Thankful for the Blessing of Information Overload

Amazing week!  It has been a while since my last post, but this has been a very full week!  We are completely remodeling the college room at FBC; we moved everything out on Monday, gutted it on Tuesday, got it ready for paint Wednesday, and today we painted the ceiling and got the first coat on the walls.  Tomorrow we will apply a second coat of paint to the walls and move everything back in tomorrow or Saturday.  We expected to be a lot further along than we are right now, but little issues have caused some delays.  We are not discouraged, and expect to finish soon.  It has been a great time to work together as a team!

This week of discipleship has rocked my world.  Curtis Woods, the Baptist campus minister at Kentucky State has been teaching on "Developing a Christian Mind".  In four days, I have filled 21 pages in my journal!  Obviously, there is much too much to write here, but there are some very important lessons that I have learned from these sessions.

• God's Word is our source of life.  It is the only and the absolute truth.  Curtis reminded us that we need God's word in order to live.  If I spend very little time in His word, I will not love or relate to people correctly.  The Bible stands alone and is able to defend itself without any outside sources; it is the standard.
• Never stop learning!!! Our motivation:  I want to learn as much as I can so that I can more intimately know God and share that knowledge to bring others closer to Him.  1 Peter 3:15 commands us: "in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect."    
• It is imperative that we be critical thinkers and critical learners.  It is good that we read other works by other Christian authors to hear their thoughts about God, but the words of men should always be tested in light of the scripture to determine whether or not their words agree with what God says about himself.  

We have learned so much, and I hope to write more about the knowledge I have received (when I am not exhausted!)  Tomorrow is our last day and I am excited to see how we will finish out the week.

I am not a morning person.  I enjoy the morning, but I am not very alert, and I love to sleep.  But for the past few days, I have not been spending quiet time alone with God until very late at night, at which point I am exhausted and ready to go to sleep.  So last night I determined in my mind that I was going to get up an hour earlier and spend quality time with God.  Although I was groggy at first, I was able to focus in prayer and in reading the Word.  I started my day off right, and it has been a great day!  God deserves my very best all the time and I am setting my alarm for 7:30 again tonight.  "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you" James 4:8.