Summer is perfect this year at Logos
梁澤銘
This year, the summer at Logos will be perfect to me as I am graduating this summer. Praise the Lord for all the past guidance and provisions. Although I have been down in deep valleys and up on the hills several times the past four years, this summer is simply going to be perfect, sunny or cloudy.
In Chicago, there are a few good places I could have called home for my theology studies, and I chose to start off my degree pursuit at Logos in 2012 and finish it in four years, not only because it is academically sound with ATS-certified advanced degree curriculums, but also because it has a well-cultivated spiritual learning environment staffed with spirit-filled caring teachers, a supportive student/alumni body, and very helpful administrative staff. Even if It may not have a very large student body, world-class computer labs and libraries, or a spacious campus with scenic views, the spiritual atmosphere and God-loving people who work, serve or study there have more than enough to make up the differences.
If I was asked five years ago whether or not I would pursue an advanced degree in theology, I would most probably say that it was not something I thought I was able to accomplish or would dream about starting. Among the top reasons or excuses why I would not are that I was probably way past my prime time for picking up and learning a new discipline of study. Notwithstanding that I may still have some energy and motivation to go for it, I may probably not be able to afford any time and effort to go such a long learning ‘distance’. Looking back, a period of four-year to pursue this degree is like running a 100K marathon.
Yet, God’s way is higher and his plan is perfect. God did not only open the doors and pave the road for me, but also brought ‘angels’ from time to time in my life to encourage and help me especially during tough times of my life. During these four years of time, I have experienced obstacles and roadblocks, which could have taken me out of the course if God did not interfere and help. To name a few major life events, I lost my job, my wife had cancer, and then I lost my father to illness. Yet, these life events have become invaluable life lessons to equip me for future ministries. I now truly have something to talk about with people in distress or calamity and have ‘substance’ to comfortably say that I really know how he or she who has similar losses in life feels and to comfort them.
In reminiscence, God has in fact been walking by my side along the way. He has not left me and forsaken me. He has come with me in deep valleys and brought me up to hilltops. He has even shown me His ‘thousands of sheep’ that He owns and told me that He loves me. I do not think that my road ahead will be easier, but I believe God’s grace will always be sufficient for me. I thank God for my would-be alma mater Logos Evangelical Seminary and my family and friends within for the love and grace that I was given in order to become who I am now. My life has never been the same again with the education I received at Logos, and my time at Logos is one of the best times of my life.