Hundreds from our area and some even from out-of-state got charged up with the Good Word yesterday in Morris. Nationally-known speaker, historian, and Christian teacher Ray Vander Laan was at the First Christian Church for a 2-day engagement that left those who attended thirsty for even more.
Morris resident Carol Banks messaged me on Facebook that she was glad she went. Vander Laan spoke of a lot of things that she had never thought of before.
“Whenever we do or say things, it is for Him," she said. "Everyone needs to faithfully read the Bible. Vander Laan was a dynamic speaker and I’m glad I went.”
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It was a couple of hours on Friday, but the entire day Saturday. I wondered if that was a really long time to sit in one place listening to one man talk. No, it wasn’t, everyone I spoke to said.
Across town from Banks, a group of four friends chatted on a front porch about what they got out of the Ray Vander Laan conference.
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“The Bible is not a bunch of little bitty stories, and it’s not just the Old Testament and the New Testament,” Jen Surber said. “It’s one full story. It all ties in, and it’s just really cool how it all relates.”
“The New Testament is really a reflection of everything in the Old Testament,” Shelly Pfaff said.
“The Ten Commandments were God’s marriage to us,” Don Surber said. “That’s just so amazing.”
“It was God’s commitment to us,” Jen Surber said.
The two couples said they learned a bit of religious philosophy, as well.
“When you have a Bible study, and they ask what you think about a Bible verse, it’s not what you think it means – it’s what God thinks about it," Shelly Pfaff said.
Fans of Vander Laan say he is best at painting a big picture point of view of the Bible and of life in general. That’s what Tim Pfaff thought was interesting.
“History has always repeated itself,” Tim Pfaff said. “It went from chaos to God stepping in with His holy words and straitening everybody out to a peaceful resolution, and out of that comes more chaos, then peace again through God. . . “
It’s our human nature that keeps getting us into chaos and trouble, Tim Pfaff said Vander Laan explained, and then God steps in to put things right again.
If anyone’s life is as chaotic as mine, they know the value of moments of peace when things just all seem to come together. If God can make peace of a chaotic universe, He sure can do it in our individual lives.
And what did those I talked to want to do after spending hours listening to someone sharing the Bible with them? Believe it or not, it just made them want more.
“It gave me a whole new perspective to look at the Bible and a hunger to look at it more,” Jen Surber said.
“I want to go home and study my Bible,” Shelly Pfaff said.
There was even talk of beginning a small Bible study right then and there, even though everyone in the room was already a regular church-goer.
Vander Laan was this audience’s light Friday and Saturday. And now those who heard him can be the light to all those they see. It’s now their turn.
