a new thing…

The demolition has started.  Last week, I traveled back to San Antonio to see some friends and I had a chance to drive by the old campus of the Baptist University of the Americas.  I spent almost 10 years driving up to that campus and walking through those doors and hallways.  I knew just about every inch of that campus and the buildings.  We had patched, repaired, hammered and caulked many holes, spaces and walls.  It was a labor of love to keep those buildings usable and functioning.  They were old and worn out, but they were buildings that trained many Hispanic church leaders for many years as well as one Hispanic past president.  I am so grateful for those years God used me and trained me on those holy grounds.

 Now it was coming down.  The school has a new campus.  The old campus was purchased and now the old buildings were being demolished.  As I walked around outside and looked at the old buildings, I thought about how God used that place to call many into service and I thought about the many students who had passed through those halls on their way to ministry and churches.  I also thought about the wonderful leaders and professors who also served and gave themselves to the students and to the University.  Their work and their teaching and leading was also a labor of love.  They also taught me how to serve.  God used those old buildings and that place to train me.  He called me to BUA so that I would also be trained for ministry.

It was difficult as I walked around and saw parts of the buildings I recognized. I saw furniture and the pews of the chapel scattered around outside.  Those old hallways, fixtures and furniture were going away and would become just memories.  It truly was holy ground for me.

Isaiah 43:18-19 (NIV)

18 “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.  19 See, I am doing a new thing!   Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?  I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.

 Now God is doing a new thing at BUA. There are great days ahead and we cannot dwell on the past. He will continue to sustain the University and will continue to make a way for many Hispanic students who dream the dream of a college education.  I thank God for those old buildings and the time I trained there, but now He is doing a new thing…even in my life.

To God be the glory!