Dreaming

So last night I tossed and turned in my bed because I had an unsettling dream – I was at the first day of class at London Theological Seminary where I’ll be studying this fall.

I walked into class, and while there was a sense of excitement, the day turned into confusion, disappointment, and embarrassment. Multiple professors were teaching at a time - one was asking me questions about the Hebrew language, one was giving a pop quiz, and the other was introducing himself to me and laughing amicably.  The students (mostly young, college-age Americans) were talking to each other non-stop and not paying attention, how rude! (Stephanie Tanner, Full House reference…anybody?) On top of that, my girls rushed in and knocked over rows of chairs! It was a crazy dream!

However, tonight (back to real life) while hanging out with friends, I was asked what I was most excited about LTS. I answered, “Getting to study and live within an international community.”

From my time visiting the campus last year, researching online (ltslondon.org), and emailing with the staff, I know that God is preparing quite the opposite of my chaotic dream. Men from around the world come to LTS because they are serious about being trained for gospel ministry as a pastor.  Here is a picture from LTS’ recent graduation ceremony.

Some of these men are graduating and moving on, and some of these men will be my classmates and professors. I was excited to find out the countries that will be represented in the seminary this upcoming fall will be UK, Switzerland, Nigeria, Cameroon, South Africa, Poland, Netherlands, Cyprus, Germany, Kenya, India, and USA (potentially a few more) - WOW! Kim and I cannot wait to be a part of this international community, and we will be the only ones from America. Crazy, huh? God truly will stretch and grow us as we are a part of such a unique body of believers, the Church!

All of our professors will be theologically astute and will have years of pastoral experience. Hopefully only one will teach at a time. I have met a few of them and cannot wait to study the Bible under their guidance and see how deep the rabbit hole goes (Morpheus, Matrix reference…anybody?)

As for the last part of my dream, there is a decent chance that my girls will come barging in during class – we just found out our flat will be in the same building, one floor up from where our classes meet!! We are really looking forward to getting to know the other families – I’m sure our girls will make friends quickly (Lord, may it be so)!

Here’s hoping my dreams will be better tonight (probably not, I ate a TON of chocolate today!)

Robert