Yaswah, Timo, and Junior stared at me, waiting for me to repeat the word. "Chair," I said. They nodded, scribbling down the word in their notebooks.
We were halfway through our first ESL session, having covered how to say one's name and different body parts. The curriculum consisted of what was in sight—pews, chairs, and a table. All that was left in the one-room, concrete church was us.
We spent an hour and a half together. The three twelve-year old boys were unhindered by my Southern drawl and lack of experience with ESL. I was struck by how eager they were to learn English. And not just them—the choir girl from Treichsville; the man from Coqivoire, the chicken store; and the student from the local university. All of them want to learn the language, and they spend time, money, and effort to do so.
What if we did the same—and more—to know God? How many of us labor to know him who "is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature...he [who] upholds the universe by the word of his power"?
How many of us study the Bible, listen to Bible teachers, and read Bible-saturated, Christ-exalting books, all for the sake of growing in "the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence"?
More than these Ivorians want to know English, let us strive to know God more—more of his character and of his ways. Jesus says in the Gospel of John, "[T]his is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent."
We know "but the outskirts of [God's] ways," and, as the Puritan preacher Jonathan Edwards once wrote, "Of all the knowledge that we can ever obtain, the knowledge of God, and the knowledge of ourselves, are the most important."
"Let us press on; let us press on to know the LORD" (Hos. 6:3).
Adapted from a story by Hannah
We were halfway through our first ESL session, having covered how to say one's name and different body parts. The curriculum consisted of what was in sight—pews, chairs, and a table. All that was left in the one-room, concrete church was us.
What if we did the same—and more—to know God? How many of us labor to know him who "is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature...he [who] upholds the universe by the word of his power"?
How many of us study the Bible, listen to Bible teachers, and read Bible-saturated, Christ-exalting books, all for the sake of growing in "the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence"?
More than these Ivorians want to know English, let us strive to know God more—more of his character and of his ways. Jesus says in the Gospel of John, "[T]his is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent."
We know "but the outskirts of [God's] ways," and, as the Puritan preacher Jonathan Edwards once wrote, "Of all the knowledge that we can ever obtain, the knowledge of God, and the knowledge of ourselves, are the most important."
"Let us press on; let us press on to know the LORD" (Hos. 6:3).
Adapted from a story by Hannah