Happy Wednesday! 

I am sorry for not having written in a day or two.  I am up to my armpits in a large pastoral care paper followed closely on the heels by a major NT test.  The plan is to complete the pastoral care paper on Friday and I am on the home stretch for this one. Then I plan to  study non-stop from Monday through Wednesday and take the test on Thursday morning at 8:00 AM.  Please begin your prayers now.

This weekend we are going to Wall’s Christmas Tree Farm outside of Terrell on Saturday.  Our family plus Sarah will be joined by Mike, Mandy, Olivia and Tatum.  We are so excited that Mike, Mandy and the girls are going with us. Tatum is our young cousin who is in remission from leukemia and is on a maintenance program.  She is able to get out now and be around others.  So hay wagon and hot chocolate, Christmas trees and family here we come!!!

Prayer:  This is the day the LORD has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. It is a day that You have prepared for me. While I don’t know everything I will face, You do. Give me grace to trust You for every event, every encounter I will make, and let my life be pleasing to You. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

“By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.”

Hebrews 11: 8

Today as I was writing my pastoral care paper I stopped to go to the kitchen to get a refill on my coffee.  I found myself praying, “Lord, help me to have the wisdom to write this paper and have it be found acceptable to my professor.  But more than that, help this writing reflect the work you have done in me through knowledge and experience as a witness to others of You.” 

Talk about stepping out on faith.  Five years ago I stepped out on faith and entered Brite Divinity School as an “older” student. At the same time, Brite Divinity School stepped out on their faith to accept me even though I had not been a student for thirty years.  I had not written a paper or read a scholarly work in forever and yet here we struck out on this journey together. 

I had fought God for a long time about entering seminary and the ministry and I was being disobedient.  God had been calling me for a long time and it took a major crisis to cause me to focus on God’s voice and hear His call. 

When God called Abraham, he obeyed.  His call by God caused him to leave home, family and business and yet he went.  Abraham went because he believed god and obeyed! 

Faith involves risk. If faith does not involve risk then it is not faith—not from the divine side, but from the human standpoint.  If we could see each step of our faith then it is not faith.  Sometimes it becomes necessary to do what God calls us to do without knowing the consequences. Abraham went into the unknown, trusting God. I entered seminary not knowing that I was being called into the pastoral care ministry. I just thought I would continue teaching in a different school.

And as I recall there were two young people  who chose the journey of a lifetime that began in a barn in Bethlehem and ended on a hill in Jerusalem. Let us ask God to teach us to trust and walk with Him and to obey so that our faith with grow.

Take joy in this Advent journey.  Wear comfortable shoes and get some sleep.  Count your many blessings and say your prayers.  Love you all so very much, 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 only moved by what I believe and I believe God.