Swords and Shovels

I apologize for my absence from the blogging community.  I've been trying to post on a more consistent basis, but this time I have an excuse.  My older sister, Micaiah, acquired her first car; so my mom, sister and I made the twenty-three hour trek north to Moscow, Idaho to drop her off for her second year at New Saint Andrews College.

Ever since I heard of New Saint Andrews (NSA) I have been intrigued by the Christian Liberal Arts education it offers. Last year, some of my family and I made the same road trip to drop Micaiah off for her freshman year.  Since then it has been at the top of the list.  After this past trip, it has really put distance between itself and the other choices.  I had the privilege of staying with some of the guys that are in Micaiah's class as she got settled in,  and these young men are examples of godly men and good fellowship.  No one is perfect at NSA, but all of them realize that that is our goal.


The community is one of the main things that catch the attention of incoming freshmen.  Moscow, Idaho is a small town of 25,000.  It is not uncommon to run into someone who goes to the same church as you.  Not only that, but everyone who is a full-time student at NSA has taken the same classes (with slight variations, of course) as you have in the first two years.  It gives the upperclassmen the ability to mentor and bond with the freshmen.  And it also gives the freshmen some comfort to know that people really do survive (and excel) their first year (which is also known as the fire-hose year).  Along with all of this, the professors are very personable.  They truly care about their students and, with smaller classes, are able to play a significant role in mentoring them.  Since we are all a part of one body, it only makes sense that we work together.

"For as one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another."  (Romans 12: 4-5 ESV)

Since we also have different gifts and callings, we are being sharpened and honed into the individuals that God wants us to be.  And this training is to be taken into any field of life.  This is New Saint Andrews' main goal: to sharpen and shape young men and women to rebuild from the ruins of our culture and to fight the enemy in every field.  The Sanballats of this day have torn down the walls of our culture, and we are called to build and to fight.  NSA's new video is promoting the use of the sword and the shovel.

Christ has ordered us to build up from the ruins.  And He has ordered us to fight.  So hold your sword in one hand and a shovel in the other, because we are living stones.