Lots of Energy at the BI

We finished a great first day at Word of Life Bible Institute . . . This morning I taught from 10 AM-1 PM, covering Galatians 1:1-2:10 in three fifty-minute sessions . . . To me it feels bitterly cold here . . . At the moment the temperature is around 5 degrees . . . But the students pointed out that it was -31 last Thursday night . . . We are in Pottersville, in northern New York, in the Adirondack Mountains, an hour north of Albany, 45 minutes south of Lake Placid, an hour and a half from the Canadian border . . . About four feet of snow on the ground. 

Last night we had supper with Mike and Betsi Calhoun, friends since our college days 35 years ago at Tennessee Temple University in Chattanooga . . . Marlene and Betsi spent today visiting the shops in Saratoga . . . 

We’re staying in Big Chief cabin nestled against the shore of frozen Schroon Lake . . . Jack Wyrtzen, founder of Word of Life, often stayed in this cabin during the summer camp season . . . We have everything we need here–a little kitchen, an Internet hookup, and satellite TV . . . At the moment Marlene is reading a book while I’m listening to the inaugural ball coverage on TV . . . 

Speaking of the inauguration, I commented at 10 AM we would start the first session with one president and would have a new one by the time I finished at 1 PM . . . When I began the final session at noon, we stopped and prayed for President Obama. 

One final note. I have been teaching Galatians at the Bible Institute for about eight years now, and each class has its own personality . . . Last year’s class was very studious, listened carefully, and took good notes, and didn’t make much noise . . . This year’s class (around 400 students) is rambunctious, active, loud, social, talkative, ready to clap or cheer or laugh at the drop of a hat . . . Lots of energy . . . I had such a good time that I was even more animated than usual . . . So I walked across the front and up the aisles, did timelines, drew maps in the air, talked to the students while I taught, and in general kept moving the whole time . . . After the second session, one student came up and asked with a smile, “Are you ADD?” “No, but you’re not the first person to ask me that.” “My roommate is ADD and said, ’I really get his teaching.’” Made me feel just fine because the teacher’s first job is to keep them awake . . . If they go to sleep, the rest doesn’t matter. 

So we’re having a blast here . . . Tomorrow morning we talk about “Bad Manners at the Dinner Table” and how Barney the Dinosaur illustrates Galatians 2:20.