Wednesday, August 24, 2005

With Fear and Trembling...

I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.
1 Corinthians 2:3-5

It is with a decent amount of trepidation that I begin this day. It is the first day of the Fall Semester at Milligan College. And this is not just any semester, but one in which I have been conscribed to mold young Christian minds in the faith. I have been charged with teaching Old Testament Survey to incoming freshmen students. It will be their first class and for many it will be the first taste of thinking outside the conservative, Sunday School box of Christianity.

It is my charge to set the foundation for the rest of the students’ learning while at the school. A lofty task if you ask me. And perhaps what scares me the most is not that I will be unable to answer a question, or that I do not know everything about the Old Testament, but that I will not properly convey the information, causing a crisis of faith in these spiritually immature minds, leading them down the dark road of apostasy.

I am indebted to many who have shaped me and patiently worked with me through the difficulties of the Old Testament. I think of Dr. Paul Kissling who would not let me leave GLCC with the same stubborn pride that I came in with. I think of Dr. Chris Rollston who could explain the contradictory, difficult material of Old Testament in such a way that I could wrap my brain around it.

May God use me to be the first step on a stairway that leads closer to Him, and not further away.