Central Bible College

We are starting a Bible College at our church this fall. It’s created a buzz around our Body, not just through the college age group, but also through professional adults who have longed to advance their education even in their later years. My husband has tried to convince me that I should try to pursue a degree through the college. Me...at age 50...going for a degree? Talk about a “new trick.” His logic was challenging, but I’m still not quite convinced that I want to put myself through all that class time and expense, not to mention the homework and who’s going to cook for the kids? Who’ll do the laundry and write my blog?

Are you sensing the drift here, or do I need to snow again? Actually, although my excuses do sound somewhat credible, I have to admit that my main struggle with the whole degree thing is pride. You see, I never went to college after high school, let alone Bible college. I’ve told the women of this church time and time again that I, without a doubt, do not deserve to be here, as the wife of the senior pastor (incredible man that he is) of the most awesome church in the nation. It’s only by the grace of God that He has brought me to the Kingdom for such a time as this. Think about it, I can’t sing (and my whole family said, “Amen”), I can’t play anything but the stereo and who plays a stereo anymore? It’s the grace, the magnificent grace of a Holy God that puts people, ordinary people, where He wants them to be.

Anyway, back to the pride thing. After much prayer and meditation, I believe that God has revealed to me the seed of my fear of going back to school. My fear is that everyone (in my class that is) will find out just how little I know…about anything. My fear is what my fellow classmates will think when I don’t already know what I’m being taught. When I say it out loud, it doesn’t make much sense does it? I’m deeply afraid that I won’t know what I’m being taught before I’ve learned it.

Do you realize how silly that sounds? It’s as silly as not wanting to give your heart to the Lord until you’ve cleaned yourself up!! Just as I can’t know what I haven’t been taught, you can’t clean yourself up by yourself! It takes a miracle-working God to take you from where you’ve been, clean you up and put you on the path where He wants you to go. Jesus said in John 12:47, “...I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.” School is not there to judge me, but to better me. Jesus said He didn’t come to judge you, but to cleanse you. I can’t learn what I need to know until I am taught by a teacher and you can’t be clean until you are washed by a Savior. Maybe we’ll bump into one another at the altar!

You never know, perhaps I will enroll at Central Bible College, Grand Rapids Campus in the fall. I’ll be the nerdy one in the front row with the Big Chief tablet and number two pencil!!

Cya
Brenda

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