the choice. the outcome. the Way.

Something I love about the Bible/English course I teach on Saturday's in Saccanville is that it has caused me to search for the clear and simple truths of the Bible. I'm teaching in two languages. I only have 2 hours a week. I'm teaching over 50 students, most of whom know NOTHING about the Bible, Christianity, or the Lord.

So it's GOT to be simple, straightforward, interesting and applicable. Every Saturday morning I come home singing praises that the Bible, our only text book, is JUST that.

At the Seminary, we spend the week studying deep, but for my SEEP class, (Saccanville Evangelical English Program), I fall in love with the beauty and imagery and clearly outlined truth of the Bible, and the way the story of our faith progresses to the point where the ONLY hope we could possibly have is EXACTLY what happens.

This past week, I was preparing the story of Moses's death, and about the Israelite people FINALLY entering into the promised land. For months now we've studied the founding fathers of our faith, miraculous events and heartbreaking betrayal. Finally, the bittersweet Israelite people and their aging leader have arrived at the border of the land promised to them for so many years.

While Moses's feet will never touch that sweet soil, the Lord brought him up the mount to gaze on the fulfillment of His promise, and before the Lord buried Moses, Moses had the opportunity to give one last "Better than Bravehart" speech to the nation he had led, admonished, encouraged and cried over for so many years.

And MAN, it puts everything out there so clearly! It was SO EASY to lay out for my dear students last Saturday....

"The Lord will gather you and will bring you into the land He promised you. And He will prosper you and multiply you. Moreover, He will purify your heart and the hearts of your children to LOVE the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may LIVE.

Listen! IF you obey the Lord your God and keep His commandments, if you constantly turn to the Lord your God with all of your heart and soul, He will prosper you abundantly in all the work of your hand and rejoice over you.

What I'm telling you, to obey His commandments, listen, it is NOT too difficult for you! It is NOT out of reach! It is NOT way out there in heaven so that you could say, 'Yeah, so who in the world is going to go up to heaven for us and make this possible?' It is NOT beyond the sea to obey these commands, that you might say, 'Hey, who's going to cross the entire sea for us so that we can obey?'

It is NOT impossible to obey His commands!

Listen! TODAY I have set before you two choices: life and prosperity. Death and adversity.

I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes, that you may LIVE and that the Lord may BLESS you.

But if your heart turns away and you don't, I promise you, that you will perish. With heaven and earth as my witness, I have set before you life and death! Blessing and curses!

CHOOSE LIFE in order that you may LIVE! Love God, obey His voice, and hold fast to Him. For this is your life! Deuteronomy 30

Shoot. How could I lay that simple but BIG choice that out any better for my students Saturday? Heavens, even Deuteronomy spells it out clear as day. There's no guessing, Family!

"I wonder if I live like this or make this choices what might happen?

Surely this little thing is no big deal, right?

Surely I can love the Lord and be a Christian and go to church but do a few things that He tells us NOT to do...hold a grudge, act out in anger, dress immodestly, lie about finances, not give to the orphaned and widowed, sleep with my girlfriend, think about myself first, not tell people about Jesus, gossip a little bit, worry about tomorrow, do what's best for me....I mean, REALLY, it's IMPOSSIBLE to really "obey His voice and hold fast to Him" in this day and age, right?

There's no real punishment for these things, right?"

(these are just a few of the things my class asked about...)

I guess that depends on what we want. It is very clear that we have a choice, and very clear that each choice has it's blessing or curse. There seems to be no middle ground, does there? Life and Prosperity OR Death and Adversity.

"Choose life!" I urged my dear ones Saturday. "Choose life!" Moses urged his dear ones thousands of years ago. "It is your life! You only have one. So Love God, Obey His Voice, Hold Fast to Him, and be blessed!"

Walking home along the dirt road from class Saturday, part of me felt like though we are only in the 4th book of the Bible, that there just isn't much more to teach. There just isn't much more than that choice, is there?

As Innocent said last week. It is such a simple decision, just such a big one.

God went before Israel, just as He is willing to go before us today. And even better, after more years of Israel falling away and falling away, we received the free blood of Jesus, which can overwhelmingly conquer sin, and the Holy Spirit, making it possible for us to do JUST what Moses told Israel to do: stay away from sin. Choose life. Love the Lord with your heart and soul and obey His voice.

The results of my choices hold no mystery. As we watched from Adam to Moses, every single time God's voice was disobeyed, death and separation followed. Every single time one was faithful, he was blessed. And that's just Adam to Moses! I could give you a million personal examples of times I have seen the Lord disobeyed in myself or others and the result has immediately or eventually been separation and a kind of death. And a million personal testimonies of times that His voice has been obeyed, His face sought, and beautiful blessings have followed.

So my class knows that we have the choice of Life and what that looks like. After studying the Bible for 6 months, the students know the Truth that God has given. Now, I just can't wait to teach The Way....

And after all the hours and hours of preparing and teaching, creating and grading, the heart I can always see God working most clearly on is

mine.