Fifteen young, driven, passionate Haitian men and I pour through Paul David Tripp's weekly Wednesday's Word. We pour through the English, first, again and again at different angles and in Creole and French and English combined, and then as we study the language, the theology of the Truth he is sharing, it dawns.
I love watching it come over my students. Sometimes, it is an amen. Sometimes, it is an ouch. Always, even today as we read about rejoicing in the very crushing of our bones, it ends with Yes. YES.
Things are pretty horrible awful, friends. We almost had to scrape our staff up off the floor by the end of prayer meeting yesterday, everyone is so low.
Life is full of violent stories and experiences, full of depressing news and depressing images, things are bad, bad.
And it kills me to see these young men and women carry that.
It has been a dire, dark day for so many days now that no one is counting anymore. And no one is talking about tomorrow, either, because it's just not looking good, and we are all weary of not being able to say "tomorrow."
As we read about His violent grace today, goodness...We can still raise our broken country with hallelujahs, as He works on our CHARACTER in the middle, a far more valuable focus than our comfort.
Pray on for us, for Haiti, for these men and women, for this country.
"Just like young children need to be taught about the anatomy of their body, the role of a doctor, and the purpose of an X-ray when they have broken a bone, we would do well to remind ourselves of the theology of uncomfortable, violent grace.
Our relationship with the Lord is never anything other than a relationship of grace. It’s grace that brought us into his family, it’s grace that keeps us in it, and it’s grace that will continue us in it forever.
But the grace God lavishes is not always comfortable.
God’s grace isn’t always comfortable because he isn’t primarily working on our comfort; he’s working on our character. With loving violence, he will crush us because he loves us and is committed to our restoration, deliverance, and refinement."
Here's the short testimony of one of my students this morning, from a few months ago...
"I was born in Cap-Haitien and I still live in the city with my parents and four siblings. When I was born, my parents were Catholic, and as I was growing up my mother converted to Christianity.
So, I grew up going to the Catholic church and the Baptist church, both of them a major part of my life.
When I was 13 years old, I started feeling a push towards God, and because my family was kind of mixed up, I felt led to be reading my Bible, a truth that didn’t come from my mom or my dad or their churches.
After middle school, I really made a decision for Christ, and I became a member at a great church led by Emmaus professor Pastor Childe.
Because it was God’s Word that converted me, I have really become someone who is passionate about the Bible. But the more I read, the more I wanted to know and understand. I was always researching and asking questions and trying to figure things out, and I have heard lots of different opinions and theologies.
I also always loved math and engineering, and had lots of dreams for my life, but one night while I was sleeping I had a dream of being a pastor who taught the Word. I started thinking about this, and began to realize that this might be a calling from the Lord, not just a dream.
I had a friend from church who was going to a different university, but he kept telling me that he was hearing good things about Emmaus U, where they don’t only teach the Bible, but also follow it. I didn’t know anything about going to school to study the Bible, but I just kept praying and asking for peace. Every time I took a small step towards it, I could see the next door open.
Eventually, my friend brought me to Emmaus, and I felt such joy and peace in my heart as soon as classes began.
That was two years ago, and my very first class was the Pauline Epistles. Immediately, I started getting answers to my questions and learning HOW to study the Bible in context and in ways I hadn’t known before.
I was SO hungry for more of the Word, and I was so grateful to be at Emmaus because suddenly I was learning and understanding and thinking and hearing and growing and debating and being challenged by the Word! I had an Old Testament Intro class right after that, and started to see how the Bible works together and the true message of the Bible.
I don’t know exactly what God’s got for my life, but I do know that I love to study, share and teach the Bible. I love to help people understand more about it. As I work to teach in my church and community, I could see the Lord putting me on the path to being a pastor, or maybe a teacher, I don’t know. I love praying with and studying with people, and I know if I keep taking little steps, He’ll keep opening the door to what He has for me.
I would love the prayers of His people, that I would always put the Lord first in my life, and that I wouldn’t get comfortable with lots of biblical knowledge like the Pharisees, but that I would be hungry for more. Pray that I would be humble as I grow, and that God would hold me in his holiness. Pray for my faithfulness, pray for my family and siblings who have still not yet converted, that they would come to know Him!"
No comments:
Post a Comment