Graduate Profiles |
Introducing Damon Bosveld
Hi, I’m Damon Bosveld, and in the picture with me is my beautiful wife of 9 years, Miriam, and our two children, Lydia (8) and Josiah (4). We hail from Perth, Western Australia, but our home is currently on the other side of the world in Hamilton, Ontario, while I study at CRTS. How did we get here you may wonder? While the pathway to Seminary was not clear to us at the beginning, it was a path where we can see the Lord’s hand at work in our lives.
I grew up in the coastal suburb of Rockingham in Western Australia, where, after high school, I apprenticed as a Cabinet Maker in a family business. Through my years as an apprentice, I also worked on and obtained my pilot’s licence. During these years I met this wonderful young lady called Miriam, and we quickly became close friends. Through the years of dating the inevitable topic for consideration and conversation was: what does our future hold? Astounded by the great price that was paid for our salvation, we felt compelled to hand our lives over in service to God’s kingdom. Since I loved flying, we inquired with Mission Aviation Fellowship to learn what it would take to serve with them. One of the various requirements was a one-year diploma of Theology. So, a year after getting married, I enrolled in a one-year Diploma of Theology program. As it turns out, when you begin to study the riches of God’s Word it is difficult to stop. Four years quickly passed, and instead of a diploma, I graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Theology. In those years the Lord also added to our family with the arrival of Lydia. Now at the end of the Bachelor's program, we had to consider again how to best serve God with the gifts he had given to us. For various reasons, we realized that MAF would not work for us, and through working on our Church’s Search/Calling Committee it became evident that there was a great need for pastors. After much prayer, consideration, and conversation, I enrolled in the Master of Divinity program at CRTS with the hope of serving as a Minister of the Word in the future. So shortly after receiving the blessing of Josiah, we said farewell to our families in Western Australia and got on the plane to journey to the far side of the world and begin our years in Hamilton.
Over the last four years, we have enjoyed calling Hamilton our home. We have made friends, both in the Seminary and outside of it. We have enjoyed the changing seasons and the snow (a novel experience for us West Australians!) I have enjoyed learning under the professors and alongside faithful young men. Professors and students alike all share a desire to glorify God and to hear clear preaching of the gospel. In particular, we enjoyed the various internships that took us across Canada to Langley (with Rev. D. Vandeburgt) and Smithers (with Rev. H. Alkema), and back across the world to Christchurch, New Zealand (with emeritus minister, Rev. Van Garderen). In each internship, we were blessed to experience the love of Christ through his members as they opened their homes to us, walked with us, talked with us, and prayed with us.
With the Lord’s blessing, I hope to submit myself to Classis Ontario West for a preparatory examination in June with the desire to be called into the Ministry of the Word. It has been quite the journey, and the doorway that is the final day of Seminary looms closer. Even with many years of quality education and faithful Christlike mentoring, what lies on the other side of that door is intimidating. We do not know where he will call us to serve him and we do not know what our lives will look like beyond that door, but we do know that he will provide all things we need to faithfully serve him wherever he calls us. What a blessing to rest in the all-sufficient provision of our God.