I ran into an old friend up at Bethel last week. He was there on a campus visit, and is starting in the InMinistry program in the fall. This guy was the man in high school and college -- the guy everyone knew, top student, class president...you name it, he was it. He was also a great friend of mine all through the most formative years of my life; we spent a lot of time together in both high school and later at UNI. We lost touch as I left school for a time and he continued, then as I came back and got married, and he went deeper into ministry and eventually moving away. It was really odd to see him at Bethel, honestly; we had a good laugh at the oddness of bumping into him on a Thursday afternoon in St. Paul, and I'm excited to see him around in the summer.

The strange thing for me occured on my walk with Bria tonight. As I look back, if you had to pick a kid from our youth group and graduating class to go to seminary and end up serving the church and Jesus forever, I would have been last one chosen. Now, looking back, I know God laid a calling on me a long time ago. This is what I was made to do. It may have been difficult for some to see it then (maybe even for some to see it now), but I wear the badge of student and servant proudly. A large part of this is that back then, I did not know me at all. He had some serious refining to do to prepare me for this leg of the journey; and I'm SO glad He took His time. From where I stand now, I think maybe I was one of the ones destined for this, even if those in my hometown didn't see it back then.