I grew up in the church and some of my earliest memories were of going to Sunday School at a Baptist church in Bartlesville. I continued to attend Sunday School throughout my teenage and early adult years at both Baptist and Methodist churches. In Sunday School, I was first introduced to many of the remarkable stories and characters of the Bible. There was David and Goliath, Adam and Eve, Samson and his hair, Moses parting the Red Sea and, of course, the Christmas and Easter stories. But I never really read the Bible until I joined a Disciple Bible Study class at Boston Avenue United Methodist Church in Tulsa when I was in my mid-thirties.
At that time in my life, I was looking for direction and hoping God would speak to me in the pages of this book that I had never really read. I was seriously considering going to seminary and I needed some affirmation. I had been wrestling with this life changing decision for months and I figured if I couldn’t find answers in scripture then, perhaps, I needed to stop and reconsider my actions. I was already having doubts. Even though I had been a believer most of my life, I had never considered the full-time vocation of a pastor. I wasn’t sure if I had the gifts necessary to be an effective pastor. I worried that I might finish seminary, be assigned to a church, and fall on my face. People in my church might decide I was a fraud!
So, I was definitely looking for guidance when I began reading the Bible. What I discovered was the number of people who were full of flaws and doubts who God used to do amazing things. I read about Jacob, a scoundrel, who cheated his brother out of his birthright and had to flee his home for fear his brother would harm him. There was Moses who came up with every excuse he could think of to get out of doing God’s bidding. King David was the greatest king of Israel ever and yet was so flawed. He fathered a child with a woman who was married to another man and then had that man killed by sending him to the front lines in battle. Of course, there was Peter, perhaps the greatest disciple of Jesus. He was the man whom Jesus said he would build the church upon his shoulders and what did Peter do…. denied Jesus three times on the night of his arrest.
One thing became increasingly clear to me as I read the Bible, and that is God uses all kinds of folks to accomplish His work on earth. God chooses people who are weak and anxious, He chooses those who lie and place their desires over the needs of others. God takes people filled with doubt and puts them on the front lines of His mission to save humanity. God takes people like ME and calls them to preach and teach and care for the family of faith.
If you are seeking meaning in your life, read the Bible with the expectation that God will speak to you and guide you.
– Rev. Dave Poteet, Pastor of Congregational Care
