....but it is so incredibly the best investment of time, gas, and effort to be at Victory for Bible Information Class. I sure did miss this class when I was in WI, and it is so wonderful to be back in the thick of things. Last week we had no class because there was VBS during the day, occupying every available inch of classroom space.
Allowing extra time for traffic, I got there about 20 before class, parking in an empty lot. There was some homework to be done from the previous class so I filled in as many blanks as I could without having a Bible to reference. My Bible and my phone charger were left in the car which is in the shop, or I would have used the phone to look up the passages.
At last, Erica pulled in next to me, without her beau, Justin, along. He had something else going on so would miss the class. A bit later, another car pulled in with a young man at the wheel. Not sure of his age, but he is the manager of three local chicken restaurants.
Brett was glad to see other people parked there, since last week he came but no one else showed up. Oops! When Pastor came rolling in, with two minutes to spare before class, we all went into the church. He had everything already set up and while he got the computer booted up, he explained that there were two accidents on his street and the entrance ramp (or was it exit?) which held him up. I know how that it, and he is excused for being nearly late.
We first reviewed the homework from last time which brought about some interesting discussion in regard to heaven. I had one False/True answer of which I was unsure, and had circled the word in the statement which gave me pause. Pastor said to look up a passage in II Peter or somewhere and Brett asked him, as we looked it up, if Pastor knows that stuff off the top of his head. It really is uncanny how he can do that. Pastor said he has the advantage of working on Bible studies and sermons enough to commit those 'chapter and verse' references to memory.
Brett asked a few other questions taking us to into discussion not off topic but outside the booklet. I just love that! Erica shared a few things about what it's like to try to do customer service when people call in and just go off on her.
This brought back my remembrances of Sprint and the rough calls I had to handle gracefully. Brett, in the people managing and serving business, will often find himself challenged to keep his emotions in check despite what is being thrown at him, so to speak. Pastor reminded us that we might be the only Christ-like exposure a person might encounter that day. Wow, no pressure, right?
I just so very much enjoy this class, this comprehensive study of the Word as an introduction to Christianity. Oh, another thing we were talking about was the origin of the names of God, and listing His characteristics. We discussed how the Old Testament was written in Hebrew while the New Testament was written in the 'language of the people', koine Greek.
Pastor mentioned how English is the most commonly used language and Erica said that more people speak Mandarin Chinese, because they have so many people! The discussion evolved to Brett telling us how his mom is learning to speak Mandarin, because he has four siblings who are Chinese. His family, in NC, had adopted these little ones, now nearing or in their teens, when his mom felt it was her mission in life to be a parent to these abandoned girls. So sad!
Pastor had several questions about this for Brett, and he shared about the sad beginnings these babies had, one left on steps of City Hall in China somewhere, Brett got a bit choked up. He loves his family and his mom for doing this for these girls.
There is a family at Victory who adopted four kids from different Korean families, and all of them have some sort of physical malady. Brett was giving Pastor the contact information for his mom, who will share this with the Victory family so they can benefit from their medical experiences and contacts. Isn't that great? This came to pass simply through the passing remark about the language of the people, and that language is love!
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