New Ideas!

Well, it's been about three months here at Bethany, and so taking classes and stuff you get a bunch of information shoved into your head. With all this information you start to realize how little you actually know about the bible, and everything that is in it. (at least for me) I came out probably learning 100% more than I knew before. Yet also with this information coming in it is hard to sort through it all and make sense of it all. There is just so much coming at you there is no time to reflect on it and actually understand it, or look at it from your own personalized perspective. There is no time to make it your own, or so it seems. This kind of annoys me, because I think that the point of the bible is the relationship with Jesus, and spending time in his word in order to build your relationship with God. Yet, we get all this information crammed into your head and you get to write a final exam on it, so you get good at memorizing facts, and different words, is there actually time to make it my own? Is there time to choose what I believe out of all of it, is there room to make sense and sort it all out in my head.

I have no problem with the information, but facts are only facts. They are only pieces of information, they are only historical events, or different people's perspectives on different things. Is not the point of Christianity the relationship? Is not the point to make it my own so that I can grow in my relationship with God? That is my goal this holiday season... not to study even more so I can turn myself in even more circles and get more knots for me to work through. But to review and just take it at a slowed perspective so I can start to make it my own, and start to fully understand what I just spent three full months studying. Don't get my wrong I know the facts, but do I believe them? Do I fully understand the significance of the big picture that they represent? Not yet, not fully.... that is the goal the purpose for me, to start to sort through the knots, some of the questions that I have and start to fully realize what the big picture is, what it all means in the context of my life, and how to see it through the lens of me, Nick Poetker. I pray that this process is lead by God, and that I can make sense of some things that are confusing me, and solidify things that are wish-washy.

Nick Poetker