Rainy October

The rain is here to stay. After almost a month of sun and warm weather the temperature has dropped and the sun is on vacation. The Swedes told me that to have that amount of sun was strange, and I guess they know what they were talking about. Hopefully snow is on the way.

It is a lot harder to blog about what I am learning when I don't have set questions to answer, but there is also a certain liberty in it. Despite the long hours at study, I still have time to be challenged by the Scriptures. The greatest are would have to be regarding my character. So much of what we have read (gospels and epistles) has been referenced to Christian character. As it stands, we have read Philemon, Titus, Ephesians, Mark, Luke, Acts and just stared our work on Galatians.
Starting with the epistles, we looked at the whom it was going to, what was the church like, what were they struggling with. It is funny how some problems transcend time. It is always one thing to find a character flaw, and understand what it means to change, the true difficulty comes in trying to implement it. I am in for the long haul when it comes to finding the flaws during my nine months here, and an even longer journey to apply it to my life.

I am happy to say that I am growing in my ability to focus on a single task and have noticed an increase in discipline regarding my studies. Hooray!

What has struck me the most throughout my time here so far, is the solid biblical teachings I grew up with both in school and church. It has been great to be able to draw upon the accurate teachings of the past and I am so thankful for all my teachers and pastors who dedicated themselves to unlocking the truth in God's word so as to not lead people astray. That is simply wonderful. It is nice to know that I haven't grown up surrounded by heretics, haha.

Myself and a couple of classmates are hoping to take advantage of a long weekend coming up to make a trip into Gotëborg for a few days. It will be nice to get off campus and explore Sweden. If it pans out, there will definitely be some pictures and stories to share.

Nose to the Grindstone

Three weeks have come and gone in the blink of an eye. In this time, I have adjusted to a new normal. The new car smell is gone and it now smells like spilt coffee and that one time the dog climbed in all wet and muddy. It is comfortably mine now.

I am pleased to report that everyone at Restenäs is simply wonderful and there is no shortage of people to spend time with. Unfortunately, I don't have too much free time to hang out with people outside of the SBS. That is a much easier reality to cope with considering how awesome my fellow classmates and staff are.

I don’t think I have ever worked harder in my entire life since starting the SBS. At the same time, I don’t think I have ever enjoyed doing something this much. It has been wonderful to work as a group, to see how we all read the same words, but are all drawn to different parts of the text. I think it show the timelessness of God’s word. To have six different people, from six different backgrounds read the same bible and be influenced in six different ways. Not to say that we are all interpreting it differently, but we discover different things that are relevant to us in the here and now. That is an exciting thought, as it means that in five years, I can go back to a passage of the Word and read it in a new way, and find a new application based on how I have changed and grown. It is amusing, how only three weeks into the SBS, that everyone has been challenged to change based on something they discovered.

As amazing as this time is going to be, it will also be challenging. Most of our time is spent in the classroom. We study six days a week for approximately 10 hours a day. Not only are we going to be challenged spiritually, but also in our time-management and commitment to the long hours of study. This brings to light the importance of us (meaning the students) working together to encourage one another. Bible study is great, but studying the Bible with others is even better.

I wouldn't be honest if I said I didn't have doubts about my purpose here. God has shown me a glimpse of what may la
y beyond my time in SBS. That has given me drive to complete my assignments well and on-time. I don't feel like I am ready to share where the Lord is leading me after my SBS, but I would ask you to join me in my prayer for confirmation that what has been revealed to me was truly from the Lord that that it where I am to go. 

First Impressions and Fika

With the first week of class behind me, I suppose now is a wonderful time to reflect upon all the events that have transpired; before the weeks start to blur together as they often do during school.

It has been an exciting week here at Restenäs. After a quiet beginning, the base is teeming with staff and students. There are four schools currently running during Term 1. In addition to the SBS, there is a Frontier DTS, a Counselling School, and English as a Second Language. The total count for students is approximately 50, which is a significant change from my time with YWAM Iceland, which was a single school featuring 6 students. It has been a whirlwind of names both remembered and forgotten. There are numerous nationalities represented on base. It is always exciting to compare culture to find similarities and differences.

Let me tell you about something wonderful from Swedish culture: FIKA

Fika, in its most basic form, is coffee time. But it is much more than a simple coffee time. It is a time to gather together with friends, family, or work colleagues and enjoy a short time together over a cup of coffee and share in each other's company. For Restenäs, this comes at 10:30 where staff and students gather in the dinning hall for some coffee, tea and a small snack. Fika has been described to me as an important part of Swedish culture. Everybody should Fika! (It is also an amazing thing as it can be used as both a noun and a verb!)

Let me give you the briefest overview of how we study the Bible in SBS.

The process that we use for studying the Bible is long and fantastic and would take too much time to explain. That being said, it is worth taking a few sentences to give you a glimpse into how I shall be spending my study time in beautiful Sweden. 

We are using the Inductive Method which can be summed up in three 'simple' steps:

1) Observation: what does the text say?

2) Interpretation: what did this mean to the original reader?

3) Application: how can I apply this today?

Each steps is a building block in the understanding of that passage. It is exciting to watch all the different pieces of our study method come together to form Timeless Truths that are applicable to our life. That is the goal of our study, to make the Bible relevant in the 21st century.

It is going to be an exciting and challenging time of study. I have no idea what I am going to discover about myself and the world through SBS these upcoming months. As I dig deeper into my own character there are sure to be areas of my life that could use a serious overhaul. The prospect of coming across shortfalls makes me feel uncomfortable. I wouldn't say I am afraid of what I might find, but I don't think I will be mentally prepared for it; who could be? Thankfully, God is full of grace, so if I stubbornly refuse to change immediately, he will wait for me to come around. Which, if I continue to dig deeper in his word and actively reflect upon it, shouldn't take too long.
Just as it was wonderful to set aside six months on my DTS just for God, so it is with SBS (9 months this time). But now to look ahead for a brief moment. When I reflect back to this past spring, coming home from DTS was tough because I was not sure how to take my experiences home with me and apply them. Some of what I learned, and some aspects of how I changed remained in Iceland. The tricky part seems to be taking your experiences and changes to a place where if there have been changes, are smaller or in different spheres (if that makes sense). Thinking about areas of change is a very do-able exercise. The struggle arises when there is opportunity to put it into practice. Sometimes I see the opportunities and wave as they pass by, other times I miss them completely. It would seem as though this will be an ongoing struggle and something that will may never be truly conquered.

This post took an unexpected turn as I wrote these past sections. I think a great method of writing comes  when the words simply flow from your mind to the page (or keyboard) without being checked. I think that authenticity as Christians is important, albeit difficult. There is a terrifying aspect to being open and honest, but something liberating as well. I felt like Mark Twain writing The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. This post started out so fun, but halfway through I realized how serious it had become and I simply couldn't abandon what I had written, to reset the tone.

I would ask that you to remember me in your prayers this week, to specifically ask God to soften my heart to new ideas and to be willing to open up to those around me. To not have a fear of man, but a fear of God (another ongoing battle). Also, please pray that I would be attentive to the voice of God and his plan in my life.