Monday

I did not get to teach our Junior High Girls about Luke yesterday. Instead, I was home hacking my way through the day – or sleeping after taking some codeine-laced cough syrup. To talk three our four words resulted in more coughing, so Beloved Husband had a quiet day when he was home. He, of course, set me up with liquids, warmth (a cat on my legs) and went to church as I wish I could. The choir is practicing the Christmas cantata, so he went earlier to practice, then came home to comfort my aching throat and bronchia.

One of the joys of teaching is preparing for the class. I must do an in depth study to be ready to answer questions. I have several tools to help in the preparation. Having e-Sword on our PCs is really great. Another tool is a free application I found at Eclipse.com – a crossword puzzle maker.

I did send the sheets in with Second Daughter, who taught the class. Making the puzzle was pretty much a breeze. The application is intuitive – well, except for a couple of things. It is necessary to read all the small screen for there is no real menu and a couple of things you can do are not in the icons at the bottom, but are underscored links on the window. Lots of options are available, though, and I was able to print sheets for the students as well as one complete with the answers.

This week was fairly easy as I used lots of names. Luke presents views of Jesus’ family that are not discussed in other gospels. Here we meet Zacharias and Elizabeth first, learning John the Baptist’s background. Here we’re able to see the Holy Spirit at work long before Pentecost or the descent as a dove.

The crossword contained people names and place names. They are familiar to most of our students, but some of them are new to our church. Mary, Joseph, Jesus, Peter, Andrew, James and John – they are familiar to you, too?

Some don’t have names. The Prodigal Son, his father nor his brother have names. The Good Samaritan, the priest nor the levite are named. Those walking toward Emmaus are not named, yet that is one of my favorite stories.

God is with us always. Very often He is reflected in the people we meet who praise and worship Him, looking forward to His will in their lives. Too often we do not recognize this. I pray that, as those two who broke bread with Christ, we easily recognize those who serve Him and that with them we may come to praise and worship together.

In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me. (Psalms 56:4 KJV)