I love my job at Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia.  It is fulfilling and offers many opportunities for ministry.  I am an aging baby boomer with grown children and I’m not looking for a new career.  Therefore, I have been asked many times why I decided to go to seminary.  My response is that it was too good a deal to pass up!

 

In spring of 2002 I signed up to take a class at Northwest Baptist Seminary.  To my surprise and delight I discovered there was an evening track for the M.Min. degree, to which I applied and was accepted.  That began a 3-year academic career, an adventure I never could have imagined.

 

The work was challenging.  I hadn’t written a research paper since 1971.  I discovered the format had changed substantially.  To keep up with the reading and writing was a stretch and the vocabulary was unfamiliar.  My husband was a great coach and it didn’t take me too long to get up to speed.  I thrived on the work and the deadlines.  In June, I took my last test, wrote my last paper and graduated with the class of 2005.

 

I consider it a remarkable privilege to have been able to do this work.  I have more questions and fewer answers, but my confidence in God and scripture has increased.  I am more comfortable in discussing my faith both with believers and unbelievers.  I look forward to opportunities I will have to use what I have learned.

 

The M.Min. is a great program for people who have ‘day jobs’ but want a better knowledge of scripture and theological issues.  The evening format makes it remarkably manageable.  It is affordable and some employers reimburse all or part of the costs for continuing education.  The professors are godly, knowledgeable and skilled. Fellow students provide friendship and fellowship.  It is too good a deal to pass up!

 

Catherine Jacobson