Passions

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The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word...

Those words are found in Hebrews 1:1-4. I am glad glad glad that I found them today in part of my daily reading!!

Funny story - for what was probably the hundredth time I was telling my students to NOT speak in Arabic during the class hours as it was only going to detract from their learning English. They then told me I needed to learn Arabic. I refrain from expressing my very politically incorrect opinion of their ideas! They are here to learn English, they are learning a foreign tongue because they have found their own insufficient for certain purposes... They then try to convince the teacher of that foreign language that their own mother tongue is the one language you need to communicate to all other nations. That is what they were telling me. Perhaps it arose from some fanatic notion that that was the way it ought to be! Perhaps not - maybe they are just desperately homesick, God bless them. Either way I refrain from expressing my un-PCness ;)

They were also surprised at my not speaking it. I then said that it was no surprise as I did not happen to be Arabic and I was not Muslim, which would be the other reason to learn that language. They then said one day I would. Having left that sentence incomplete I assumed I would one day by some fantastic chance learn Arabic - maybe I will, to be an effective witness in some humanly improbable way the Lord cooks up! But they were not, in fact, saying that! What they were saying was that I would one day become Muslim!!!!!!!

You know me - if you happen to read this at all... So you can well imagine how that statement completely cracked me up. I tried very hard to suppress what most certainly would be classed as unholy laughter by my loving nincompoops! (A more modern term sounds more abrasive I'm afraid...) I was laughing because there was nothing else to do - they completely crossed the line and turned the next fifteen minutes into a hard-sell conversion campaign!

I would like to call them evangelicals - but they did not bring the Good News... I listened but the minute I spoke my piece they were not willing to hear. On the offensive, they were good. Very good - earnest, convinced, warm! On the defensive, they just closed up like a shell! LOL. I was glad of the opportunity to defend my faith. Despite being nearly called an idiot - how can you have all your qualifications? and think what you believe? yours is not rationality it's blindness.

I then gave them C S Lewis' classic line - if he'd been paid royalty for the number of times we pull his trick ;) I said you have to choose to call Jesus a liar, a fool or God. They were a little bit shocked as they insisted Jesus was a prophet nothing more. Bless them! (And heal the blindness, please, Lord?) I also never quite understood why they believed the kuran was the Word of God and the Bible wasn't... They were not willing to say. Lol, so I must blindly accept the false?? I then told them that even if they had the English to understand the archaeology, history and forensic research that held up evidence, I did not need to argue with them on it. I knew Jesus, I had a relationship with Him. No one else did in that room. We simply silently acknowledged the teacher's statement and conveniently bypassed to other arguments.

For the third time, I laughed and warned them more campaigning would mean less coursework and MUCH more homework. On the third time of asking, I believe some of them scared off, LOL. Homework - a total no, no!! Also a couple of other students (also Muslim and never ever tried this trick, lol) came in and this new student who'd started the whole issue stopped.

But it made me think... With all this political correctness, I am so afraid in my little attempts to share the gospel. Here they are with a hard-on approach! Quite as passionate as my sweet year-11s ;) but on different subjects entirely.

Where is our passion? Love and faithfulness are important; a long, slow intimate walk with God has its advantages. It may even be more important than but definitely not a substitute for passion.