Happy Thursday!

Prayer updates: We saw Will today. He was sitting in his Mom’s car, smiling and talking, but with a headache. He had an MRI today with results coming tomorrow. Please continue to keep Will and his family in your prayers.

Geni and Travis are traveling to Nacogdoches for the weekend. Please pray travel mercy on our children.

And tonight we received word that our friend David (of Carme and Dave) is having surgery on October 8. He will remain in the hospital until Thanksgiving. Keep him and Carme in your prayers.

And tomorrow Carme begins her teaching career in San Antonio. She is so excited and we are so thrilled for her. Please pray for her to not overdo it. The children she will teach are in for such a blessing.

Tonight I am writing to me.

Isaiah 32:17 “And the fruit of righteousness shall be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and assurance forever.”

I am in a Christian Ethics class at Brite. In the last two class meetings I have remained silent. I am taking notes and reading, but I am lost during the discussions. I feel as if I am in the middle of a fish bowl and everyone else is swimming around me. The vocabulary and language many of my classmates are using in the discussions is so scholarly and seemingly so far above my knowledge that this class is beginning to make me really nervous.

I was talking to Bruce about this tonight and as he so caringly and lovingly let me talk until I finally figured out the problem. This class is based on theories, ideologies and opinions. So far there is nothing to ground myself in or a place to begin to build a knowledge base.

In my first paper I wrote that my foundation was in The Word. So far in this class The Word has not figured into the picture. (I am hoping that will change!) So for now I am being quiet. I am trying to listen for God’s voice and direction and knowledge greater than myself. What I am praying for is peace.

I know that peace is not the absence of the storm, but living in the eye of the storm in the presence of the assuring God. In this class, it seems to be sort of a dry land in great need of the calming river of peace. I want to feel successful in this class. So, I very much am seeking God’s divine intervention into my thinking and in my reading and understanding of the material presented. I pray that I will have something to offer to this class. But more than that, I pray that God will abide in me and keep me focused on His will so that when I offer to the class or write it will be a witness to His Word and work in my life.

God is not the author of confusion so I will continue to listen, read and try to make sense of the topics and believe that God in His infinite wisdom will impart some to me and that I will understand.

So if you find yourself sitting in the middle of a fish bowl and the world is swimming around faster than you can comprehend, plant yourself on a rock and hang on. God who loves all of us so very much will help us rise to the surface where all things will be clear.

Take joy in the journey. 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.