Bible Study Notes

Did you ever have a day when you feel as if you are constantly behind?
Everything you set out to do seems to have a detour.
Point A to Point B is not linear but rather goes through a million twists and turns.
The kind of day when you wish that you press replay and start over.

I was meeting a friend for breakfast.
I left the house before my husband since I wanted to get a few things done beforehand.
I rarely leave the house before 8:00 in the morning.
The traffic was much different than I am used to during the day.

It was raining, so that did not help things.
Everyone was going slow.
Everyone was going in the same direction it seemed.
All the roads I usually travel had lines of traffic.

I tried a few other ways that I knew would get me where I needed to go.
They were all filled with traffic, too.
Finally, I had one other idea.
That route proved to be successful.

I was watching my time so I would not be late for breakfast.
I had to go to the UPS store to make copies of Bible study notes.
When I pulled into the parking lot, it was empty.
That never happens; I was quite thrilled.

When I got inside there was only one employee in the store.
I was the only customer.
Would you be able to make some copies for me? I asked him.
Well, our internet is down, he said.

Do you need the internet to make copies? I asked him.
No, but it means you can only pay cash, he said in response.
I am paying cash, I said as he walked slowly towards me.
He took the originals from my hand.

I need thirty-five copies, stapled please, I told him.
I also need four more copies of these notes stapled as well, I continued.
How many pages? He asked me, so that he could figure out the cost.
This has three pages and this has four pages, I explained.

The copier went to work after he pushed some buttons.
I heard the machine going back and forth.
I heard the weighted tray move as it collected the finished copies.
Soon, the copying was done.

The employee had gone behind the counter.
I went over to take the thirty-five copies out of the tray.
They were not stapled.
Oh, these were supposed to be stapled, I said to him.

Maybe it didn’t work because the internet is down, he said.
He held out his hand so I could give him the original again, which I had placed in a folder.
He pushed some more buttons and the copy machine started running again.
Only one copy came out, since he wanted to check to see if it was stapled or not.

It was stapled.
He programmed the copy machine to make thirty-four more copies.
What are you going to do with these? I asked him.
We will recycle them, he said.

I looked down at the paper.
The Parables of Jesus was in bold print across the top.
Parables of Salvation was below the top line.
The employee took the stack of Bible study notes and put them behind the counter.

I smiled.
Lord Jesus, You always make yourself known, I thought to myself.
Even in the oddest of circumstances, He always makes Himself known.
I paid at the cash register; I could see the stack of Bible study notes behind the counter.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD.  “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8,9)

God could choose a thousand ways to make Himself known.
He could do something grand and magnificent to get everyone’s attention.
Often, God chooses quiet ways to reveal Himself.
God reveals Himself in a Whisper.

A stack of Bible study notes on the Salvation Parables of Jesus was laying on the counter.
Perhaps, the stack of paper will get recycled later.
However, at least for a while, the Bible study notes were in clear view.
With the internet down, maybe the one employee in the store will read them.

Maybe if he reads them, he may read about Jesus for the first time.
Maybe if he reads them, he may begin to understand.
Maybe if he reads them, something he once learned will be remembered.
Maybe if he reads about the Salvation Parables of Jesus, he will come to faith in Christ.

God Whispers.
God makes Himself known when the internet is down on a rainy morning.
God makes Himself known when the copier failed to staple three pages together.
God makes Himself known in a stack of Bible study notes just laying on a counter.