We Do Not Journey Alone

Summer has arrived at Garrett-Evangelical and my first year of seminary is (finally) complete. Eight months ago, I stepped onto Garrett-Evangelical’s campus a young, naïve, first year seminarian and now I wake up as a second year seminarian. It is quite the feeling to wake up in the morning and realize you don’t have to be in class, you don’t need to do 100 pages worth of reading, and you don’t have to write outline for a 10 page paper. It is quite a beautiful feeling actually! One that I am sure may feel a little less beautiful in the Fall when I start classes as a second year seminarian.

As I reflect back on this past year, I realized that the seminary journey is one you never do alone or, perhaps better put, it is one that you cannot survive if you try to make it on your own. I have written before about the importance of community in my life and how the community I saw at Garrett-Evangelical as a prospective student was one of the factors that led to my decision to apply, and ultimately attend, this seminary. Over the past year, it has been the community here, and my community of friends from my alma mater, my childhood, my church, and my annual conference, who have helped me to survive. Their tireless support and compassion got me through many late nights of exegesis, theology, and history. My professors have shown us grace and understanding – though at times it may not have seemed that way. My seminary friends have shown solidarity as we have hunkered down together in the library typing away into the evening hours. Somehow, I, along with the other first year students, have emerged on the other side of the academic year a little stronger, a little wiser, and grateful for the people here and abroad who have helped us along the way.

My first year at Garrett-Evangelical has been one of constant change. Changing states – moving from my home state of Oklahoma to Illinois. Changing schools – graduating from college and beginning seminary. Changing friends – leaving behind the family I had formed at my undergrad and creating a new one here. Changing lifestyles – who would have thought a person could survive a year without a car? However, I have quickly learned that change can be a very good thing and the positive changes that have happened in my life since coming to Garrett-Evangelical outnumber any negative ones by far. Next year will have even more changes as I begin my field placement at the General Commission on the Status and Role of Women in Chicago, as Loder and Stead Halls reopen on campus, and as the next batch of first year Garrett-Evangelical students join our seminary community.

A year ago I trembled with anxiety at the thought of the changes that would result from coming to Garrett-Evangelical. Now, I tremble with excitement for the changes that lie ahead because I know that I do not face these challenging changes alone. My network of support from my family, friends, and mentors from Oklahoma and my seminary friends and the Garrett-Evangelical community are always walking along side me through the change.

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Tasha Sargent is a second year MDiv student at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. She regularly blogs at http://thethousandmilejourney.wordpress.com.