I’d like to reflect on some specific ways in which I’ve noticed God working at Kenyon so far this
year, particularly in the Bible Studies. Firstly, the first year students have already started to jump into the Fellowship here at Kenyon with both feet! There are already seventeen first-year students involved in Freshman Bible Study (FBS)(see pic.), Saturday Night Fellowship (SNF), and Koinonia! Furthermore, one of the FBS student leaders who is a Sophomore made the comment that “they’re already talking and participating in the Bible Study; I remember last year it took us several weeks to get into it and feel comfortable enough to talk!” Praise God for how these students have been prepared to be involved in his work at Kenyon!Because Jesus Christ’s timing is perfect (Rom. 5:6), I know that God is behind several situations that might otherwise seem like coincidences regarding the other Bible Studies. Keep in mind, neither of the following examples had anything to do with me prompting the student leaders...
For Sophomore Bible Study (SophBS), the students requested that this semester we begin studying what it means that Jesus came not to abolish but to fulfill the Law and the Prophets (Matt. 5:17). As I always tell the students, I certainly don’t claim to have all the answers; my role is to facilitate discussion and lead inductive group study of the Bible. However, this past May, through the CCO’s partnership with Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, I was able to take a course on Biblical Theology, which deals with this very question! The question the SophBS posed is intricately connected to one of the larger questions Biblical Theology is concerned with: “What is the relationship between the Old Testament and the New Testament?” A fantastic book I read for the course was Knowing Jesus Through the Old Testament, by Christopher J. H. Wright. Praise God for giving me this preparation for SophBS that I could never have foreseen or planned!
The first week of classes I was given a stack of five-page packets entitled God Time. The 
introduction said that this was a guide to facilitate “quality, quiet time with the Lord.” I was told that somebody found them and thought that I might be able to use them. I took them and set them aside without reading further. Literally three days later, at my first JBS Preparation meeting, I asked the student leaders if there was anything on their hearts that they wanted to explore during JBS this semester. Without hesitation, both leaders said, “Prayer!” I told them, incredulously, of the resource very recently given me about prayer. We will be utilizing God Time during JBS this semester! Praise God for his perfect timing!
Please join me in praising God for his goodness in these matters and also – especially – for the things of which we are unaware! Christ Jesus is certainly at work here at Kenyon through his Holy Spirit, whether or not we notice, but when we do witness God we can do nothing but marvel at his glorious workings, and declare with the Psalmists, “Hallelu Yah!”
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