I finally crossed the finish line.

Let me reflect a bit on the journey to my Ph.D.  It started in the Fall of 2000 and every step has been carefully measured while raising a family, working, and pursuing a degree with comrades half my age.  I can remember my first classes and thinking how out of touch I was and how much I needed to learn.  A few years later I faced comprehensive exams in four areas of study.  I thought if there was a point of failure it would be there.  But God was gracious.  And I moved on to the dissertation stage.  That was over four years ago.  Now it was the church’s turn to be gracious as I was granted this last summer off in order to work on this document full time.

So yesterday was the culmination of all the effort.  An hour and a half with five professors from three different institutions, all trying to outdo each other in the intensity and intricacy of their questions, took the last bit of starch right out of my shirt!  But I passed.  And I feel pretty good about it.

But the reason for the rambling is to say thanks.  Thanks to all of you for your patience in this pursuit.  Thanks especially to the Board for allowing me so much time off to write.  Thanks to my wife who gets a husband back and my kids who get their dad back.  And thanks to God who remains faithful even when we are not.

Now I am off to spend three days around a table with 8 other pastors of CMA churches of over 1000 attendees.  This is the third year I have done this and it has been some of the most productive and helpful time spent for me in my personal development.

But I will miss you this weekend.  This is such an important series to start 2009.  I hope you are seeing how much the Bible has to say about financial matters.  I also hope you have found our suggestings and resources concerning debt, unemployment, and budgeting very practical and helpful.  So this weekend Josh will paint you a picture of the generous church we want to be in 2009.  And next weekend when I return we will take a brief glance back at 2008 and then I will lay out our continuing vision of what that generosity will look like in the coming months.  Let’s be that church that continues to see beyond…

Have you signed up for the Financial Peace University seminar starting February 15?  I have.  I know I can benefit.  There is another informational meeting about the seminar this weekend.  Can you imagine if we all went through this together?

Something to think about.