Using a Sony W580i to the Glory of God

Seminary is often a tight squeeze for the wallet. It is an especially tight squeeze for those of us who are married and have children. When Charlee and I came to seminary, we thought we would be paying $370 a month for a one bedroom apartment with the utility bill of a one bedroom apartment. When God blessed us with Amelie, we found out we would be paying $520 a month for a two bedroom apartment with the utility bill of a two bedroom apartment.

My wife and I have literally sat down with other couples and asked, "We are not trying to pry, but you have more kids than we do, you work part time, and you're both taking classes. How do you do it?" We looked at each other and laughed the first time someone asked us how in the world we made ends meet with a child while attending seminary. The truth is that I have no idea. I have thrown up my hands in frustration so many times and have often wondered allowed, "When they say you need only Jesus to be in ministry, do they mean you need only Jesus, or do they mean you need Jesus and a bank roll?" Times have definitely been tight for us. We've missed out on a lot to be here in New Orleans. We have watched family and friends take vacation after vacation. Everyone I know has an iPhone, and I'm stuck with this thing (nevermind that I've been an Apple fan boy since highschool).

I'm not complaining here. In fact it's quite the opposite. All the vacations and shiny Apple products in the world are trash compared to the greatness of being here in New Orleans with my wife and daughter on this grand adventure knowing God deeply as he moves us one step closer to the kingdom every day. I don't need shiny stuff. I need Jesus. I seek first the Kingdom of God (often stumbling along the way), and he has been there with us all along the way providing for us at just the right moment. I'm not going to come along and say that if you follow God he'll bless you with stuff. He might not. In fact, it will probably cost you some stuff to follow him. But I contend that I am more content to worship God living in a cardboard box than to be without him in a mansion made of iPhones. Every blessing we have had in seminary has come straight from his hand at just the right moment. Go to seminary for more than five seconds and you will discover that very little of your training and honing for ministry comes while sitting in a desk.

If you are called to be trained for ministry, hang in there. And when you wonder how in the world you will make it when others have stores of cash and you come from nothing, remember that God is the provider of us all. If he has called you, then he will call upon people to bless you. He has called upon ministry minded people to create seminary scholarships for people in just your situation. You seek first the kingdom and his righteousness and let him worry about paying the light bill or the tuition invoice.