Well hello again,
I've been studying and working hard for school as always. I'm still astonished that I can call Bible College "school" with the same intensity and the same seriousness (if not more) as I did the college I just finished. I can hardly get over the excitement it brings to know you're actually getting credit and working toward a degree that is legitimate and you're studying the Bible! I'm sure anyone who finally digs into classes of their field can attest to this joy. I'm so glad to have finished my big paper and it looks like the assignments ahead of me before the Midterm will be doable. I'll be working hard this evening. One quote from my textbook that I thought was nice was... "Present-day Bible interpreters need to put themselves in the sandals of the writer and initial recipients, that is, they need to understand a passage from their perspective. Biblical writers did not have our situation in mind. they wrote from the perspective of their own circumstances, and we must understand their writings from that vantage point." -Intro To Biblical Interp. By Klein, Blomberg, and Hubbard
In other news, Produce is working out for me at work. I worked in Produce for a couple years before transferring to my current store and then Deli for about a year and a half now. I've been "on loan" to the Deli and have been trying to get back into Produce ever since. It looks like I'll be there permenantly now. The Produce manager is rather excited. After the first night I closed, he came in and another manager looked at the department and said, "it doesn't look like it's supposed to." Produce manager replied, "what do you mean?" He said back, "it looks good." The Produce manager actually said he wanted to try and get me another raise. I was surprised. But hey, God works things in mysterious ways and I'm thankful I can praise Him through all of it... good and bad. Someone once said (while some may call it a negative outlook) that "you either just got out of a trial, you're in one right now, or you're on your way into one." That kinda keeps me humble in a way. Combine that quote with the sovereignty of God and we have a winner!
Today after church, I decided to drop by a church I was considering to join a while back since I got out early. It was their potluck lunch month and before I had been there 10 minutes, 3 people invited me to eat. I came at just the right time! It was nice to see a few people I used to know and the pastor there. I also spoke with a gentleman and his wife who were fairly new to the church. He brought up the subject the Calvinism and we had a friendly discussion about it. He was a pretty humorous guy. He said a pastor once told him when we reach the gates of heaven there might be sign at the front that says, "whosoever" and when you walk through it and turn around there will be a sign on the other side that reads, "chosen before the foundation of the earth..." We had a good laugh.
So I felt like mentioning last Saturday night. It was rather exciting. There was the good old Jehovah's Witness conference going on down there. Many of them wouldn't take our tracts (it's a policy I hear), but many also did take them. When Travis saw that they were there, he said it was time to preach. While we were surely terrified, we preached it up anyway. One older gentleman came by to talk with us. We found out he was a Jew turned JW. He had been a Witness for over 30 years, most of that time spent as an Elder in the church. This was the first of the JW's that actually came by to talk with us and pursued us. He was the nicest guy.
Travis carried most of the discussion and did an excellent job with the scripture that supports the deity of Jesus Christ. He also knew how their bible changed the relevant verses. The only thing the Elder didn't have an answer for was Revelation 1:17-18. Travis first brought him to Revelation 1:8 and he agreed that was referring to Jehovah God. Then when you jump down to v.17-18, it says the same person was once dead, now is alive. Alpha and Omega are the "first and last" letters of the Greek alphabet. He was saying He is the beginning and the end of everything. That can only be Jesus Christ himself! We parted on good terms and I thanked the man for being open enough to speak with us.
All of your prayers are appreciated as we take the gospel to the world of downtown Ft. Worth!
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