My men

I am rapidly approaching the end of my men's discipleship group. Only about 8 weeks to go and we are done. It will be a bit of a sad occasion because we really enjoy meeting with each other, sharing our lives and Scripture and being in prayer.

Each year, I select a group of men to be in a discipleship group with me. It's 'invite-only', not an open group. I spend a year with them in dsicipleship, usually teaching them a particular section of Scripture (this year it is Genesis 12-50), giving them some additional books to read and going on a retreat or two.

Something good happened at our group tonight. One of the men named Paul has been working for a couple of weeks on developing more intimacy with God, especially during times of reading and studying Scripture. It's been a big concern of his and I have encouraged him to actually schedule his time with God. Don't treat it as something you are doing but rather someone you are meeting with.

Tonight he said his time with God in the last week or so has been extraordinary. He has been practicing the disciplines of solitude and silence. This is all well and good to hear from him. But the real treat was hearng what came out of his mouth as we were sharing what we had learned in this week's Genesis story (Genesis 42). There was more depth and wisdom than perhaps he had shown all year. There was clarity of thought and purpose to a degree which Paul had not shown before. There is obviously a tight correlation between what he learned this week in Scripture and his intimacy with God.

My prayer for Paul is that it would continue this upcoming week.