into by comming here, but things seem to be even better than I had hoped. It feels so good to have the oppertuntiy to commit myself to the things that make me feel so alive and purposeful. Both academically and socially I have been given that oppertunity here. I am taking classes on The New Testament, Paul, the Book of Hebrews. That alone will be wonderful to finally study. Humerously enough, I have already been given the required reading of the New Testament... how funny is that. This is exactly what I needed, not only a commitment/reason/accountability to get into the word of God, but also to have individuals to examine it with. My Civilization professor wrote in his syllabus- "One mark of a civilized individual is participating in civilizing activites. In a very real sense, a scholar locked away in an ivory tower can be just as barbaric as the uneducated if the scholar refuses to actively support civic life." Even in the depths of their learning and theological studies, the professors too realize the importance of being a part of the community, not to just "help the community", but to become emmersed in its culture, and converse with its people, as they will shape you into a person of character. I just found that exciting.

My three bible classes (NT, Paul, and Hebrews) are all taught by the same professor, humerously enough in the same room. He got his doctrate in divinity from Princeton and has been teaching for the last 30 years at GCC. Aside from being a very funny and well-educated man, he also has shared with me a wonderful part of his character. At the end of his speach on the "purpose of his class", he would always add (in every class), a mini-speach similar to this: "Though it is perhaps useful to benchmark your intellectual,

That is what GCC has shown me here. I have been given the oppertunity to emmerse myself in the word and spirit of God. But beyond that, I have also been given two wonderful roomates, and a community of friends that will make this experience worth all the crap I went through to get here. Seriously, I could not have even dreamed of an oppertunity this great. Every day, I wake up excited about the day, and each day feels like 5, and yet I still dont have enough time to do everything I want to do. This will be a good semester.

That all being said, I have some final words about the future of this blog. Because there will be so much input both in conversation with other people, and my own personal studies, I am going to need an outlet. In years past I have used this oppertunity of a "blog" not only as an outlet, but also as an attempt to communicate absolute truth to other people. However, as of late, I have come to realize that as I learn and mature, my opinions to change slightly, however, I still like the outlet. So, that will be the future purpose of my blog- an outlet and transcriptions of my studies, conversations, and conclusions. If nothing else, so I can go back and see what I was studying, talking, and thinking about over the semester. Hopefully, to the three of you that read this, it will benefit you in some way, if nothing else, just get your brain and spirit spinning. I will try and avoid pointless arguments on here, because those just annoy me. Okay, here we go. :-)

Admits many conversation in the last 15 hours, something interesting has come up. Many people here, myself included are going through cycles and stages of "perfecting" their self before God. The thought itself makes perfect sense. It is not that we want or think we can be perfect, but we do want to tune ourselves and our relationships in such a way that God can flow through us day to day. We do not want to let the ominous "sin" obstructs us from the workings of God. But here is my thought. In the bible- God never seems to use those who were "perfect" or close to it (excluding Jesus, lol). David had his struggles with the flesh, as did Moses and Abraham. In the NT, Jesus did not call anyone from the church to be a disciple. He chose fisherman, tax-collectors... and usually normal/ dirty people. It seems to me that God is not looking for a pure body, but rather for a willing heart. I was talking to someone tonight about this, and he was wondering if he should go to seminary to be a pastor or to work in the church. I told him that if he felt so inclined, to do so. However, do no think that a lack of such study with limit the workings of God. The bigest movements of God we have recorded, was not through the educated and elite, but simply through those who had a heart for God and a heart for the people. David defeated Goliath not because he was so well skilled, but because he had the faith and audactiy to stand-up for God. Joseph was no great person, but he belived in his God above all else. Solomon was not given his kingdom because of the "blessings of God", but because he asked for the wisdom to rule the people correctly. He had a realtionships with God, and a desire to better the world around him. For anyone out there who is wanting a movement of God, please do not think you have to perfect yourself first. I am in strong agreeance that the movement of God in your life will be much more restricted by your faith being conditional on your own purifying actions than by the actual purification itself. Dont get me wrong, we should pursue God and a "pure" lifestyle. But it is not the fufillment of being sinless that moves the spirit of God. It is the faith in God that will allow the spirit to move. For what it is worth, just know, that God is not asking you to figure everything out, or to be totally prepared- in fact, I believe that God calls us to situations we cannont comprehend, nor solve on our own, because only then by faith and by the movement of God can things work out. I do not know what the will of God is for my life or yours, but I guaruntee it is beyond your own comprehension and my own. I also pray it is beyond your own capacity to complete/fufill- because only then can our purpose be fufilled, only then can we give Glory to God as He does the heavy lifting for us.

I am sorry if this doesnt make sense, or if you read all this and got nothing from it. Like I said, it is just an outlet. Have a wonderful day and thank you for your time.

-Zac