Caleb Dart Brown

Yesterday was full of all sorts of excitement-- most all of it revolving around the birth of my nephew, Caleb Dart Brown!  What a precious picture of life....

Spurgeon's Bible

Being at Southern Seminary has opened up doors for all sorts of unique opportunities.  Two weeks ago, I was assigned to do a speech on some aspect of Southern Seminary.  I decided to do mine on a few of the items that were owned by Charles Spurgeon that the seminary now has possession of.  One of these items is the Bible that he used from 1856 to his death, in 1892.  I was in the Archives room admiring the Bible, which is on display under a glass case.  The man who works in the room saw my fascination with the Bible, and offered to let me change the passage that the Bible was turned to on the first of March.  So, on March 1st, I was in the archives room, practically trembling with excitement at getting to touch and feel the pages of Charles Spurgeon's Bible.

Here are some pictures from that day!

 This picture is the front page of the Bible.  It reads:

“The lamp of my study.

  The light is bright as ever. 1861.

  O that mine eyes were more opened. 1864.

  Being worn to pieces rebound 1870. The lantern mended and

  the light as joyous to mine eyes as ever.”

In the handwriting of his eldest son, Charles Spurgeon:

“Came into my possession on the death of my dear Mother who wrote ‘The Bible -- father’s constantly used Bible, must be for the elder son, to be ever kept with reverent love as a most precious possession. How often my husband’s dear hands have turned these pages! How often his heart burned within him, as he read this sacred volume and prayed and pondered over its pages!’ Incalculably precious to me for father’s sake but even more so for its own.”

October 22, 1903

Charles Spurgeon

Oh, isn't is just a beautiful inscription?  It is such a good reminder that the only reason Charles Spurgeon was who he was is because of the living and true Word of God.  What an encouragement to us!  Shouldn't we hold so fiercely onto the Scriptures as well?  Shouldn't we feel that the Word is "the lamp of our study," and "the light as joyous to our eyes as ever."?  Shouldn't we long that our eyes were more opened to the truth?  

And then, reflect on what Charles' wife says about this Bible-- "How often my husband's dear hands have turned these pages!  How often his heart burned within him, as he read this sacred volume and prayed and pondered over its pages!"  When I die, would that my loved ones would be able to give this testimony about how desperately I relied on the Word of God!

 Here is my hand, touching the Bible.  Yes, I really did touch it.  :-)

This is another page from the beginning of the Bible, showing a small picture of the notes system that Spurgeon used throughout his ministry.  Numbers and letters line the margins of his Bible, corresponding to Scripture references and topics in his sermons.  (I apologize for the sidewaysness of this picture; I couldn't figure out how to turn it.)

 Here is ME with the whole Bible!  I got to change the passage from a chapter in Job to 2 Corinthians 4.

 The Bible was in good condition.  The pages were thick, and slightly brittle-feeling.  There were a good deal of markings and notes in the margins, but less underlining.  Interestingly enough, the Song of Solomon was almost completely underlined, with many notes-- the most marked up book in the Bible by far.

 Here are just a few up close snapshots of the text in 2 Corinthians.

 Just a few more interesting tid-bits on how the Seminary got the Bible:
The paragraph below, in quotes, is what the Archives room has written about the Bible.

"When Dr. Ellis A. Fuller was in England during the summer of 1948, he observed this Bible on one of the public reading desks at Spurgeon’s College. After Dr. Fuller left England, in October of the same year, the Bible was sent to him by G.W. Harte, Secretary of Spurgeon’s College, for the Seminary’s special collections."

However, what they do not include for everyone to read about, is a incident that took place while Dr. Fuller was visiting the Metropolitan Tabernacle.  Apparently, Dr. Fuller asked the people from Spurgeon's college if he could have the columns (if you haven't seen a picture of the Tabernacle, it is adorned with large stone columns in the front) from the Tabernacle to put on the chapel that was being constructed at Southern Seminary.  (The Tabernacle had been pretty much destroyed by the Germans in 1941, so it was probably under construction in 1948....).  Not surprisingly, the officials at Spurgeon's college were not about to give the columns (or the remnants of them) of the Tabernacle to Fuller, but when Fuller returned home, they then sent him Spurgeon's Bible.  

This was a story that has been passed down by word of mouth, as far as I know, so the accuracy is probably not 100%.  The gentleman from the archives room did not have the story on paper... it was just told to him at some point-- he told it to me, and now, I'm telling it to you! 

This last picture is just an interesting one of a piece of stone from the tomb of Spurgeon.  I was telling one of my professors about having the opportunity to touch the Bible, and he brought this jar down.  His sister visited London and got this chip of the tomb (which had already fallen off!).

