2 Timothy 2:2

I was a little bummed to find out one of the students couldn't make it to a Bible reading time today. Nevertheless, I always love reading with Rachel, and was grateful for some much needed one-on-one time with her as my time here is nearing an end.

On that note, we got to talk about what the study will look like after I leave. I asked her about what she sees me do when we spend these times together. It made me smile when she said that I don't let her off the hook with the tough parts of the Bible. I hope that's always true; I hope I'm making people think more than just giving them candy coated answers, or even just quickly responding with an answer. It's often best to give someone time to figure things out for themselves. She had some other comments and all I could think was, "God, You are so great!"

We talked about the structure of our time, and how it's really pretty fluid.

"I like how you got to know me first, and saw where I was before we just dove into things," she said.

I write this out mainly as a reminder to me. I know there are times when I assume too much--there are plenty of times where I ignore the person. It's true that in relationships we need to build trust first before we can speak into each others' lives. I keep reading in Proverbs about well-timed rebukes and corrections, after all.

We also spent some time talking about the goals of meeting together. I had a couple of big ones, at least for me. I wanted her to fall in love with the Bible by understanding its deeply connected history, and by seeing the fruit from reading it on a consistent basis. Not because the Bible is anything special, but because our loving God makes it special. I also desired for the title of this post to come true. That our reading together wouldn't end with my leaving, but that she could continue reading with others. That they would learn together.

Oh how wonderful it was to discuss these things, and to know whatever happens, I can trust God with it all.

We spent a little bit of time reading the end of Matthew. Both of us talked about how engrossed in the story we were. "Everything is so dramatic!" Rachel mentioned.

It's true. It's a beautiful story, and it's quite amazing to see Jesus pray the prayer (thrice!) for the cup to be taken from Him. I immediately think of the verse in Hebrews that talks about the great high priest who can sympathize with our every weakness.

To make a strange turn, but hopefully still connect, I'm nearing the end of East of Eden. You see, I enjoy it so much, I don't want to finish it, because I want it to keep going. I haven't felt this way for awhile except for two other (non-Bible) books: The Count of Monte Cristo and Jane Eyre. That's when you know something is worth reading--when you don't want it to end. (Or do I simply have the Hansen syndrome? hehe)

And that's what makes the Bible even more amazing. This is our (Rachel's and my) second time to read through Matthew in our two years of reading the Word together. We both talked about how we'll even read it again and get something else out of it. It truly is living and active!

Ahh! I have so much to say, but perhaps I should make a whole other post out of it. This is good enough for now. I'm just so thankful.