A Visit with St. Nicholas...

Tonights chapel service was a celebration of Advent.  As we look forward to the remembrance of Christ's birth, we inwardly reflect on the greatest gift mankind has ever been given.  We also remember St. Nicolas and his wonderfully giving heart.  Each year he comes bearing gifts to children young and not so old...but I sat on his lap anyway! He mentioned something about free tuition and a new snow shovel...but I have to be good...I won't get my hopes up to high then.
Nashotah is not like any other seminary.  I've been overwhelmed recently with all the papers to write, books to read, and exams to take.  Then there's the house payments to make, tuition to pay, and the dog to feed.  I just had to take out a student loan...$20,000...and that freaked me out.  I'm not one to live outside my means and have been asking a lot of questions about what this all means.  Does God want me to trust him with debt or is it his way of letting me know it's time to go?  Am I trusting in my own strength and not trusting God?  Am I being financially irresponsible?  The great thing about this place is that those you live with, worship with, and study with....they know.  Today Bryan stopped me after lunch and as we walked back to our apartments he cared enough to ask how I was doing...and then to listen...and I knew he cared...and that meant so much.  Today I also had to meet with a professor about a paper I recently turned in.  In all of my educational career I've never had a teacher spend over an hour with me explaining and discussing something I'd written and who also took the time to ask about how I was doing.  Twice in one day Jesus presented himself through two different Christian brothers that shared the love and concern of a family who cares and is concerned...and that...is priceless...