Jessica: 2 Timothy 3:16-17

Yeah, I know.  It's me again.  After my last post I told myself, "Ok seriously, give these poor people a break."

Here's the problem: the more I write the more ideas pop into my head, and sometimes it feels like if I don't share them with someone I might explode.  So thank you for saving me from my spontaneous combustion.  You may stop reading now if you like and go back to your regularly scheduled programming.

....Still here?  Ok, Then I have to tell you ahead of time that this post has absolutely nothing to do with mission work in the Dominican Republic, and everything to do with following God in a deeper way, a lesson I learned (again) over the weekend. Still interested? Cool.

This weekend I had the privilege of helping to lead a group of girls in my church's youth group to a women's conference in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic. We all had a wonderful time, and I will always treasure those moments I was able to spend with the girls worshiping God and getting to experience so many new things.

Of course, most of the conference-y type things were not new to me.  No sir, this good little Christian girl has been to her fair share of conferences. I walked confidently into the auditorium, sang loudly along to the fast-paced songs the worship band was playing on stage accompanied by a reasonably stimulating light show, and proudly took out my journal and pen to take notes when the speakers came up. In all honestly, it was very refreshing for me to get away from my everyday ministry for a few days, and many of the speakers had some great things to say.

It wasn't until the second day of the conference that I noticed something strange I was doing. I was awake and alert as I listened to the women on stage (at least most of the time-those girls sure do love to watch television late into the night, and let's face it, I'm not as young as I once was) and I was even writing down some good quotes from their messages. Halfway through a message I happened to look over at my co-leader's notes; she had hardly written down anything that the speaker had said.  However, she had jotted down every single Scripture verse that the speaker had referenced.  I looked back over at my notes. Not a single verse was recorded.  I thought back to the sessions I had been sitting through and realized that almost every time a speaker referenced a verse in the Bible, I had zoned out.  My thought would always be pretty much the same: "Yep, I've heard that one before. Jesus, love, all that good stuff." And then the speaker would say something thought-provoking and catchy, and boom-her thoughts were immortalized in my notebook.

Are you hearing me, people? I was giving more importance to the words of humans than to the Word of the one true God. 

Ouch. That's not just stupid, that's alarming. Do you know what an idol is? It is anything you put before God, whether it's a person, an object, or an activity. For me, humans words had become an idol; I would highlight words in books that famous Christians had written, and I would go to friends and mentors to ask for advice before I would bother going to God's word to hear his opinion.  In that moment I realized just how little significance I had given to reading the Bible and studying his word.

I remember in one particular college course our professor made us memorize some passages of scripture for our exams, in hopes that we would recognize the importance of committing scripture to memory. Confession time-I only memorized the scripture for the exam, and proceeded to erase it from my memory when I walked out the door (sorry Professor Hull). The only one I can sort of remember is 2 Timothy 3:16-something, about all scripture being good for teaching, rebuking, etc. We had to memorize a bigger chunk than that, but I will copy down what I remember because I guess for me it is most important:

"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

The first time I attempted to commit that to memory was about three years ago. So imagine my surprise when, on the last day of the conference, a woman stood up and had dedicated much of her talk to explain why reading the Bible is important. What was one of the main scriptures she used? 2 Timothy 3:16-17.  By then God had my complete attention. And I found that as I stayed tuned in for the scripture verses, her talk became alive for me, as did the words in my Bible. I was excited to read more, to learn more. Not that God's word has never been exciting for me; as a hopeless human I go through cycles of getting excited about hearing from God one day and then choosing to watch a movie and go to bed instead of listening to him the next day. But as I grow older and wiser (hopefully) I think these cycles will focus longer and longer on God and less and less on the world.

And because God really likes to drive in a point, let's fast forward to the next day at church. My pastor had been planning for a few weeks now to go over our philosophies and beliefs as a church, explaining to the congregation what exactly a Calvary Chapel (that's us) believes in and why our services look a little different from other denominations. He used many scripture references to support our beliefs, and you would never guess one of the passages he referenced-2 Timothy 3:16-17. It will never cease to amaze me how God does it; he is unwavering in his character and is intolerant of sin, and yet when he calls us back to him it is in the gentlest, most patient way. Even when crazy stuff happens and we feel pain, usually the consequence of our own sin or someone else's, if you close your eyes and be still for a moment you can hear him, ever so softly, reminding you of his great love for you.

I don't know about you, but I'm going to try harder to listen to that every day, instead of watching that extra episode of TV or getting that extra half hour of sleep.  Because listening to that is what gives us purpose.

Read God's word.  He wrote it for you.

P.S. Just a mini announcement that will have absolutely no impact on your lives-I have decided to leave the family blog and create a new one just for myself. I know, I can hear your groans from here. You don't have to read it or even subscribe to it, although you should know that your decision will directly affect my self-esteem. So no pressure. But seriously.

If you want to hear about how I royally screw up over and over again in my new life in Batey 7, this new blog is for you (haven't heard the big announcement? Read it here). You probably don't want to hear my opinions about how to have success in ministry, but you will get that too. And who knows? You might even be treated to some throwback stories, like the day I almost met Michael Jordan. Or was that the day I made an idiot out of myself in front of my close friends and a long line of strangers and a cop and a Foot Locker employee? It's hard to keep these stories straight.

Where was I? Oh, right. Look for my new blog in the next couple of weeks. It will be called "The Bad American," and my first blog will explain why I decided to call it that. I hope you check it out!