So, those are my dealings with things related to Charles Spurgeon.  I have been blessed by reading many of his writings, and even just hearing about his life of faithfulness lived before God.  May Spurgeon's life be not an idol to us, but rather a testimony of what God can do by the power of the Holy Spirit through the lives of poor and wretched human beings such as us.

Psalm 119:1-8

Blessed are those whose way is blameless,

who walk in the law of the Lord!

Blessed are those who keep his testimonies,

who seek him with their whole heart,

who also do no wrong,

but walk in his ways!

You have commanded your precepts

to be kept diligently.

Oh that my ways may be steadfast

in keeping your statutes!

Then I shall not be put to shame,

having my eyes fixed on all your commandments.

I will praise you with an upright heart,

when I learn your righteous rules.

I will keep your statutes;

do not utterly forsake me!

Glimpses

After kindly having been reminded by my mother that I did have a blog, and then receiving an e-mail from my younger cousin telling me that I needed to write on my blog, I am now taking the time to write.  I haven't gotten used to this whole blogging thing yet-- I apologize (although I hardly think that any of you where sitting by your computers waiting with eager expectation for a new post...).
However, it is awesome to be able to sit here and testify to God's faithfulness in my life over the past few weeks.  When I first got here it seemed impossible that I would ever find friends and fit in, and yet, here I sit, feeling so content in my life here at Boyce College.  Part of this is due to the fact that God has provided me with some good friendships, but the other part is that God has given me such peace in Him alone.  He is teaching me to find satisfaction in Christ alone, and not my surroundings.  This sort of peace cannot be underestimated-- as Paul says, "And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body."(Col. 3:15)

I titled this blog "glimpses," because I wanted to give you a glimpse of my life here, since obviously I don't have time to recount the last three weeks for you.  So here goes...
First ::  School.  It's going really well.  I have a Great Books course, which consists of reading secular classics and then having deep philosophical discussions about the ideas and worldviews portrayed by the writer.  Just a few of the things I've been working on in school are a few papers, a few speeches, two tests, a Scripture memory assignment, meditation of Colossians, and hundreds and pages of READING. There is always more reading to be done....

Second :: Seminary Chapel.  This is one of the most enjoyable things to take part in.  Every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 10:00, there is seminary chapel, which is basically like a church service.  It takes place in the Alumni chapel, which is a chapel built like a miniature version of First Baptist Atlanta.  It is a beautiful building, and has great acoustics-- an awesome place to worship in.  We have singing/worship time first, and then we have a speaker, usually a well-known pastor, or another highly esteemed Christian man.  A few weeks ago C.J. Mahaney was here to speak.  On this day I was standing by the door, waiting to go into the sanctuary, when the door opened and in walked C.J. Mahaney!  I said, "Hi!  Welcome to Southern!"  And he replied something to the extent of "Hi!  How are you doing?/It's good to be here!" So... ladies and gentlemen, I have gotten to talk to C.J. Mahaney, face to face.  Here are a few snapshots from chapel:

 This is a picture of Al Mohler speaking on the first day of chapel.

Here is C.J.!  I'm up in the balcony, so this is a view of the main sanctuary.
Seminary chapel is always so refreshing.  It is always such a privilege to be able to take part in a worship service twice a week.  I am so grateful for this unique opportunity!  Something I will only probably be able to experience here in these few seasons while in school....

Third ::  Out of class/Studying time.

 I was reading on the patio the other night, and this is the beautiful view I was looking at.

This is another view of the building that I spend a lot of time in.  There are no classes held here, but this is where the coffee shop called Founders is located, as well as the cafeteria, the rec center and lots of study spaces are!  (This building also has a lot of classrooms for the seminarians.)

Fourth ::  Babysitting.  God has been so gracious to provide me with a few babysitting jobs.  I was praying about whether or not I should get a job or if I should just make money by babysitting.  God answered that decision by connecting me with a few families that will want me to babysit for them.  So grateful!
Oh, and this picture is not really related, but at one of the families houses that I was babysitting at, the mom had made this wreath for above her fireplace.  I'd like to attempt to make one eventually.

 It is made out of book pages... super cool!

That's all for RIGHT now, but I'm about to make another post, because my next topic/news deserves a post of its own.

Snow.... finally!

After many different forecasts for snow (non of which actually resulted IN snow), tonight it finally started to snow... and stick!  It has actually been raining ice and snow all day, but it didn't start sticking until dinnertime.  Everyone here is groaning and complaining about it, but I am loving it.  Literally.  I just took a walk around the campus, just so I could feel the snow on my face.  It is so beautiful.  A gift from God, I believe.

