A Review Of The Year

ESBS Class 2011-2012

We have made it! We are staring down the finish line and sprinting towards it! The ESBS only has one week left and then we will all be going our separate ways to build the Kingdom where God has us.

It is has been a long 10 months, but at the same time it has flown bye so fast. It feels like only yesterday the year was getting started. It is going to be sad to say goodbye to this tight-knit community that has been formed during our time together. Yet as I think about what has taken place this year I can’t help, but think about the growth that has gone on within the lives of everyone here.

I am amazed as I look back upon the past 10 months and see how God has met, changed and challenged each of the students here. I have seen students confront and conquer issues that have bound them in fear for the majority of their lives. I have seen students be challenged with their understanding of who God is and seen them respond with just honesty about how their view of Him is changing … and changing in a good way. I have seen students wrestle with God and where He is leading them, then in the end come to a place where they are just in absolute openness to how He is working in their lives and where they want what He wants for them. I have experienced in my own life, over the past 10 months, these very same things. I have wrestled with God, been challenged by Him and come to a place where I just ask Him to lead me where He wants me to go and I will follow.

As I look at the past 10 months I just see the beauty in what this school is all about. It’s a place where people can come and meet God. It’s a place where people can come and have Him work in their lives. It’s a place people can come and learn about His character as they study His words to us and then be challenged by that … challenged to see Him for who He really is and not who they have made Him out to be.

I have just seen so much growth this year within the students and within the staff that the value of what takes place here cannot be measured. People leave here with their lives changed and with a knowledge of God that will show impact those they are around. I am so thankful for this group of people and community that God has put me. It will be sad to say goodbye, but it will always be sweet to remember the memories!