Somehow it has happened that I've been giving quite a few Bible studies lately. It wasn't long ago when my senior pastor asked me how I felt about teaching Bible studies. I didn't really know how to feel about it because a) I had never given one and b) I hadn't even taken ministry placement classes in Newbold. To which he replied that he had taken those classes and couldn't remember them being of any use haha. Improvise, he said, and you'll learn by doing it. Phew, alright, I guess it's my job. (I didn't feel very confident, to be honest.)

But now I've had a whole series of meetings with two people who want to get baptised. One is just in the beginning of the journey and the other one is about to 'cross the finish line' (I'm hoping to see this baptism and cry my eyes out before I leave Tartu:). And like I was told, I'm improvising, lol. And I've found out interesting things about myself and about Bible studies. Here are a few.

• I have no problem with talking for an entire hour without stopping to catch my breath. I'm really surprised to see I have so much to say. I'm glad both of them ask questions and express opinions, otherwise it'd be a monologue.
• I can get excited to the point of getting emotional when talking about God and His story.
• It's not really about head knowledge, it's about heart knowledge. Like I said to my senior pastor the other day when he asked how I felt about the whole thing now, 'God's not interested in brain surgery. He's into heart surgery.' Ezekiel 36:26 sums it up well.
• It's important for me not to burden people with many details. The lady who has just started studying the Bible came to the first class with a massive 200-pages copied material on theological issues and when I browsed it I realised it was one of those materials where you can spot two numbers on every third page: 2300 and 1260. I put that material down and told her we were not going to look at it any time soon. Now, 2300 and 1260 and 7x70 are truly fascinating and there's so much theological depth to them but I can't concentrate on roofing tiles when the building has no base.
• I hate cheap Christian cliches.
• I don't teach prosperity theology and use every opportunity to remind people it's one big lie. [In the place where someone would say, "If you let God take over in your life, you'll get rich and pretty and healthy", I say, "If you let God take over, hell will probably break loose, but the gates of hell won't overcome you."]
• I love observing someone's journey towards God. When you see this little faith seed getting stronger and bigger... Beautiful stuff.

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I would like to break another rule of mine and make a political comment today. It's about the on-going Gaza crisis. To kill systematically and cold-bloodedly members of one nation, no matter whether infants or elderly, men or women... Of all the nations in the world, I thought Jews would do better. That's all I've got to say.