“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:4-7
On our first morning, I met the 8 young women who were to be my fellows class. Almost immediately, Dave exhorted us to be all-in, “with both feet” in the group. This was a key understanding as I went into a week of new places, faces, names, and patterns of life.
Hi, I’m Jack, and I’m from Maine. I’ve never lived in a big US city, I’ve never lived this far south in the states, and I came into the program aware I was the only male fellow. Needless to say, I was praying a lot about this move. Faithfully, God fulfilled his word. As Philippians 4 states, a reliance on God, expressed in thanksgiving and supplication, produced a peace that doesn’t really make sense in me. One of the things I love most is when I get to watch God’s word come to fruition, and this passage has been an anthem over my life in the weeks since I moved south, to a big city, into a body of fellowship composed of 8 sisters in Christ.
That first Thursday, as we worked to remember names and the ten other things we introduced ourselves with, I began to chew on what it meant to be in “with both feet” with this group. I had a confident peace that God had brought me right here, right now, so I figured the best way to approach this year was what Dave said, “with both feet”! Over the next week, I was challenged over and over as I discovered that Dave and Tanya had been effective in creating a personality-diverse group. The growth catalyzed by this challenge has shed more and more light on the myriad ways that God works in the lives and hearts of those he calls to Himself. As a matter of fact, He reaches straight into the uniquely hurting part of each heart and pulls that part towards Himself. Discovering and embracing this in the daily testimony of my sisters in Christ here has been a beautiful encouragement and challenge to me, and we’re only just starting!
Just as I’ve seen how God has uniquely drawn each of us to himself, I’ve also learned more about how God has gifted each of us differently. Some are specially enabled to plan, some to listen, some to laugh, and some to exhort. I’ve loved, in the last year or so, learning deeply the beauty in the variety of Christians’ giftings. As Romans 12 describes, our class needs all the parts to properly make up the body. With that in mind, each of us has a place in the body that can’t be filled by another, so the best way forward is to jump in WITH BOTH FEET!
Again I will say, Rejoice!
The fellows at their opening banquet!
About the Author
Jack Herman is a member of the Fourth Fellows Class of 2026-2027. He is from Woolwich, Maine, and is a graduate of Grove City College. This year, he is working for Paradigm Companies.