Season of Seminars

After a relatively quiet February, the month of March is going to get busy. Yesterday I was exhausted after my 2nd consecutive day of teaching that I felt asleep at noon and missed lunch before getting up for an afternoon Faculty meeting. That came at the culmination of travelling back and forth Namaus and Kota Kinabalu over 72 hours. But I needed to pace myself and prepare for the new season of ministry. After tomorrow's class on John's Gospel I plan to begin earnest preparations for the two End-time Seminars coming in the last 2 weeks of March. Before that I have a 10-hour course on Reformation History on 17th March in Kota Belud, the first time I taught about Reformation at an academic setting, a topic or a period of history close to my heart.
Martin Luther and John Calvin are two figures that I can't get enough, their lives and their service for the cause of the Gospel in their times are huge encouragement for me. I am reading Martin Luther: Renegade and Prophet by Lyndal Roper (Vintage: 2017), a book I bought in Singapore recently. The Torah, a stylised Bible of the 5 books of Moses is one proud addition to my library. I read and re-read Robert Alter, The Five Books of Moses, a book I bought 8 or 9 years ago and it has been my companion all these while. The Law or Torah of Moses, the book of Genesis to Deuteronomy are foundational documents of Israel and of Christ and the apostles and it should be for us today. I read Genesis every year and some parts and chapters several times over now and then. The lives of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph are patterns of living for modern Christians struggling in a world of unbelief and godlessness. I read this morning how Noah was righteous and whole-hearted and that he walked with God (Gen 6:9) and he was the only man doing that in his generation. Would you stand for God even if none of your friends or community are with you in your walk with God?