Grateful

Five years ago Stacey and I rented a 17-foot Penske and drove out from Connecticut to St. Louis to prepare for the pastorate at Covenant Seminary. I was 23 years old and one year into marriage, with no kids. Tomorrow we leave--28, 6 years of marriage, and a 10-month old boy.

How do you capture with words the happy tears of the soul? I become very emotional when I reflect on the Lord's mercy in giving me these years here. I do not understand the gospel perfectly today. But I believe I understand it better than if I had gone anywhere else for seminary. It has given me a foundation from which I will draw the rest of my life, God sustaining. I am profoundly grateful. What a wonder of grace for a persistently hell-deserving sinner.

God has showered me with kindnesses and taught me many critical lessons here. When the storms come in the decades ahead, these five years will doubtless prove to be a stabilizing force again and again, keeping me upright.