Pilgrim Soldier

Firstly thanks to those who left a comment on the last post, and for anyone else who was praying over the weekend. I felt so confident and relaxed that it can only have been due to the prayer support I had!

Friday:

Well I’m sat here in my room at Sunbury Court at 9:24pm having already been through the first 2 of 6 interviews. I’m not going to go into details of those, but in a strange way I have enjoyed them.

The enormity of what this weekend about hit me in a very real way during the introductory meeting this afternoon. On the stereo a new arrangement of the old song, I’m in His hands (Thank you Mr Laeger!), was played and it hit me so hard that it took half the song before I realised that there was a presentation on the screen that went along with the music. God was clearly saying to me that this weekend, and always, I am in His hands and that I can trust Him totally. There is nothing at all to worry about as He is with me.

Saturday morning:

One 750 word project down, one to go and it’s not even 8am yet. I won’t go into details but it is so clear from my projects over the weekend it is once again so evident that God is in this process with me. All I can say (just in case someone else going on an Assessment COnference later reads this) is that everyone gets a different set of projects and if I could have chosen what I got, these are the ones I would have chosen! Hallelujah! Worship, Emerging Church and for group work a Church Plant. God is so good!

Morning prayers were also a highlight for me this morning. While I was working for the Anglican Church for 4 years I gained a real appreciation for set liturgical worship. This morning,

Saturday evening:

Well the really tough bits are all over now! Had 4 more interviews today and feel really good about all of them. I’m more sure of what is going to happen when I get to college in September than I was before. Having to talk about my calling in the interviews has made me more sure of it than ever, because now I’ve talked about it to people I’d never met before this weekend.

The other 10 candidates for either officership or lieutenancy are a wonderful group. For those of us who will be in college together in September I can begin to see why the relationships between session mates are so strong. We’ve been through the fire of testing together and the Lord has forged a group out of individuals.

Before arriving I had to complete what is known a psychometric test based on sets of words. This evening before our fellowship meeting I was shown the results and it is almost unbelieveable how much it is me. In fact its so me that it is a bit unnerving that it is so accurate!

Sunday:

The only really taxing thing this morning was the discussion groups. Most of the questions up for discussion were relevant due to UK news, and with a Croatian/Swede from Latvia, a Brit from Latvia and a Dutch/Dane in a group of 5 it made for an interesting discussion.

We finished with worship and fellowship. It’s amazing that this weekend has only been a couple of days yet the relationships forming are already making an impact. God willing, I will be spending two years of my life together with 6 of these people. I can begin to understand why officers have such fond memories and strong relationships with others in their session.

So now its all over and the waiting begins.