My story . . . Part 8 of several

As I struggled with the sharp downturn in my naval career in 2002 and 2003, a second thing began to happen that really changed my life. I didn’t realize it at first, though. In the fall of 2002, I was asked to teach a newly formed adult Sunday School class at my church.

I had taught Sunday School at various age levels for various periods of time over the years—high school, junior high, young married couples, and pre-school. In fact, before turning to this new task, I had been “teaching” (babysitting) in the one-year old class, so Matthew was one of my “students.” As you might suspect, there was not a lot of deep theological discussion in that class. Anyway, when I agreed to teach the new adult class, I figured it would be just another gig that I would do at the church, perhaps for a year or two.

The new class began with about a dozen people and over the first year grew to about thirty or so. I had not taught adults in a while, so I decided to make up some note sheets for the students every week, kind of just to keep us on track. Powerpoint worked well for that purpose. I studied the lesson hard each week because I figured that adults were apt to ask a lot of difficult questions and I wanted to be prepared.

What happened, though, in 2003, 2004, and beyond, is hard to describe. Nothing like it had ever happened to me before. Over time, as I continued to teach the class, I found myself getting more and more enthusiastic about studying the Bible. I had always been interested in the Bible, obviously because it is the basis for my Christian beliefs, and also because I have always been kind of a history buff. But this was something entirely different. I found myself putting more and more time into preparing my lesson every week. I found myself hunting down more and more reliable commentaries to help me understand the Scriptures. I found myself daydreaming throughout the week about an upcoming lesson, or passage, or some example that I could use from pop culture or the daily headlines. I found myself wanting to teach the Bible better and better every week. I don’t really know how else to describe it, except that studying and teaching the Bible became an absolute passion. In fact, by about 2004 or so, I considered it to be my favorite thing to do, aside from family.

What amazes me is this. Before, when I felt no passion in my life, I did not even know what it would feel like to have a passion about something. I firmly believe that God has given me a passion, that is, teaching biblical studies. And let me tell you, to feel a passion about doing something is so thrilling as to be almost indescribable. I absolutely love studying and teaching the Bible.

This inevitably led to a new question. How was all this piecing together? I knew that God was not calling me to be a professional Sunday School teacher, because there is no such thing. By about 2005, though, I believe that God began to put another thought in my head. I started thinking about going to seminary. Seminary? I was almost forty years old, with a job, wife, two kids, and active in church. Where exactly was I going to find the time for seminary? And, what exactly was I going to do with a seminary degree once I got it?

Well, it was also during this time when another realization came to light. This realization was the third circumstance that I want to discuss. It happened concurrently with the discovery of my passion, and really rounds out the story of how I got to where I am today.