Happy Wednesday!

This fall semester is already starting out to be a busy one. Wednesday is going to be especially busy for me. I have BHE Fellowship at 7:00 am followed by a full day of teaching first graders and then it is on to class at Brite and finally to praise team rehearsal at church. I did not get home until around 8:30. Bruce, at this writing is on his way home from Shreveport LA. He did an installation of a door out there today. He says he will be home around 1:30 am. I will write this entry and then send it to him, but I don’t think he will post until in the morning. Please pray for his safe journey.

Also, a friend of mine from Tyler, (you know who you are) attends a church that has put up a bulletin board style apple tree and wrote the names of teachers on apples and placed them on the tree. These teachers are prayed for by friends and church members. My friend placed my name on the tree. I felt so blessed that she would think of me. What a cool idea. Maybe more churches could adopt this practice…I know congress does not want us to pray in school, but don they really expect us to do our jobs without a prayer?! Thank you, my sweet friend in Tyler.

1 Corinthians 8:35 “I want you to live in the right way, to give yourselves fully to the Lord without concern for others.”

Wow! Does God ever place scripture before me in a timely manner? I attended my first Christian ethics class today. It is a huge class with 30 + enrolled. And I already have a paper due next Wednesday on “Moral Discernment in the Christian Life.” Nothing like getting started with a bang!! That is a really big enrollment for a master’s level class. At the end of class today we were presented with a case study over a controversial subject. Our task was to mesh the moral issue with a theological ethic and come up with an opinion on the issue. I listened to the people in my group all say that they were pro on this particular issue. After I listened to their views and opinions I spoke and said that I was not for this issue. I then expressed why and my reason for not believing this was morally right and for me not a theologically sound practice.

The scripture passage says “give yourselves fully to the Lord without concern for others”. This passage does not say give only part of yourself to the Lord, it ways give yourself fully. It does not say we can live with one foot in heaven and one foot on the earth. We must make a decision. We must make a choice.

As I continue through this class I am praying and will continue to pray for clear choices and to be brave enough to share my own personal moral ethic as it relates to my belief system and my faith. When I share my thoughts and beliefs with this largely liberal group of people, I pray I will not be afraid or arrogant. What I really hope to share above all is that I may not agree with the opinions and beliefs expressed by others, but that I will love and respect them because that person is a child of God. After all, God does not always like what we do, have done or will do, but that has never stopped Him from loving us.

Take joy in the journey and when you get the chance; listen with love. Love you all, Bruce, Gaylene, Geni and Travis.

Gcapplenotes@aol.com

I am not moved by what I see. I am not moved by what I feel. I am moved only by what I believe and I believe God.

PS Geni begins school again very early in the morning. Keep her in your prayers.