We are currently studying the Gospels, just the Gospels. We are comparing them to each other looking for similarities and differences. This is a rather hot topic in the outside world because often the differences in the four Gospel accounts are said to be inconsistencies. From that thought it doesn't take long to challenge the veracity of the entire biblical canon. There is no better place to find out what these challenging questions are than in a setting such as this. We hope to prepare ourselves for the questions and challenges that will come to all of us when we leave home and go off to college. It is very exciting.
We decided to focus on the Gospels as we considered that without them, what they tell us about Jesus Christ, his life and ministry, we would not be Christians at all. We theorized that if you took Genesis out of the Bible we would still possibly be Christ followers. We also thought that if we took Revelation out of the Bible we could still believe in Jesus Christ. We could actually, and this is just theoretical, take the theologically deep book of Romans out of the Bible and still love Jesus. But, if we removed the Gospels, had no knowledge of them nor their source materials, we would have no idea that Jesus even existed, or if we knew we would have no understanding of who he really was, taught, and did for us. We would read the writings of the Apostle Paul and just be baffled. Therefore, we decided that it would be in our best interest to check the Gospels out thoroughly. Cool.
I love these young men. I am not anxious for this year to be over. I will miss them all greatly. I am currently working on my support for my future Timber Bay ministry to at risk youth. It is slower going than I thought it would be, but the economy is difficult and I've been ill for three to four months with kidney stones. I hope that these have been taken care of as I had surgery to remove them and will be having additional parathyroid surgery to keep them from coming back. It's not a big deal surgically as it is done on an out patient basis. In one day I'll be as good as new. I fear, though I'll have to accept this if it becomes a reality, that I might have to step down from this small group ministry next year as I'll be so involved with the at risk youth with Timber Bay. There are just so many hours in the day and I know that the needs of the youth, Lord willing, I will be working with will be great.
So, I keep in prayer and keep pushing forward. I pray for economic growth and new optimism within our nation. At the same time I pray that our faith will grow through these difficult times, that we will not forget the lessons about God's majesty and provision for all of us. His eye is on the sparrow so we know He is watching us.
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