Reflections from my first term of SBS

Hi Everyone!

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I’m so sorry it’s been a while since I’ve updated.  I just finished my first term of SBS and am now enjoying the end of our three-week Christmas break =)  It’s been a crazy roller coaster of a ride these last few months filled with highs of exciting revelations in God’s Word to lows where I was so physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted that I didn’t think I’d be able to go on.  But God faithfully carried me through as I relied on His strength and has blessed me with these last three weeks to take in some of the beautiful sights of Cape town, enjoy spending time with friends, to relax, and even take some time to process through the last term that seemed to fly by so quickly. 

A beautiful day at Chapman's Peak on our class outing =)  

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As I look back, I came to SBS thinking that I was going to build on my knowledge of the bible and get some of my questions answered so that I could grow stronger in my faith.  Instead I found it addressing so many of the misconceptions that I had, stripping everything back down to the core basics of my faith, and forcing me to question what I believe and why I believe it. 

Growing up I kind of had the idea that the bible was just some storybook written by some guy, that God was a distant God far up somewhere in the clouds, watching us from heaven above, and Jesus… well, He was the guy whose name was said at the end of every prayer. 

In the past, I approached the bible deductively, taking the bits and pieces that I liked and ignoring the rest that didn’t ‘apply’ to my life.  I had basically treated the bible as a self-help book, looking for ways to better myself.  But the truth of the matter is that the bible isn’t just any old storybook written by some guy at some point in time to use for our self gain, rather it is a collection of historical accounts, books and letters written from numerous authors inspired by God over a span of approximately 1500 years.  These last few months of studying the bible inductively has really helped to make this truth more real for me as I’ve taken the time to learn about what people were going through at that time and why they wrote things the way they did; finding the true meaning behind the verses that I thought I knew and realizing that these people weren’t just characters in a story but that they were real people like you and me, people who witnessed something so incredibly significant that they had to write it down so that we too might believe.  Once again that the bible wasn’t written so that we could just take it apart and apply what we want for our own benefit but rather so that we might know Who Jesus is and what He did for us.  That Jesus wasn’t just some fictional super hero but that He was God in the flesh, Who came down to earth and lived the most human life that one could ever live, to show us the way and to die for our sins that we might be saved and have a relationship with Him. 

It was in the book of Romans that I finally came to realize what salvation really means.  As I was processing through the verse 10:9-10 which reads, ‘That if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved,’ I started to wonder, ‘What does it mean to believe?  And why is it that a person’s salvation comes down to this one single event of Jesus’ death and resurrection?  For some reason it just doesn’t seem like it’s enough, that our salvation relying on this single event seems too good to be true.  So often we think that Christianity is all about going to church and doing good works making it as though we can somehow earn our salvation.  But it isn’t about that at all.  Rather it all comes down to faith, recognizing that we’re sinners, that we need God, that only He alone can save us, and believing that what He did for us on the cross is enough.  It’s as simple as that yet somehow we’ve made it so complicated.

I’m so thankful for the last three months as I’ve been able to process through these things and am looking forward to diving in to the next term as God has given me a fresh perspective and hunger to learn more about Who He is and gain a better understanding of what He’s done for us. 

Here are a few pics from my time here so far =) 

Hanging out with Debbie and Skyler

A typical afternoon of studying in SBS =)  Having fun doing some historical background research with Wouter.

Remember this mountain from my first post?  Well, I’ve been staring at it for the last three months wanting to climb it but after hearing horror stories about how difficult it was I decided to postpone it until Christmas break where I would have the time to fully recover.  The first day of break I looked up at the mountain, said ‘I’m going to climb you,’ prayed that God would give me the strength to make it to the top, and guess what?  I did!  Not only that but I was able to climb it with ease and was perfectly fine the next day as well!  I felt so victorious afterward that just a few days later I was taking on one of the biggest mountains in Capetown, Table Mountain!

Enjoying the view from the top of Muizenberg Mountain with Monja!

Snapshot of Table Mountain from Blouberg beach

Enjoying the view from the top of Table Mountain!

Visiting a beautiful vineyard in Stellenbosch with my beautiful German friends Debbie & Monja =)