What The Bible Means to Me - December Update

If you have been following my blog posts, you may know that Emmaus is currently in the process of restructuring our year long residential Bible School . Our hope is to make our school more accessible for every follower of Jesus to attend. Our hope is to see the lives and hearts of Christians transformed by discovering the God of the Bible and his ultimate plan of redemption through all time.We have made a lot of changes to our curriculum and desire to “test run” our school for a semester before we launch our year long program. Next semester (January-May) we will be launching what we have called our Pilot Program (I like to think of it as our dress rehearsal). In the past two weeks, we accepted our first students to this new program and have several others currently in the application process. This morning I was thinking about our incoming students and getting excited for them. I’m so excited to see their lives transformed by the Scripture!!!!! I’m excited to enter into the mess of life with them and work through understanding Scripture!!!!!!!!As I was thinking about the immense life change that I hope and pray will happen for them, I thought about what the Bible did for me, and decided to share that story with you.I grew up in a great Christian home and was discipled to follow Jesus. Although I regularly read the Bible and could understand what it said and how Jesus loved me, I didn't know the story of the Bible. I didn’t understand the books as a whole. I didn't know why I believed what I believed.I also wrestled with constant anxiety. I was very emotionally driven, frequently basing my decisions on how I felt at the moment rather than on truth. I didn't fully understand who I was or how God could love me. I was trying to follow him and his will for my life, but I didn't know his Word. I needed to discover who I was, and I needed help.Studying the Bible rescued me. Each book I studied showed me my own story of brokenness and the surpassing glory of Jesus Christ.Philemon taught me the importance of relationships and the power of restoration in the midst of brokenness.Romans taught me that Christ traded his righteousness for my sin. I learned that when he died, I died, and when Jesus raised again I rose (Is this right) again into newness of Life.Ephesians taught me who I was. The Ephesians themselves echoed the cry of my heart, a longing to be right with God. Paul showed me the work of Christ in my own inefficiency.Galatians set me free.Leviticus showed me the intentional heart of God and his ultimate plan of redemption.Genesis taught me about hope.Exodus showed me the story of the Gospel. How we were enslaved with no hope and God rescued us and brought us into new life.Habakkuk taught me how to wrestle through hard times. He taught me what it looked like to disagree with God.Nehemiah taught me how to deal with disappointment.The whole story of the Bible taught me how God is faithful to me when I am unfaithful. It showed me who I am because of Jesus, and how to walk in life with him. My whole way of seeing the world has been transformed because of these 66 books. It’s why I’m so excited for these students who are about to journey through the New Testament with us and can’t wait to see their lives transformed through the Gospel.We are in the final stages of getting our Pilot Program ready. This looks like prepping books that we will teach next semester. I will be teaching Mark, 1 Corinthians and 1 Peter. On top of studying to teach, we are also rewriting our student manuals, and prepping the classroom for students. Part of our program is focused on making our campus feel like home. There are a lot of things going on behind the scenes to make this school be intentional with our students.We are excited and anxious to launch this school on Feb. 8th. Please be praying for a smooth transition from school prep to launching, and that our students all arrive safely and are ready for this adventure through Scripture. Please also pray for our staff members to get fully funded. Along with me, several other staff families are needing more support.Thank you for praying for this ministry.