The bible study went ahead yesterday evening; we’re working through a course called Discipleship Explored. The readings come from the book of Philippians in the New Testament.
Trying, at the very start, to think through quite a difficult question – which the course raises, and perhaps tries to answer. I guess that now, in my fifties, I reckon that even how you formulate the question differs for different branches of Christianity. But one version is: how do I know that I am a Christian? Not a problem, if you define a Christian as, for example, someone who attends church. But if you incorporate into your definition ideas like ‘born again’, or ’saved’, then you may have to consider the possibility that, outwardly, you appear to be a Christian, but something inside is missing.
And when Jesus tells the parable of the sower (which I shan’t attempt to link to, but shouldn’t be difficult to find), he does imply that an individual can receive the word of God, but fail to reach fruition. Whereas, as the speaker on the DVD reiterated: what God starts, he finishes …
Thinking
It’s still dark; the rest of the family are still in bed; the radio is on (Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight’ sonata). I have been reassured by this morning’s bible reading (1 John 2:12-17). To-day, we trail to the hospital – but in some ways the geneticist is the most valuable of the consultants we see – though we appreciate them all. Who would have thought that job titles such as oncologist and endocrinologist would have become so familiar?
Our daughter is keen to take the opportunity of attending this particular hospital to visit a radiotherapy nurse who was so kind to us. It’s been quite an adventure …
Thinking
My daughter is at Guides; my son is watching 6 episodes of Pokemon back to back; and my wife is having her tea. I’m feeling somewhat frazzled, especially after 2 meetings to-day (meetings are, most definitely, not my thing).
Yesterday evening, my daughter and I visited the high school she will be attending next year. Scary, for both of us. To-morrow, my wife, my daughter, and I shall be making our way to one of Edinburgh’s hospitals to see the geneticist. I was a little concerned yesterday, speaking to the Support for Learning teacher, to learn that she hadn’t heard of the condition my daughter (and my wife) has (or should that be have?). I do hope that, once they do grasp the implications, they can help us. From what I’ve been told, the secondary school years can be difficult.
Thinking