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Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Bibles for the Bible and Art Club

I remember during an April lesson asking my students how many of them had Bibles.  Most of my students didn't.  I thought, "How are my students supposed to learn more about God's Word if they don't even have access to a Bible?"  As the lessons progressed, I wanted to give each of my students a Bible for our last meeting.  About a week before our last meeting I went to a local Bible store and found that although I could purchase some Bibles for $4, there were NKJV Explorer's Bibles that was more accessible to my students for $13.99.  There are inserts on various topics and boxes that helped to explain what verses meant.  The salesman explained that they had seven in stock, but that he believed he could get the other eight from another store they have a few hours away.  I told him I'd think about it and get back to him.  I went home and checked online and for that Bible it was the best price I could find.  I sent out an email to friends and family updating them on the progress of the club and the tremendous blessing it has been for me to teach my two favorite subjects.  I asked them to pray about if the Lord would have them help purchase a Bible for each of my fifteen students.  Within twenty four hours, nine of the Bibles had sponsors.  I was blown away as I marveled at God's faithfulness.

The next day I called to request the Bibles.  The salesman took my contact information and said that he was only able to locate one other copy of the Bible I was looking for at his other store.  So, I headed over there to see what else I could find.  He did have NIV Bibles, but the pictures looked more accessible for younger students.  I had a friend come with me, and we talked about the pros and cons of various Bibles.  There were a few leather bound versions of the NKJVs I was looking at. I had the salesman see if he had enough of the leather bound at his other location to make 15 Bibles.  He had exactly enough with the combination.  So, even though the seven leather bound copies would make the price a bit higher, I went ahead and purchased them.

Over the next few days several people emailed and said they'd be willing to help out.  Friends of ours were telling others about the Bible and Art Club, and two people who don't even know me or my students wanted to help buy Bibles.  A relative let me know that he'd be willing to cover whatever wasn't purchased, even if it meant buying all fifteen.  On the day I was passing them out, six more people said they'd help out.  With all of the extra support, the cost of the Bibles was completely taken care of.  There was actually more than enough, so I let a friend of mine know who was planning on purchasing eight Bibles, one for each child in their home, that she only needed to pitch in to cover 2 and 1/2 of the Bibles.

I wish all of the sponsors could have seen my students faces as I explained that the Bibles I was passing out were for them to keep.  I wish the sponsors could have heard the chatter of excitement as they showed one another things they were finding in their Bibles.  One of the neat things about the Bibles was that I got a little message from the sponsors to write in the Bibles they helped purchase.  I explained how the table of contents works so that they can find books like Obadiah and Ezra.  We explored the concordance/glossary so that they could find Abed-Nego from our first Bible lesson.  I showed them the inserts and told them that they were there to help them understand the Bible, but they weren't part of all Bibles.  I compared it to mine, so they could see how my commentary notes were different than their's.

The last passage I shared with them was from John 15:1-10.  The key verses I focused on were verses nine and ten, "As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.  If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love."  I explained that when I was a little older than them, I remembered feeling completely alone.  I know that is kind of hard to fathom since I come from a family with seven kids.  I felt like no one, not even my friends, understood me.  I felt like no one cared.  Was it all true?  No, but that is how I felt.  I remember being drawn to read my Bible.  I read John 15 for the first time that I could then remember.  I was amazed to read that Jesus loved me.  I had heard for years that God loved me, but I had never seen where it said so.  I shared with my students that I hoped they knew that God loved them, that He sent His Son Jesus to live a perfect life, and to die for our sins.  I hope they remembered the best part, and that is that Jesus then rose again and conquered death.  I pray that my students will learn to love God's Word.


As we left that last meeting one of my most enthusiastic fourth graders headed over to a group of seventh graders to show them his new Bible.  As I walked by, one of my former fourth graders was skimming through God's Word.  Inside, I was jumping up and down singing Hallelujah, and outside I was beaming.

1 comment:

Renllua said...

...And can I just exclaim a Pentecostal "praise the Lord!" God is SO involved in the details, and He must be absolutely smiling with delight as He sees these kids.