University of Cambridge, UK
No book, nor tutor will give us the education we need. We must patiently go through seasons of difficulty and temptation before we can understand what our brother or sister is facing. Furthermore, we must advance through different levels; sickness, injury, loss and discouragement. On top of this, we must be tutored in the language of affliction, till we speak it without an accent.
This is a strange school. We are watched and observed very closely to see what we will do. “Will he give $10 to the homeless man, or will he turn away like usual?” There are hundreds of millions of these scenarios that we get placed in. And often there are multiple “programs” running simultaneously. And we are always being evaluated in love.
There is a dark, deep valley that will test you to understand your limits. It is very advantageous for you to pass this way, because it lets you speak the dialect of suffering, with its mixture of pain and joy. When Lynn and I lost our daughter Elizabeth it was a deep, dark valley. But I came to see (understand) that in some obscure way now able to speak into the hearts of those who were lost in pain. I remember joking to Lynn about finally belonging to a club that had a secret handshake.
There are so many different classes in God’s strange university. You may be enrolled in Compassion 101, or Mercy 410. Oh, there is a school counselor available to all students that request Him. Also, we will do remarkably better if we will befriend others who are also enrolled. Worshipping and the Word are quite critical as we must keep our spirits clean and right.
“I know God will not give me anything I can’t handle. I just wish He didn’t trust me so much.”
–Mother Teresa
ybic, Bryan
You can read “My Story” at: http://brokenbelievers.com/my-story/
This is such a beautiful description of what life does seem to be like, learning to speak the language as you say, visiting the school counsellor when things get tough, sitting the tests and exams and making friends along the way. When I think about ‘university life’ it is a time when most people remember it as one of the best times of their lives, there is a sense of being cocooned away from the harshness of reality a time of preparation. I think that although our ‘faith walk’ can be seen in such a way, I do think it is more of an apprenticeship as it seems much more vocational than academic. What do you think?
I think that I agree. I suppose I am writing from what I understand, the academic and not the vocational. Both work quite well.