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Sunday, July 13, 2008

Same Message, Different Time, Different Meaning

Back in 1992, when we started to homeschool my eldest, we attended the free evening of the CHEA convention. The speaker back then was Gregg Harris. He talked about the different stages of life: the education stage, the babies and business stage, the statesman and civic duty stage, and the elder stage. I have a post related to that discussion dated October of 2006, if you want to go back and read more.

The funny thing about that seminar, was that I took out of it that I needed to be fully engaged in the babies and business stage. I thought a lot about my educational years and in those early years I formed a lot of my ideas on courtship. I was able to present these ideas to my 5 year old (in his terms) but that is really what I got out of the talk.

Today, at CHEA, 16 years later, I decided that I wanted to hear Gregg Harris again. The topic was the stages of life, but it didn't ring any bells until I was 1/2 way through the seminar. But now what I got most out of the message was the civic duty stage that I will be approaching in a mere 8 years. My "babies and business" stage is quickly coming to a halt. I don't want to prematurely be thinking about my civic duty stage, but I do need to be maturing to prepare for it.

In contemplating this, I was again affirmed as to why it is good to read my Bible through time and time again. Because everytime I go through it I am at a different stage in my life and even though I will get the same message, there will be a different meaning in my life context. I just need to be faithful to keep putting one foot in front of the other and doing what comes next...

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