My story starts back two years ago when I first arrived at Dallas Theological Seminary.

We had just finished our first week of classes when the school held a “ice cream social” for the whole campus. After dishing up a bowl full of ice and toppings I settled on a table that had about 3 girls and 3 guys. We ended up going around introducing ourselves (all happening to be first semester students) and why we were at seminary. After I shared my desire in mission to unreached people the girl two seats down said the same thing (I thought she was just trying to impress me). We found out we were in the same classes and started sitting only a row or two a part in most of them. Believe or not she ended up transferring to my Greek section the next semester allowing us to spend more time studying together. By the end of our first semester we were spending a lot of our free time together in groups or study lounges. The next semester (Spring of 09) we started officially “dating.” We dated a year, were engaged three months, and now have been happily married for a little over a month.

The seminary environment is a very interesting place to be in a relationship. There is the whole weird guy thing (geeks) and even the weird girl thing (those looking for husbands). However despite those things it’s a wonderful place to find a mate who is passionate about the same calling.

The greatest struggle we faced was that of balancing time. There is such much we are telling ourselves we have to do: church, classes, homework, studying, small groups, work, personal Bible study, eating, exercise, sleep, relationships, chapel…. and the list could go on forever. So many things yet so little time.

One struggle that arose from this issue was that when we were spending time together it wasn’t always profitable time. We were always tired our first semester (or two). As time went on we learned to say “no” to social activities and “yes” to rest and personal devotion.

A few other comments before finishing up:

1) Don’t let other people define the relationship for you (or force you into it.
2) Respect the fact that the girl still has a Dad. Just give him a call and ask to date her, she’ll respect you more and so will he.
3) Don’t be careless with your words.
4) Don’t make any hasty decisions (esp during midterms and finals).
5) Be quick to say “I’m sorry”
6) Share what your learning in class with one another.
7) Don’t JUST study together, get off campus and have fun.

I would write more but the sleep factor is calling me.

If you have any specific questions feel free to contact me.

Blessings,

Matthew

I, too am a MDiv student at Denver Seminary, and I am relatively new as I am only entering into my second semester. Already I can feel my devotional time slipping away, while the desire to just study God and not talk to Him rears its ugly head.

I have a few Seminary friends (both graduates and newbies like me) who cannot help but see The Bible as a textbook. That, or they cannot help but over-analyze Scripture instead of just reading it.

Being a relatively new Christian, I still find that reading The Bible for enjoyment is very difficult for me – it almost always feels like work, and it almost always feels a bit…well…dry if I’m honest. I’m not looking to Seminary to fill my devotional time, but I am keenly aware of the dangers of being a student first and a son of God second.

Thanks for your words.

-Dan Cross

But seriously, this was a costly problem for me; one that yielded little more than a dismal crop of wasted time, frantic attempts at recovery, and most often, despair.

Hope this helps someone. Tim Challies recommends it and–for what it’s worth–so do I.

http://www.challies.com/articles/leechblock-changed-my-life
http://www.proginosko.com/leechblock.html

I’ve done both of these, and have a mentor from the association, and the support of my board of deacons, as I move through seminary. I’m also very active in my church.

Well, I didn’t find an e-mail address or comment form, so I’m responding to this entry (since the other entry I tried didn’t sem to be accepting comments – I may be wrong on this).

You might consider creating a page on Facebook. Doing so will allow seminarians to share the link to the site with their networks (read classmates), and you can also have Facebook import notes from your RSS feed. Those notes will appear on the Facebook page and in the news feeds of people who fanlike your page.

I agreed with him about the challenges of proper interpretation, but then I asked him, “You mean to tell me that Farmer Jones out in East Texas can’t sit down with his Bible and his morning coffee, pray that God will speak to him through it and expect reliably to hear from God?”

He said, “No, that’s not possible.”

He went on to say that God could speak just as well through the “funnies” in the newspaper as he could through the Bible.

Wow indeed. It is true that going to the Bible with good intentions does not always result hearing or understanding the Word of God, and I agree with him that God can certainly Speak to anyone through any medium. But, obviously, any medium would have to include…THE BIBLE. With or without “acceptable” exegesis. Sheesh!

And, please don’t deign to tell me that my manner of loving God is not as good as yours, or not what I should be doing. Don’t you dare tell me that. I don’t care if you’re a minister in a church I attend, or some other congregation or denomination. You’re confusing Faith with Religion. That is a huge difference, and a huge misinterpretation which causes a lot of turmoil in people’s lives.