Some have asked why I haven’t been blogging or responding to things on Facebook lately. I will allow this screenshot to speak for itself.

That said, I shall return! I have a cunning plan…

I have been doing quite a bit of reading as of late in the area of the constantly evolving world of media ecology. I stumbled across this video the other day, and I am compelled to share it with you.

Watch this video. Then, please, go read a book. Finally, engage in communication with someone using words, proper syntax and stimulating language.

Typography from Ronnie Bruce on Vimeo.

“Faith is the deliberate confidence in the character of God whose ways you may not understand at the time.” ~ Oswald Chambers

Wow – I can’t believe I left that last blog post about our situation here in Dallas hanging like that. I feel as though I need to hire a cheesy soap opera announcer to introduce this post: “When we last saw the Armitage family, their future was hanging by a thread. Did Sten-Erik register for classes? Did rent get paid? Are the Armitage children now living under a bridge in downtown Dallas? These questions – and more – answered this week on…The Armitage Chronicles!”

It has been a wild ride. The reason that I haven’t posted to update the blog is because I felt I needed to make a choice. Based on everything we were facing at the end of the semester I had to either, 1) Stop focusing on papers and exams and focus on finding a full-time job and a place to live since we would be forced to withdraw from DTS, or 2) Focus on finishing the semester well and trust God for tomorrow, investing in today.

Never underestimate prayer

I chose the latter. Lisa and I prayed and felt that God called us here to seminary to prepare for ministry – not to go back into the fast-paced world of Human Resources and Legal Compliance. One of the consequences of that choice was hours spent in the library, studying for Hebrew and writing papers. The semester has now ended, and although I don’t believe I finished as well as I would have liked, I did finish. It was the hardest three weeks of our time in seminary thus far. It is extremely difficult to devote the attention necessary to internalize Hebrew or to do quality research when your mind is always being torn with fear about the future. If it was just me, that would be one thing – but I have a wife and four daughters who depend on me for provision.

Once again, God humbled me with His provision. As I said in my earlier post, my scholarships had lost their funding, and we were looking at a large dollar figure to be able to stay at DTS. Instead of making this an epically long post in narrative form, allow me to list for you how God came through to meet our needs – yet again:

• Two scholarships came through unexpectedly, taking our need down from $7,000 plus December rent to $3,200 plus December rent. (I posted about that here)
• Two days before the tuition deadline, another scholarship came in taking our need down to $1,615 plus December rent. In less than two weeks God had provided $5,385 in scholarships. Amazing!
• The day that the remaining $1,615 was due I spoke to the accounting office. They told me that if I signed up for TMS (a way to spread your tuition out over five monthly payments during the semester) they would hold my classes – that meant that housing wouldn’t receive a notice that I was not an active student, and we could remain in our apartment. What a blessing! However, to enroll in TMS I would need to pay the administrative fee of $42. That was about $41.50 more than I had to my name.
• I walked over to my office on campus to pray and to do some work on a paper. When I arrived, I saw a piece of paper on my chair. It said, “To you, from God.” (FYI – I think God wrote with a non-dominant hand, as the handwriting was very shaky.) Taped into the piece of paper was a Visa gift card for $50. Wow. I promptly logged on to the TMS website and paid the $42 administrative fee.
• Talk about a stress relief! We were no longer looking at having to move out of our apartment on December 14th. That said, we still needed to pay rent. Two days before the rent grace period was up, we received a note from a friend letting us know that they would be taking care of our rent for the month of December.

As I said, I am humbled by God’s provision despite my recurring lack of faith. Lisa and I would appreciate your continued prayers – We still need the $1,615 by the New Year as well as January rent. Campus is closed over the holiday, so I have no income opportunities between now and then.

That said, great news! I have accepted a job that will keep me busy 30+ hours a week. I will be doing this in addition to my responsibilities at my other two jobs. I can’t give any details regarding this job until January 10th, but it is a great blessing. In addition to praying for God’s continued provision, please pray that I would have supernatural time management skills and wisdom as I start this new job. I need to be able to glorify God by keeping my family first, my education second and my work third as far as my priorities go. It would be entirely too easy for those priorities to reverse themselves.

Thank you so much for your prayers and kind words via email and in person. It means so much to us to know that there are people out there who love us and are praying for us as we go through this ministry preparation crucible known as seminary.

Hey all – I encourage you to head out to my good friend’s blog to read his most recent post. Do so with a preparedness to engage in some introspection.

As for my blog, I anticipate posting an update within 12 hours as to our situation and what God has been doing. If you don’t see it by then, feel free to harass me until it appears.

