Newness Of Life

At times, we long for  fresh looks at the world. This is from January 11, 2014.
I'm still mad that NBC moved my favorite show, Revolution, from Monday night to Wednesday evening right in the middle of my Bible study. I do not have the capacity to record shows so I watch on nbc.com and actually skip the commercials. Well, most of them- it takes 42 minutes instead of the normal 60. After several months of re-runs, the new episodes kicked in this past Wednesday night. On Thursday evening, I sat down at my laptop and watched the latest installment, entitled Three Amigos. It was one of the better chapters of the show which is based on the future in the US after all the power in the world has gone out due to a military weapon gone amuck. Yesterday, I saw Bruse Boudreaux in the halls at school. Bruse is the only student at WCS who I know is also a devotee. But, he is behind in his watching, having all the shows recorded but not yet viewed. I asked him if he wanted the latest update and he declined. Well, I couldn't just let it go so I told him there are several new plot twists including a move to Mexico and Sebastian Monroe's never before seen son. That should whet his appetite! I can't wait until next week to see what will happen that I never saw coming!

Sometimes, I envy the international students in my Bible classes. Many of them have never heard the story of Jesus and I wonder if they wonder, what's next? Will they be surprised by the plot turns and dramatic twists that make up the Gospel account? To them, the names are new, the stories are new. Yesterday, after class, Leo, who is from China, asked me if we could record our class singing The Twelve Apostles, a song I am confident I knew by heart at age three. These teenagers don't know what is going to happen next, kind of like me and Revolution. Sometimes, I wish I felt more like the expression by Katherine Hankey in the fourth verse of her hymn, I Love To Tell The Story:
I love to tell the story;
For those who know it best
Seem hungering and thirsting
To hear it like the rest.
You know, I still pick up new thoughts and applications when I study for my classes but I wonder what my reaction would be to hearing it for the first time. My parents brought their kids up in a manner where knowing the Bible came as natural as breathing. I never really got that WOW moment when I found out what happened at the Transfiguration or when the water became wine or the empty tomb. My responsibility is sharing it with those who still can, and must, have those moments. That's a pretty big responsibility!

Applicable quote of the day:
“Never be content with your current grasp of the gospel. The gospel is the life-permeating, world-altering, universe-changing truth. It has more facets than a diamond. It's depths man will never exhaust.” 
― C.J. Mahaney

God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1
www.hawleybooks.com
E-mail me at steve@hawleybook.com