Commitment. It's Hard

Last night I had a revelation. I hope it turns into a behavior change. I must commit to preparing for the oral and studying for my homework. My new commitment is every other day. Every other day, I must do something to further my progress in the Methods of Bible Study class. Even if it's just reviewing what I read the last time, or marking one observation of a text for homework.

In other news...

The oral doctrinal exam is in less than two weeks. Chris and I developed a list of "the hard questions," questions we think we might be asked, and then ignored it for a few days. This weekend I was browsing my favorite resource, Desiring God, and I came across "A Baptist Catechism" while I was looking for the answer to the question, "what is a Baptist?" This resource essentially listed the answer and the scripture references to nearly all our hard questions, so I copied and pasted for a few hours. Then, this week, Chris and I took turns looking up scripture and answering the questions.

We both hope, at the very least, we can remember either a) what the verse says or b) where it says it when we need to.

But we were also relieved to find that we do know the answers to most of the hard questions. It takes us some time to find our answers...

Rose: What would you do if someone said they went to a church where everyone was speaking in tongues and being slain in the spirit? Chris: The Bible talks about the guidelines for speaking in tongues somewhere. Always a translator, how many people can do it, and the difference between tongues and prophecy. Rose: Right. The main point is that there is always a specific reason for the speaking in tongues. Also, it will only ever happen to God's glory, like bringing someone to salvation. Chris and Rose: *blank stares* Where does it say it?

Following concordance use and lots of tangents related to verses that speak on the spiritual gifts (also useful)... guidelines for orderly worship, which is used for building people up, are found in 1 Corinthians 14.

I am feeling very busy these days, but also very protected. I often wonder how we will manage classes, candidating, a family (well, someday!) and jobs, but I don't stress about it. Because I know I am being equipped for every good work, not just good works on the mission field but good works with our high school kids, our coworkers, our families - our OIKOS - I have peace.