One of my friends, Leslie, trying to act excited about the snow.  :-)

With one voice, glorifying Him.

This morning I went to church at Immanuel Baptist Church.  It was such a good day of worship.  I have been surprised at how much I've missed the community of being with the unified body of Christ.  This church has recently changed its structure, so that there is about an hour of prayer before the worship service, as opposed to Sunday school.  I attended the prayer service first, which was just a small gathering of about 20 people.  We prayed for missionaries, the continent of Europe, and the leadership of the church.  It was set up very nicely, where one of the elders was introducing each topic and corresponding specifics, and then getting volunteers to pray for each one.  It was so encouraging.  As we prayed for the missionaries, and even the continent of Europe, it was so evident that there is such a global need for the gospel.  Putting my small Christian life into perspective is so eye-opening.  There are so many people in desperate need of the gospel, and yet, we are not in competition with the other "religions" of the world, for Christ has already won the victory.

The worship service was also incredibly encouraging.  All the music was similar to Grace Heritage, so it was nice to worship with songs I was already familiar with.  The pastor preached on 1 Corinthians 1:10-17, about the importance of the unity of those within the church.  It was ironic, because that is so much what I've been needing.  Even though I didn't know anyone during the service, it was so encouraging to feel unified with them, just knowing we all partook in the blood of Christ, that we all were clothed in the righteousness of Christ, that we all were seeking to live lives for the glory of God.  The sermon was actually more focused on telling the members to be of the same mind with others-- a very good and needed point indeed.

One of the biggest prayer concerns for me right now is that I'll be able to get connected with other believers.  I would be very thankful if you would lift this up before the Lord for me.  I am going to try and go to a Care Group from this church this week, and possibly attend the ladies Bible study on Wednesday.  I am also finding that it is harder to have deep relationships with people at school than I thought-- perhaps this is because of my lack of effort, though.  

I pray that everyone is having a good day of worship.... "God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." 1 Corinthians 1:9

My Room!

Here are the picture of my dorm room... finally! 

 My bed and dresser...

 The sitting area... (the door you see is to the closet).

 My desk.  The bright colored paper you see behind my desk is actually my roommate Amanda's.

 Close-up of the reading nook.  The view from our window is amazing.  I'll have to get a picture of it when it is light outside. 

 The corner wall between my bed and the reading nook. 

 This is Amanda's side of the room.  (The reading nook is full of her stuff as well... don't worry... I'm not hogging ALL the space. :-P)

Close up of the pictures above my bed.

I hope you enjoyed seeing my "this semester" room!  

Start at the very beginning...

...a very good place to start.  Before I left for school I told a few people that I'd update them on how things were going- what God was teaching me, how I was being challenged, what fun I was having, etc.  I decided to take the easy way out and just create a blog, so that I won't clutter your inbox with an e-mail unless you absolutely CHOOSE for me too, and to avoid leaving out one or two important people from my e-mail list.  So, here goes! I'll start with a very brief overview of the week, and then try and stay up to date with weekly posts after that.

I arrived in Louisville, Kentucky on the 21st of January, in my little Hyundai Accent, loaded full of all my important belongings, me and my sweet mom (with Dad trailing in the truck).  We got things unloaded/somewhat unpacked, and then headed into a weekend of Boyce College orientation.  Fast forwarding until Saturday morning, when my parents left, then to Saturday afternoon, where there was end of orientation, and then finally to Sunday morning, when I was able to visit a church. 

I choose to visit a newer church called Crossing, which is part of the Acts 29 network of churches (headed by Mark Driscoll).  It was practically much different from Grace Heritage, but foundationally and theologically very much the same.  I might visit one or two more churches, but honestly, I am very interested in seeing the way that Crossing operates as a body of Christ.  I am praying for good opportunities to serve, and good fellowship as well.  We will see where the Lord directs me!

My first week of classes went very well, although there was a slight diversion created with a mixup of class schedules and types.  So actually, classes only went well after I got my schedule sorted out.  I think it is going to be a good semester.  I am taking 15 hours, which includes: Advanced Public Speaking, Great Books Seminar I, Introduction to Psychology, Spiritual Life Dynamics, and Baptist History.  They are all interesting subjects, and I am excited to learn more about each.

My second week of classes has been tainted by some sickness that I came down with on Friday (28th) night.  I was in bed almost all day Saturday and Sunday, and part of Monday.  I've had flu-like symptoms, but never run a temperature.  Now I just have a bad cold, and am a little dizzy and my vision is a little disoriented.  The intensity of the sickness really varies, but it hasn't gone away completely yet.  I'm hoping to be well by tomorrow morning... but is that wishful thinking?