Hope I don't embarass him by saying so, but I'm really enjoying Josh, the fearsome pirate. Incredible to see the breadth and depth of this fella's scholarship in a young man his age.
I try to remember the things I was reading and thinking about back when I was 20 and shortly thereafter... I mean, my faith has always been a very important part of my life -- shaping my thought and conduct, to be sure. Yet I myself was in so many ways a prisoner of both my own ignorance and spiritual immaturity.
Indeed, that fact didn't truly dawn on me until I got to seminary. Once it did, I went straight up to the dean's office and said:
"Are there some papers I need to sign or whatever before I leave seminary? I need to go and grow up in my faith first before I finish this seminary thing."
I mean, prior to that I'd never taught a Sunday school class. I'd never served on a church board or committee. Only a handful of times had I ever served as a greeter or usher or in the least capacity for my congregation. I never even knew there was a Large Catechism, let alone an entire Book of Concord. Lutheran Confessions? What are those?
I'm almost kind of jealous of the lad, all his reading and soaking it all in like a sponge. He's getting it too, as his posts and comments show. I know that kind of insatiable appetite, that kind of passion to learn, know, take it all in...
His level of excitement and determination to grasp even the innermost tendrils of the faith and hold them dear to heart, it's inspiring and encouraging to me in a way I'm having trouble putting my finger on.
Maybe it's just that I've been a lot of years among mostly people only now making a beginning in their faith. Not all Christians grow and mature at the same rate. Indeed, sometimes the weeds get to choking them out pretty fiercely.
Don't get me wrong. I don't despise those who don't yet know the faith well enough to ask some of those questions. Indeed, I love talking to people about spiritual matters regardless their stage of maturity. It's my life, after all, as a missionary guy.
Maybe it's just that kind of milk vs. meat thing ole St. Paul talks about.
Perhaps it's just nice to catch a whiff of a juicy sizzling steak once in a while... Regardless, it's nice to interact with someone with that burning to learn. I miss that about being a parish pastor, sometimes.
