I found this unfinished blog post from
a couple of months ago when I was looking for the unfinished portions
of the postings I just made and thought I would post it too, with my
additions to finish it with more recent events.
*****
This week I am so grateful for two
teenagers who are our weekly babysitters as without them I would have
not received the profound word I did at our Bible Study. We were
discussing John 5:1-15. For those who are not familiar here is the
extract for those who are familiar you can skip to the next part (but
you may want to read it anyway):
John 5:1-15
1 Some time
later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals.
2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a
pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda[a]
and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Here
a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame,
the paralyzed. [4] [b]
5 One who was there had been an invalid for
thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there
and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he
asked him, “Do you want to get well?”
7 “Sir,”
the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when
the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes
down ahead of me.”
8 Then
Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9 At
once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.The day on which
this took place was a Sabbath, 10 and so the Jewish
leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath;
the law forbids you to carry your mat.”
11 But
he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your
mat and walk.’ ”
12 So
they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and
walk?”
13 The
man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away
into the crowd that was there.
14 Later
Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well
again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” 15 The
man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had
made him well.
There was so much that we discussed (I
really like our Bible Study group.). But one of the biggest things
that stood out to me was when our leader for that study asked the
question: “What does Jesus’command ‘Get up! Pick up your mat
and walk.’ mean to you?” We talked about it in somewhat general
terms first. General as in we all had thoughts about it pertaining to
us as missionaries taking ourselves up and out of our lives in our
countries of origin. Literally moving our stuff (our mats) and
walking out into the wider world. We talked about how this man in
doing what Jesus told him probably was stepping into a world that he
knew little if anything about as he had spent almost 40 years
(perhaps his whole life?) in one spot.
Then we got more specific. We each have
big and little examples of this. Our leader said that he viewed it in
his own life at times like God was saying to get over yourself and
just do what you are suppose to do. We also thought it applied to our
specific roles as missionaries. In what ways was Jesus’command
directed at us?
For me it is being willing to let other
things go to be there and engaged with my family. It also means
engaging in the community with other ladies so I can be a support to
them as they are to me.
And other things...but sometimes
commands are personal. :)
*As I said this was written a couple of
months ago. In our Bible Study we are currently in John 8. This week
I am leading, the first time in a VERY long time that I have done
that. The section I have selected in John 8:12-30. I have been
spending some time reading over that passage and making notes and It
has been a really great experience, even though it has been hard. It
has also been a lesson in not comparing myself to others.
You see, the other members of our Bible
Study have a lot more experience than I do, through age, more
schooling, or just this seemingly natural ability to absorb the Word
and lead conversation well. I am trusting God to speak through me,
and it is not my abilities but Him working through me this Wednesday.
I don't know if any of this will be
important to anyone out there in the 'verse. But I am putting it out
there because it is an important part of our lives and I want to
share it with everyone.
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