God is near and God is good!!

I've been teaching an adult class called Old Testament Survey I. It started last Sunday and I must confess I thought it was too cerebral even for me. There was tons and tons of content just on Gen 1-2, and I didn't quite know what to do with it. But I was happy for the overall discipling that's happening at our church because of it.

The first Sunday was pretty dull.

But then I sat down to study last night for the second portion. As I began to read the materials, things about God's plan of salvation began to be clearer in my mind. It was as if someone had turned up the power on a dimmer switch or something.

I was studying in Genesis 3, which is the fall into sin. I learned afresh that in tempting Eve, the serpent attacked God's very character -- sort of insinuating that God wasn't for them and was actually hiding something good from Adam and Eve. I experienced a powerful wave of conviction when I realized that most of the time, my doubts of God center in just that same way. I fail to believe what God has said because I don't really think he will come through on his word or that he cares all that personally about me.

While I was realizing this, I connected it to a specific prayer request that I'd made earlier that day. It seems I had lost the keys to my very cool tractor about two weeks ago... I knew I'd put them in a pocket but hadn't seen them since. So I had prayed that God would show me the keys.

At just this moment of epiphany, the Lord led me to raise my head. There in the top wire basket of some hanging baskets in our kitchen was a little bit of red poking out. I walked over to it and gently pulled all of my tractor keys out of the basket.

And I sat there, halfway in tears because of all that the Lord has done for me. He is near and He is good.

Stumbling Towards Finals

Yes, it's final exams week at [insert name of my local classical and Christian school which I cannot use because Tara doesn't let me compromise our security too much]. I like finals week because it jockeys the schedule around and interesting things happen (like some days I teach fewer classes!!).

I say stumbling because I left the house this morning at about 6:52 in almost total darkness and dense fog. Evan and I were almost to HWY 5 when we first applied the brakes, and the Corolla slid! I was able "turn into the spin, Barbie!" and we did not leave the road, nor did we crash into anyone else. Then my contacts started hurting and kept it up for most of the morning. Something cloudy got into my right contact, and even repeated cleanings during the day did little to alleviate this. So I have gone around most of the day in a sort of fog of obstructed vision and wondering how much one can get done in such a condition. I'm also tired and have had odd dreams lately, including one in which my mother was alive again and helping us fight the rabbits that were multiplying in the upstairs walls of our home.

Finals start tomorrow and I still need to revise a test.