Beautiful Mind

Our Sunday School lesson yesterday was on choosing joy when enduring hardships. It was fitting considering our pastor was air-lifted to UAB at midnight the previous evening with bleeding on the brain. Our pastor's wife sent back word that basically God was in control and for the church not to get discouraged because of the situation. Our teacher reminded us that we needed a plan of how to handle difficulties in order to be prepared as they can appear with little or no warning.

The sermon of the day was on having a Beautiful Mind and to Be Joyful. The emphasis was on things we can (and should) do in order to have the Mind of Christ as described in Philippians. One of the things listed was to read our Bible daily. I had just been thinking earlier in the week about how I needed a new plan for daily Bible reading. I wasn't being faithful in that area and knew I needed a method, if you will, for reading through the Bible. So, the sermon only reinforced my need.

That afternoon, one of the ladies in my Sunday School class sent out an Face Book request to see if anyone was interested in doing a group devoted to reading through the Bible in one year or at least reading the Bible daily. Over half a dozen women responded, saying they felt the same urge. We may not be able to meet on a weekly basis in person, but we can be accountable via Face Book. She also sent a link to an on-line app with different reading plans, which gave me exactly what I needed.

We called the group Beautiful Minds: Having the Mind of Christ. It is one of the main goals of daily Bible reading: to transform ourselves by the renewing of our minds. God knew what we needed and was already preparing hearts to be receptive. This time of difficulty is drawing us closer as a congregation and as a Sunday School class and calling us to have Beautiful Minds focused on what really matters: our relationship to Him.