I have never run a marathon, but I’m guessing these past five years come pretty close.

I began my seminary journey while my wife was in her second year in residence. After peering over her shoulder as she read books and wrote papers I couldn’t stand it any longer and had to try it for myself. But my full-time job at a church made the in residence schedule impossible but the distance learning track ideal. (I think I may have been the closest distance learning student in history, living across the street in the Red Bricks and occasionally turning in my distance learning assignments by hand!)

I dove in with a year of Hebrew followed by a year of Greek. (I know there were some other classes in there too but the perpetual stack of flashcards in my back pocket put a slight haze on everything else.) My life at church and life in seminary continued forward, each consistently feeding into the other, from pastoral care to developing curriculum to integrating whatever I was learning in class into the next teaching series I would develop. I never had to wait for an internship or teaching church to find ways to contextualize what I was learning for I was immersed in a church context from day one. (This is a unique feature of the distance learning program, an ongoing and organic integration of theory and practice.)

This rhythm continued on and on, year after year, one set of classes always leading to the next. The onslaught of languages gave way to the captivating world of church history which led to the ever-expanding world of systematic and constructive theology and more. And before I knew it I had arrived in the final semester of my final year. When I began my seminary journey in November 2008 I knew that the mythical month of May 2013 would someday emerge. But here it is, five years later, the finish line of my seminary marathon ready to be crossed.

Only graduation is less of a finish line and more of a checkpoint. For it is not the end of my education journey and faith transformation, but rather an extended warm up that will span all the years (and potential post-grad classes) ahead of me. I’m learning to “run” so that I can invite others to lace up their shoes and do the same. There is no “finished” but rather an “accomplished,” meaning all things are ready for the next step forward.

And my graduation is exactly that, the next step forward. I am grateful for my time at Western Theological Seminary. I have encountered ideas and authors and formed relationships with professors and students that will last longer than any degree program. And they are all running alongside me, empowering me to take each step forward as I continue to integrate theory and practice in my life, work, and ministry.