ol' school stuff

so last week the Lord was trying to get my attention with the magnificence of His Word...i told you this (check out "cutting edge?").

well it happened like this: getting ready for 24/6 generation (our high school youth group) this week, but really excited this time. because frankly, i didn't have to dream up some relevant discussion topic or pop brain cells trying to think of some highly intellectual and provocative question that our students had actually never thought about but always subconsciously wondered. it was nice. it was refreshing.
i went back to the ol' school stuff.
the stuff i actually went to school for. cuz it dawned on me: ya know, both the schools i went to for my college education had it as their middle name! (Word of Life BIBLE Institute & Moody BIBLE Institute).

*ok...random side note: i just noticed that the "word of life" link has a picture of my brother on the home page...weird...he's the bald guy...ok...back to me.... ;)

"so anyways..." now i'm just getting carried away with links. so if you're still reading this, i apologize for the trail...it dawned on me that i had gone to school to learn the Word of God. and honestly, it was in my first semester at Word of Life that i began to see the power that it has to change lives.

i can still remember sitting in my dorm room thinking. thinking that i wasn't interested in a position, a job, an image, or whatever...i just wanted to give my life to sharing the truth and power of God's Holy, awesome Word!! that was it!!! how did i lose sight of that???

so i went retro....or old school...or conservative...or whatever you wanna call it. i like "exegetical". it's not the only way to teach. but it works. and i love it. i just started with a passage of scripture and taught what the passage was saying. sure, since we're doing the 40 Days of Community we had a topic for the night, "growing together". so i went back to when i started growing...when i fell in love with the Words of life. i went to psalm 119. some rich theology on the value of the Lord's commands and obedience.

we just opened up the Scriptures and let them speak for themselves.

check it out: Psalm 119:33-40. the psalmist is so real. so helpless. and he's crying out to God in petition. Lord, teach me...and i will obey! (33) But not only teach me...i need help understanding! (34) i used to feel that way in algebra 2 or chemistry...that teacher could be pouring her heart into teaching, but i needed some divine intervention to put any logical sense to the words coming outa her mouth! here the psalmist is putting his complete dependence on the Lord. i need you to teach me so i can obey, and i need you to help me understand what you're teaching me so i can obey. and then...i need help even obeying! (35) pretty dependent here...teach me, help me understand and help me obey. then, incline my heart, help me want to obey! (36) and get rid of distractions (37). let me see it in my life so i can worship you (38). help me remember that all your ways are good...You are a good God...not some cosmic kill-joy, but a loving Father who knows what's best for His children (39). God, i want Your Word...i want the life You offer! (40) His Words give real LIFE!!!

call it ol' school. but i'm good with that. i love God's Word. it's amazing....