Excerpt from Marc’s blog to encourage your clicking:

If the individual for whom we were searching had just waited. Just waited four hours and seen what we were seeing, would things have turned out differently? Does a sunrise only matter to people who love life, or can it do the work of convincing those who hate it? It was all academic, anyway; a poet’s attempt at explaining war. But in those dawning moments, I had great pity for that person; that human, made in the likeness of God himself, who loves us enough to give us sunrises and still let us cast ourselves into dark water out of hate or spite or blindness.

Just a brief update.

First, Lisa and I appreciate your prayers! This is a little overwhelming as we face the possibility of having to move in just over two weeks. Knowing we have friends who are praying for us is a comfort.

Now, the glimmer. I logged on to my student account to check something…And two scholarships came through! I was not expecting them based on the news I had received, but there they are. This is good news – Now instead of a $7,000 bill looming over our heads, we only need to come up with $3,200. Still a colossal number to hit by January 4th, but God has done it before, and we are trusting that He will make a way once again.

This does give us hope. Another option available to us is something called TMS – it is a way to pay our tuition over a span of five months instead of all at once. My hesitation in doing that lies in the uncertainty of knowing if we will be able to make that monthly payment. Between my three jobs, we often fall short of even being able to pay rent, let alone tuition!

That may change – as I mentioned in an earlier blog posting, I have a job possibility in the evenings that pays a little better than what I am making now, although it would take me away from home every night. Praying about that – would appreciate you joining us in prayer too! Tuition, Rent & Bills. Oh my!

מרנא תא

This is a very difficult blog post for me to write. As I type it now, I’m not certain I will ever click that publish button. It seems so long ago that God called us to seminary to prepare us for ministry. My friends and family are fixed in my mind one way – yet time has moved on for them. Just as God has been changing me since I have been gone, God has been working in their lives too. New children, new careers, new struggles. It is hard to lose touch with those who have become a part of my life.

…God is sovereign…

During my first year of seminary, we lived off of the money from the sale of our house while I focused on seminary. It was wonderful. We were able to completely eliminate debt (and we have covenanted never to go into debt again), and I was able to focus on my education and my family. After that year was over, I started to look for work so that I could continue to attend school and support my family. But the job market was tight. There were some jobs I could take, but the pay would not cover basic living expenses, let alone take care of tuition and the child support I need to pay.

…God is sovereign…

…God is sovereign…

Then came the opportunity to work. First one part-time job opened up. Then another. Then another! I actually had to turn down a great opportunity with good pay because I had already given my word to one of my part-time jobs regarding my schedule and longevity. Suddenly I was working three part-time jobs, taking a full course load, working with my church and attempting to be a dad and husband. Things shifted. The dynamic changed.

…God is sovereign…

Now we are in a new place in our lives. We haven’t been here before. We’ve often been in that place where we didn’t know how rent would be paid or how we’d get groceries that week. This place is different. The scholarships that I had received in the past are now lacking funding. Typically at this point I would be facing the new semester with 75% of my tuition covered by various scholarships. Now we are looking at possibly having to take a voluntary leave of absence from seminary. Since we live in student housing, once the tuition deadline passes, we will have 10 days to move.

…God is sovereign…

It is ironic (I think) that when I was unable to find work all our needs were met time and time again. Now I am working, and we may be forced to leave seminary, and consequently our apartment. I am 3/4 of the way done with this program, yet my time to leave may be coming sooner than expected. We always said that we didn’t come to DTS for a degree – we came to be equipped for ministry. That is still true. But a part of me desperately wants to graduate. I never graduated from High School. I never graduated from College. Yet God opened the door for me to attend graduate school to earn a Th.M. despite my educational history. Maybe I’m wrong in this…but I would like to know that I’m capable (with God’s help!) of finishing something.

…God is sovereign…

We don’t know what is next. Come December 4th life may change drastically. A hasty move…to where? A ministry or a job…doing what? Where? I’ve seen God provide time and time again. Why is it that this time feels so different? Never before have we had to consider a leave of absence from seminary. Never before have we been faced with the impending reality of having to leave our apartment within 10 days. Is this time different? Intellectually I believe that God is sovereign. But my experience – my sinful heart – keeps trying to tell me otherwise. Two weeks left. What is happening? What is God’s plan? This is an uncertain and scary place to be. I have to trust. No matter what happens, even what I would perceive as the worse case scenario, I need to remember that…

…God is sovereign…

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit” – yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. ~ James 4:13-16

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place…And he went out, not knowing where he was going. ~ Hebrews 11:8

…God is sovereign…