“Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.”

Several years ago, my husband, Bob, and I journeyed with our church family in a small group study to read the entire Bible in 90 days. It was quite a challenge for me, reading twelve pages each day for the course of 90 consecutive days. We could finally say, “We read the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation.” In all honesty, it was probably not the best idea, if you want to retain what you read. God’s Word isn’t meant to “speed read;” it is meant for us to nurture a living relationship with God, serve and love others in Christ’s image.

About six years ago, our daughter, Megan was invited to an evening Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) class in Waco while she lived in Hewitt. She expressed such delight in reading the notes, answering questions, hearing lecture and discussing in a small group setting. Bob and I are so thankful she was led to study God’s word so faithfully, in this delicate stage, as a young adult.
Megan would share specific lessons with me, as it touched her life situation, and her joy and dedication moved me to ask more questions about this particular study group. After all, I witnessed the Holy Spirit transforming her!

A few months had passed, and I was invited to attend a BSF welcome group on Fort Hood. After being introduced to this international, non-denominational four-fold approach to Bible study, I was asked to join a prayer group to let God work in calling out the leadership for an evening BSF group in our community. There was already a day class that met in Killeen, but no class was offered for working women. In the winter of 2014, God answered our prayer; a pilot class had been formed to start an
Evening BSF Women and School Aged Children Class, and the invitation was made for FUMC Killeen to become its host church. I believe it was God’s will for our church campus to fulfill the needs of this important ministry—a light on the hill.

The pilot class was a success with nearly 140 women and 30 school-aged children coming to understand the depth of God’s love. Since then, we have extended the invitation to our women of the church and community to share in this spectacular study. An Evening BSF Men’s Class has been formed, through prayer, and hosted at First Baptist Church in Belton. Bob accepted the invitation to join the Men’s BSF Class in 2017 for the study of John, and I believe he feels privileged to share his on-going
experience. We enjoy studying the Bible lessons together, and we witness God’s wonderful transformation in both of us. We have an Almighty God who loves us beyond our comprehension, and we learn that we grow in Christ’s image when we spend time in His Word through scripture, prayer, and worship.

Prayer:
Gracious God, Your love is greater than we can fully understand. You seek us out through so many opportunities to grow in Your Word. Help us to listen to Your call and actively respond by inviting our neighbors as we are nurtured in Your wisdom, grace, and love. We ask this in the Name of Christ Jesus, Amen.

Contributed by Lisa Kure

“And do not forget to do good and share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.”

It’s the little things…..
I’ve always believed “It’s the little things that make the big stuff possible.” A simple smile, an encouraging word, or opening the door for someone are all “little things” we can do to improve someone’s day.
We can also share the Love of our Lord and Savior. This was difficult for me to do for a long time, but as I’ve continued on my own faith journey, I’ve found it much easier to do.
I encourage us all to share the Love of Jesus Christ and to do so with enthusiasm. You never know the impact it might have. The opportunity is in front of us each and every day. Let’s take advantage of it.

Prayer:
Lord, we give thanks for the opportunity we have to make a difference in the lives of others, to know that the smallest of gestures can make the biggest of impacts. We pray for encouragement and confidence to reach out to others and share Your word. Amen.

Contributed by Glenn Morrison

In many cultures there is an ancient custom of giving a tenth of each year’s income to some holy use. For Christians, to observe the forty days of Lent is to do the same thing with roughly a tenth of each year’s days. After being baptized by John in the river Jordan, Jesus went off alone into the wilderness, where he spent forty days asking him-self the question what it meant to be Jesus. During Lent, Christians are supposed to ask one way or another what it means to be themselves.

– If you had to bet everything you have on whether there is a God or whether there isn’t, which side would get your money and why?

– When you look at your face in the mirror, what do you see in it that you most like and what do you see in it that you most deplore?

– If you had only one last message to leave to the handful of people who are most im-portant to you, what would it be in twenty-five words or less?

– Of all the things you have done in your life, which is the one you would most like to undo? Which is the one that makes you happiest to remember?

– Is there any person in the world or any cause that, if circumstances called for it, you would be willing to die for?

-If this were the last day of your life, what would you do with it?

To hear yourself try to answer questions like these is to begin to hear something not only of who you are, but of both what you are becoming and what you are failing to become. It can be a pretty depressing business all in all, but if sackcloth and ashes are at the start of it, something like Easter may be at the end.

~originally written by Frederick Buechner & published in Whistling in the Dark and
later in Beyond Words