IT IS WRITTEN...

I’ve enjoyed teaching this semester so far. My students here make me smile.  

From new freshmen classes, to seeing sophomores step up in leadership, I feel honored to be serving here in Ethiopia.

my freshmen Architecture students, Professional English class

our three student candidates for student body president

I’m always looking for ways to “thread” some spiritual truth or story about God into my class time. 

Last week in classes, we were talking about professional emails.  In one class, I gave an in-class activity to practice writing a professional-business email.  I gave them two options of who to write to.  They could write to their current Prime Minister or to God. And they could ask any three questions, any questions they wanted. To my delight, most chose to write to God.

What great and interesting discussion and thoughts came from that activity!

Some of the questions and comments for God were funny and expected. Others were surprising. Most seemed deeply sincere. 

Here were some questions asked to God…

I know you gave me a good brain- but why did you not give me a chance to use it?

Why have you made me senseless for many things…like love, family, friendship…?

What is the purpose for me to live in this world, b/c this world is very dirty?

Please give me wisdom like King Solomon.

How can I trust you and find you?

Is there life after death?

What is the way to heaven?

How do I pray to you?

Will you bless me?

I’m sorry I haven’t emailed you before… I didn’t know your email address.

Can you tell me what will happen in my life?

How do you manage all people?

Is the girl I’m dating the one I’m supposed to marry?

Please make me a billionaire.

Please give me a beautiful mind.

Can I see you more every day?

We talked about these questions and I told them many of these questions have already been answered…it is written already…in God’s Word…

For example…one student’s questions …why is the world getting worse and worse, why am I in it…and when will it all end…

…the Bible answers these questions already.

One student wrote…God, why are you so quiet?

Is God quiet? Or is He speaking? 

We had discussion and I told some stories.  He is speaking all the time. Through nature, through people, through His Word.

Psalm 19:1

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands

Hebrews 4:12

For the word of God is alive and active.

Many thoughts came to my mind after this class time….

If I had three questions I could ask God…what would I ask?

And then have these questions already been answered, have they already been written about in God’s Word???

Maybe if God seems quiet to you…it’s because you already know the answer.  It has already been written…

Deuteronomy 30: 11-20

Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach.  It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?”  Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?”   No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.

 See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction.  For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.

But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.
This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Psalm 119:105

Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.

 

Psalm 119:10-11

I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.

God really wants us to seek Him.  Am I really seeking him?

Like each of us like to be missed when we’re not present, or sought after by those we love, God is the same.  He wants us to seek Him, involve Him in every moment of our lives…

Isaiah 55:6

Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near.

Deuteronomy 4:29

But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Matthew 7:7

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

Our God has written and spoken!  He is writing and continues to speak!

And He will continue to do so!!!

May we be looking for and listening to Him and responding to His voice in trust!

Deuteronomy 11:18-24

Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.  Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates,  so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.  If you carefully observe all these commands I am giving you to follow—to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him and to hold fast to him— then the Lord will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations larger and stronger than you.  Every place where you set your foot will be yours…

This is my prayer!

                                                  

Onward with You!

PRAYER REQUESTS

-My Dad is continuing to do well following his back surgery.  Just yesterday, he had a follow-up doctor’s appointment and the doctor was very pleased with how well He is doing . Thank you for continuing to pray for Him!  Please continue to pray for my whole family…that God will keep us healthy.

-Please keep our current school semester in prayer, that God will give me opportunities and creative ideas to share His truth and love in classes.

-Some friends I know are seeking visas to be approved, others are looking for work, please pray God’s hand in all!

-Please pray for wisdom, courage, and good relationship building with students, staff, and neighbors.

-Please pray for my book, that I can find time to finish my draft.

-Our Ethiopia Easter is celebrated here on May 5. As the countdown to that continues-many of our students have been fasting, pray that the holiday will open up opportunities for good conversation and relationship building.

-Please continue to pray for my friend Debelle and his family, that God will open up new doors for them and continued healing in the days ahead.

Thank you for your prayers and partnership!