Back To School

I have been meaning to sit down and blog about this for awhile now and just have not gotten it done, but Brent is back in class at Dallas Seminary!! And we could not be more proud of him!!

A few weeks ago, while I was out on a run, I felt like the Lord laid it on my heart that it was time for Brent to return to school. Considering our life circumstances, we have reached a fairly stable day to day routine again. But there was one thing I knew Brent would say in response to my suggesting he start up school again...we do not have the money. This is what I then said in response to the Lord, "I would love for him to go back to school, but he is going to tell me that we cannot afford it." And God reminded me of Arnold Fruchtenbaum and I knew that I was supposed to do the same for Brent.

Arnold Fruchtenbaum is a Jewish believer that spoke and taught several times at our church in North Dakota. (If you click on his name it will take you to his personal testimony and biography.) His knowledge of the word inspired both Brent and I, and he was one of the reasons Brent chose Dallas Seminary when he began looking at schools. During one of his visits to North Dakota, our pastor Vic, had Arnold share his personal testimony. Among other amazing details, I remember it was an incredible testimony of the Lord's provision. I remember Arnold saying that he was going to wait to go school and work to save money to pay for it, but the Lord asked him to go right away. And to share what would take several pages to fill, God provided every penny to pay for his schooling, some of it coming from people that Arnold says to this day he does not know who they are. God is so faithful. And I believe that is what the Lord wanted me to remind Brent of.

So I came home from my run, this is pretty much how our conversation went:

ME: "Brent, while I was our running, I think the Lord laid it on my heart that you should go back to school this spring."

Brent: "Jaci, you know I would love to go back to school, but we cannot afford it right now."

ME (with a smile): "Somehow I knew you were going to say that."

Brent: "Because it is true!"

ME: "The Lord also asked me to remind you of Arnold F. and how the Lord provided for his schooling when he could not afford it."

Brent: Quiet.

ME: "Well think about it. Pray about it. But how I see it is what so we have to lose? So you register, start the class and if we cannot pay for it I guess you will have to withdraw. And the worst think that will happen is you will have spent extra time learning about the Lord and his word without the credit to show for it. But it least we will have tried."

Brent: "okay"

Shortly after Brent and I had this conversation, he began looking into what classes he still had to take. He also "reclassified" his student status from 2 masters courses to one. He chose to finish out the Masters in Christian Education as he feels now where the Lord has us it will be more beneficial than the Masters in Cross Cultural Ministries. And most of the mission specific classes that he wanted to take he already had. And he also took the BIG step enrolled for an on-line course! The Gospels with Dr. Mark Bailey. This is a class that I audited the summer of 2009 when I was pregnant with Daniel. And he is actually watching the same class sessions, because that is when they taped it! The class was amazing.

As we moved forward, we looked at the different payment plan options and decided to set up monthly payments. This was still going to be a stretch for us right now as each payment would have been a little over $300/month. But we kept going forward. I encouraged Brent to reach out to someone from the school who had told him when he decided to return, to let him know because he may be able to help.

And that is exactly what happened.

Brent contacted this man. And his reply said, "Good timing, I just happen to have $1000.00 left on a scholarship. Fill out the paperwork and we will get this applied to your account." That left us with just $165.00 to pay. And we CAN afford that! He also said he thought that they could probably get that amount of help each semester until Brent graduates!

So Brent is back in class. Well, in class in our home. But he has been back to campus, enjoyed a brown bag and chapel and reconnecting with people he has not seen for awhile. God has also provided a dear friend and fellow DTS classmate that lives in our community. And this Sunday we will be starting a home group study with his family and another.

This was a BIG step for the Jackson family, and one that I could not be happier about. We are proud of you Brent!!

And continue to be in awe of the faithfulness of our God.

I am so hoping for our whole family to be there when Brent walks across the stage and shakes Dr. Bailey's hand in the spring of 2015.