Last night I had my first class at the Valley of Tenjo Baptist Institute on "Inductive Bible Study." The problem was that our car also has "pico y placa" (peak and license plate) on Thursdays, which means that we can't drive it in the city during rush hours.
Holly had gone with the kids to a book fair somewhere in Bogota, and I expected them to get back on time so that I could get out of the city before rush hour. Holly called twice to tell me how things were going, but it seemed like she would make it on time. I finally realized I'd waited too long, so I caught a taxi to go pick the car up where she'd left it. By that time I only had enough time to get the car back to our house before it was grounded.
I confess that I reacted in a sinful way because I felt angry about the whole thing. I asked Holly for forgiveness for my anger towards her, and had to leave on Transmilenio, which is the big bus system within Bogota. Thankfully there's a station about 5 minutes from our house, and it costs about 50 cents. I caught a bus out to the bus terminal on the edge of the city, and then took a bus to Tenjo.
Some people don't like using public transportation but it fascinates me. It's cheap, usually quick, and you don't have to worry about a few things that a driver normally has to worry about in this country (my two biggest fears are hitting an empty man hole or hitting a biker/motorcyclist).
I ended up spending the night in Tenjo with Scott because there really aren't very convenient bus routes back to Bogota after 9 p.m. As always it was a blessing to talk ministry with Scott.
Oh, the first class went excellently too! I definitely love teaching, especially in one of my favorite subjects like Bible study.
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Para mis hermanos que hablan español, aquí pueden acceder el seminario acerca de las 50 razones por las que murió Cristo en la cruz. El Pastor José y yo lo desarrollamos con base en el libro The Passion of Jesus Christ por John Piper.
La Pasión de Cristo
Just a quick post about the joy of being involved in the ministry here in Bogota and Chia. God has certainly not allowed me to get bored. Last week I had the privilege of teaching the Monday and Wednesday sessions on 50 reasons why Christ died on the cross. Pastor Jose and I used John Piper's book, The Passion of Jesus Christ as a starting point for the study, although we modified some of his points for theological reasons. On Friday, I preached my first Good Friday message; taught Sunday School and led the choral group on Resurrection Sunday, preached in seminary chapel last night and then had my first counseling session with a family from our church.
All of this speaking has really shown me my weaknesses in Spanish, but God has helped me to see this from a 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 perspective. When we are weak, He can be strong in us.
I posted some photos from my trip to the armory with Pastor Jose. We went two days this week, and Jose shared a seminar with them on sexually transmitted diseases. The idea of this type of seminar is to open more doors for the crisis pregnancy center in Chia. Jose was able to share that the only true way to prevent these type of diseases is fidelity in marriage.
The young men laughed at him each time that he mentioned this concept. "Impossible!" they yelled. But what should we expect? Without God in their lives, life-long fidelity appears absurd.
As God opens more doors, we will have more opportunities to share Christ. For example, yesterday a new couple came to the center. Jose and I had the first counseling session with them last night, sharing about what it means to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
