It’s the last week of school for children here in Northern Ireland. University students have finished their year’s study and have finished their exams. Then comes the waiting time. Will I pass my exams? Will I get the grades I need to get to further education or get the job I desire?

I was blessed to have to opportunity to get a good education. I obtained a degree at university fifty years ago. I got a job as a teacher. I had reached the top. Many young people across the world would love the opportunity I had.

I got married and had two children. Should I go back to work as a teacher and earn money and pay someone to look after my children? My heart was not in going back to work. I wanted to care for my children. I soon realised that getting a degree at university did not prepare me for being a wife or mother.

Something was going to happen that changed my life forever. Brendan and I would spend time in our local pub at the weekends. Every Saturday night someone from the Salvation Army would come into the pub and he would sing a Christian hymn. He would leave behind some Christian literature. The publican called for order when the Salvation Army man would speak. He respected the messanger who came to his pub every weekend.

This same publican gave me my first bible. I began to read it. I couldn’t leave it down. I started on a new course of education. I began to write down significant words that applied to my life. One that stood out for me was Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life.

Down though the years I have made many notes. I have shelves full of notebooks. Brendan calls them my rewrites. I was listening to a program on a radio station this morning. The speaker shared the importance of writing down by hand what one reads from the bible. It’s a way of remembering and letting what it says sink into my heart. This confirms to me the importance of what I have been doing for years. The Word of God has become my teacher about life. It is indeed true that Jesus is the way the truth and the life.
To be continued.