A Friday In My Life

Friday morning started out wonderfully - no alarm clock ringing! :-)
I slept in until 8:00 a.m. - a real luxury!

By then, the sun was shining and the birds were singing. I read my Bible and then hurried outside for a walk in the deliciously cool morning air. What a glorious morning it was!

Breakfast and a shower were next in order for the day. Then, at 9:45, I headed out the door to meet up with Mom and Katelin at the photo-shoot for Katelin's bridal portraits. The photogrpaher, a friend of our family, was to meet them at the church where he would set up a studio effect for the pictures.

When I arrived at the church ten minutes later, they were all unloading Mr. Hudson's equipment. Next, we began re-arranging the chairs in the sanctuary to create a blank area near the back wall where the traveling studio could be set up. It was then that Mr. Hudson realized he had accidentally left his back-drop curtain at home!

I offered to go retreive it while they continued to set up lights and talk through the photo shoot. He scribbled out directions for me and off I went! It took me an hour to drive to his house and back, so while I drove, I enjoyed listening to beautiful music and a taped message called "How to Think Like a Christian."

Back at the church once more, this time with black curtain in hand, I found that the studio was beginning to take shape! While Mr. Hudson finished setting up and Katelin donned her bridal attire, I seized the opportunity to make some phone calls to people on the guest list in order to find out whether or not they'd be attending the wedding.

Finally, everything was ready for the photo-shoot, and Katelin took her place under the lights. She looked stunning in her beautiful dress! Just like a princess. :-)

I wish I could post pictures from the shoot for you to see, but no one is allowed to see the dress until the wedding day...especially not a certain groom who happens to read this blog! Sorry to leave you all hanging, but I am under strict orders!

At1:45 p.m. I drove back home, grabbed a quick bite to eat for lunch, and began preparations for the evening Bible study I would be teaching. Every Friday night, my family participates in a ministry called American Chinese Fellowship. I have been the Bible study teacher for junior/senior high girls for the past five years, and I LOVE working in this ministry! This year, I have advanced fifth graders and a college-age girl in the class as well, so the age range is quite spread out!

Having just finished a two-month study on creation vs. evolution, I made preparations for a new lesson on the topic of the Bible itself. How do we know it contains THE truth? How do we know it's the Word of God, and not just the word of men? How do we know it's accurate and trustworthy? These were several questions we'd be looking at as well as learning how the Bible is laid out with history books, poetical books, poetry books, and epistles.

We've been reading a few pages a week from Mark Cahill's book One Heartbeat Away, in order to cover his material on creation vs. evolution. I planned to continue to the 3rd chapter which tackles the subject of the Bible vs. other religious texts. I also used a book called 30 Days to Understanding the Bible to provide a few worksheets for the girls regarding how the Bible is laid out systematically. When these preliminary topics on basic study of the Bible are over, we will dive into a verse-by-verse study of one of the Gospels followed by the book of Acts.

After preparations for the evening's study were complete, I ran out to Office Max to make the necessary copies for the evening and then to Wal-Mart to purchase new folders for the new study. At Office Max, the Lord gave me the opportunity to share some Gospel tracts with the cashier and engage in a conversation about his personal faith. It seemed to me he was a believer who just needed encouragement in his relationship with God right now.

I got home from my errands in time to stuff the girls' folders with materials for our new study, pack my bag, and head out the door. On the way to ACF, I picked up my neighbor friend, Stephanie, who would be joining us for the new study, as well as Hannah, another friend who would be teaching the pre-school children's class. (My family stayed home in order to attend to ever-present wedding preparations!)

It was great fun to fellowship with Stephanie and Hannah (both 16) on the long drive downtown. Once we arrived at ACF, Stephanie and I helped serve dinner while Hannah set up her class room. We ate with other girls from my Bible study class. Following dinner, new visitors were introduced and then we sang a few hymns before breaking into small study groups. Since I am the pianist for congregational singing, my class always stays in with the adults until the songs are finished.

We started out our class time with our memory-work project of Genesis chapter 1, complete with motions. The girls are doing really well with this project and we are now about half-way through the chapter. When they memorize the whole chapter, I have promised them each a copy of The Evidence Bible (by Ray Comfort's ministry). They're excited to earn the Bible, so they're quite motivated to memorize! Eventually, we hope to quote the whole chapter for the parents.

The rest of the class went really well as we covered the material I had prepared that afternoon. The girls were all engaged in the study and contributed a lot to it.



At 9:00, we dismissed. Stephanie helped me tidy the room and put everything back the way we had found it. We rounded Hannah up and hit the road for home.

Back at home, I dashed off a quick blog post on Thursday's happenings (in order not to get too far behind!) and fell into bed around 11:00 p.m.

Stay tuned for Saturday's report!