Skeleton You Are My Friend

It's April 26th! Can anyone believe that? Perhaps you can, but I cannot. Time has flown by since I first touched down on the tarmac of the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport back on July 3rd of 2009. I remember my first good idea was to go back to India in January and when that was pushed back to June I thought, "that is going to take an eternity to get here." But it's here! It's just around the bend. For so long I have said that I could leave tomorrow at any given time, but now that it's so close I am not ready! I could not leave tomorrow even if I had cleaned everything at my parent's house and packed everything up. My heart isn't ready, my head is not ready, my body isn't prepared to get back to that spicy, oily, delicious Indian food. My mind isn't ready to sit through classes again and the thought of beginning this new journey in teaching others how to study God's words and historical backgrounds or going through a book verse by verse with a class seems daunting at best. No wonder Timothy plucks a special string in my heart. He's a young guy, given a daunting task to teach and raise up elders, and then to take over Paul's ministry. Yikes! I am so thankful that I am doing this not for myself at all and I have a wonderful, gracious God who sees only my potential when he looks at me and not my weaknesses.

I was reading a piece of Francis of Assisi's writings today. He wrote about studying scriptures not merely to be wiser than others or teach in such a way as to receive others' wrongful marvel, but to study knowing one will never fully understand it all and the Spirit will always have understanding and revelations for us to revel in. I do not wish to study the Bible or teach it to gain earthly glory or praise from humans, but to know God more and help lead others to Truth. All of which I cannot do on my own and in my own strength. I am but an instrument and a tool for God to use however he so wishes. The last few sentences I read of Francis for today are exactly what I want to happen to me and the other students and staff I will be working with. In fact I pray this is what every follower and lover of Jesus Christ would become:

[writing about those who study the Scriptures]
Only in their words and actions will you know the ones in whom the spirit of God's Word dwells. For in their very lives, they will not draw attention to themselves, but will be like a clear glass through which you can see our most high Lord God, to whom every good belongs.

I know a handful of people in my life that are that clear glass through which I see glimpses of God's majesty. I pray that one day I might be like them and that my friends and family around me would not see me as the friend, sister, or cousin that travels the world, but the friend, sister, or cousin that they see Jesus through.