I’ve felt like I’m falling behind recently. Part of that I think is that this chapter should have been blogged on two weeks ago. Lots of things have changed recently, though. Probably the largest change has been that my position at the INN has become full time. The way this came about was incredible timing and more was going on behind the scenes that I will probably never know about, but I am thankful to be able to give more of myself to this place more consistently.

What then of the Stead Halstead School of Biblical Literacy? Originally designed as a proactive use of my part-time status and a orderly way to fill my hunger for scripture that has been developing over the last few years, being full time would seem to get in the way. Not so though! My additional 20 hours a week are funded by the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, granting me title of “Second Year Intern”. One piece of the Trust’s desire for the interns that it supports is that they would be going through some sort of training program. The “Bible School” fits exactly that. Perhaps that’s why I had to put this thing together all along. God knew.

I’m still working out the details on how the school fits into the weekly INN schedule, especially since my primary study time used to be during staff meetings, which I now attend. This has caused the small delay and various hiccups in my planning, but I’m getting back on it. Digging into Luke today, I found myself reading and reading, and without even thinking about it, shooting straight past my target reading. I’m fine with that, but I was excited by how quickly the time passed, and how consumed I was by the reading. I had to get up and go though, only because it was time to be back at FPC getting ready for the INN tonight.

In particular, Luke 3:7-16 jumped out at me. People are gathered to be baptized by John the baptist. What seems like out of no where, John starts laying into those gathered, with insults about being a brood of vipers, their lineage, and that trees not bearing fruit would be cut down. Yikes! Tough words to swallow.

John doesn’t turn away after this verbal lashing though and leave the people to do whatever they wanted to do. If it were me dispensing the harsh words (from God, even), I think I’d want to get them off my chest and get out of town.

God has a different way though, and one I should take a lesson from. After John has said what he has to say, the people ask him, “What then should we do?”, and John answers. In so many ways, this is entirely more caring than I would have been. It reminds me that God’s message is both a reminder that I’m broken, as well as an affirmation that He is using my brokenness and with me through it.

Also amazing to me is the question, “What then should we do?”. It probably shouldn’t be so amazing, either. That’s the question I should be asking every time I read scripture. I think that it’s a question that my generation is missing and forgetting to ask. This question digs for application of scripture to our lives. It’s more than a, “So what?”, but still seeking to understand how to go forward with what we’ve learned.

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