My Sponge is Overflowing!

Last week I began a course at Go School in Cary (associated with Go Realty) aimed at preparing me to take (and pass!) the NC Real Estate Commission’s exam for Real Estate Broker’s Licensure. I knew going into it that there would be new terminology and other material for me to absorb, but having completed the first week it is now apparent that I didn’t have a clue! It is reminiscent of when in the Navy and I was at Nuclear Power School and taking in the fundamental material in my journey of becoming a nuclear plant operator in a submarine; what I am learning now (please let me be absorbing this!) is only a foundation on which to build the ‘house’ of what I will need to become an effective broker and Realtor®.
As my brain seeks to absorb this material, I am reminded of an analogy my wife once used about learning. She remarked that there were times when she felt she had to plug her fingers into her ears because any new ‘thing’ would push out something she’d already learned. That is definitely something I can identify with, but the real fundamental knowledge is something I cannot neglect even though for the past few days my morning reading in Scripture has lapsed. Today the desert feeling in my heart drove me to the Word and He did not disappoint as the reading was in Isaiah 56; one verse in particular jumped out at me:
“Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say, ‘The Lord will surely separate me from His people.’ Nor let the eunuchs say, ‘Behold, I am a dry tree.’”
Isaiah 56:3 NASB
Coming to Christ as a gentile, not one of the chosen people of Israel, I am as treasured to Him as any natural descendent of Abraham. He enfolds me in His family of faith and makes me one with all the “…whosoever believes…” since the beginning of His-story. My search for meaningful, full-time work after leaving prison had left me feeling like the dry tree; devoid of life and withered without the opportunity to ever develop fruit again, but in Christ I am no dead, useless tree, but a verdant, fruitful orchard full of developing fruit.
So, will this make my learning what is needed to jump-start this latest chapter in my life? No, not really. But through my continuing to seek the fount of Living Waters, it will help me to continue on (even when my ‘sponge’ overflows with terminology) and see what He has in store for me today.