Monday Musings

Picture this… a brightly decorated classroom, red tables, royal blue chairs, freshly swept area rugs, a yellow bulletin board, assorted crayons, craft materials, and a bookshelf filled with books and puzzles.

Now visualize this, entering the classroom there is a small group of three and four year old children ready for Sunday School.  Eager eyes are looking for hint of today’s lesson. 

What is today lesson? Creation?  Adam and Eve? Noah and the Ark?  No, today’s lesson is from the book of Job. Oh My! The children will be introduced to the book of Job.

God’s word is not sugar coated. God is real and so is the Word of God. Suffering, loss, heartache, betrayal, sickness, death are a just a few of the issues that are addressed in the pages of the Bible. When I look at some of the choices that women and men made in the Bible, I shudder. I want to flip some pages. Instead, when we look at the Bible in context and as a whole we discover from beginning to the end, that God is good, loving, kind, faithful, and forgiving.  

When we dig in God’s word for ourselves we discover a generous and loving God.

I am thankful that my former pastors and current pastor do not hide behind the comfort of clichés. They go to the deep places in God’s Word.  

One of my favorite pastors received his PhD from Vanderbilt. Another pastor received his undergraduate in Texas. He later would receive his Masters from Southern Seminary.  Currently, one of our former pastoral assistants is working on his PhD from Yale.  Am I name-dropping? Yes.

As a Sunday school teacher, I continue to be humbled and challenged by the opportunity to teach God’s Word. I am grateful for the scholars and educators who write the curriculum for Pre School. Most of all, I am rely on the Holy Spirit to fill me.