An expression of gratitude... Saturday, May 30, 2009

Below is a letter of thanks I wrote to my church on the occasion of graduation last week:

An Expression of Gratitude
to Ambassador Presbyterian Church
on the Occasion of my Graduation from
Reformed Theological Seminary on
the Twenty-Third Day of May, Two Thousand and Nine

I want to first give thanks to the Lord God who, in his divine providence, has seen fit to call a sinner such as myself into the service of his kingdom for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I also want to thank him for giving me a wonderful wife who has stood by me and has given so much of herself so that we could go on this journey together. In her, I have been given so much more than I could have ever imagined.

I also want to thank the session of Ambassador who has faithfully supported and guided me through my seminary studies. Your prayers, guidance, and provision have been a true blessing to me. Thank you for being obedient to God’s word by faithfully upholding and sending those such as myself who have been called to such a task. I especially want to thank Warren for his counsel, his prayer, and most importantly, his example. It is a privilege to strive to imitate him as he imitates Christ.

To the people of Ambassador Presbyterian Church, I give you my deepest and most heartfelt thanks. When God called Megan and I here almost five years ago, we left all the comforts of home and family and came to a place where we knew no one. Yet, you lovingly took us in and showed us great love and hospitality, so much that we now call this place “home”. Your friendship, love, encouragement, and prayers have truly given us a greater understanding of what it means to belong to the body of Christ. Thank you for giving so much of yourselves to us. May God continue to bless you as you faithfully serve him and his kingdom!

I am your grateful friend and brother in the Lord,
Dan Layman
1 Thessalonians 1:2-3

What's in a name...

There are two things regarding this blog that you probably will want to know...

First, why is it called 'pastorlayman.blogspot.com'? Am I a pastor yet? Nope. Am I called to be a pastor? Last time I checked, yes. But hopefully , you can see the irony of the designation 'pastorlayman'. If not, let me explain. Typically you are either one or the other. You're a pastor (i.e. clergy) or you're not (i.e. layman). Well thanks to providence and my family name, I will one day get to be both. So, welcome to my oxymoronic existence. Glad you're here.

Second, why the title 'Nearer Still'. The deep spiritual reason is that it reminds me every day I am one step closer to the Celestial City where I will dwell for eternity with my Savior. The practical reason is that it was the only two words in a hymn that I liked enough to be a title. It was either that or "my bondage" or "the boast" or "one plea". (If you know these hymns, you get bonus points.) Hopefully I made the right choice.

Consider yourself informed and intrigued.

Welcome...

Here we go again. Yet another blog. And not just another blog in the already-cluttered information superhighway, but yet another blog from me. Rather than rehash how all that went down let's just raise our glasses, light our pipes, and move forward! Here's to you Al Gore: thanks for creating these here interwebs.

So yeah, I am now a seminary graduate. I have a master's degree in divinity and the one question I get over and over again is, "what does that mean?" Good question. There's many answers but most importantly for me, it means that God has fulfilled a desire that I have had for over a decade. And now, its really hard to believe that it's finally done. Which brings about the next question I get over and over again: "what are you going to do now"? Good question. We'll just have to wait and see what the Lord does. In the mean time, stay tuned. I'm sure I'll have a lot to talk about concerning that question in the very near future...