Kathy with one of our dear international student friends at PSU

Yesterday, after working in the FOCUS office, I headed to the Student Union to meet a Kim (name changed),Korean married student to resume our weekly Bible study after a brief summer break. Last year, three of us had met together to study the book of Mark, but the other two students had moved on, either to another campus or back home. When I arrived, Kim introduced me to her friend, who also wanted to study the Bible.

She told me that she was a Catholic and didn’t know much about the Bible. After a brief  get-to-know-you time and discussion of our direction, we decided to study the book of John.

It’s so interesting to me that every year, God sends someone new to study the Bible with me. They usually don’t know much about the Bible if anything. It’s never by the dozen, it’s always by ones and twos.

So we started in John, chapter one, talking about Jesus being God and creator. We talked about light and life. We discussed what it means to receive Christ and to find the power to become a child of God all from the first few verses. At the end, the new student explained the rest of her story, “When I was in Korea, my friends would often invite me to church but I would never go with them. Then one day I went and began to believe in Jesus. When I was baptized, I felt the light we’ve been talking about today. I felt very close to God. Recently, I feel like I’m in darkness again. Until today, I see the light again. I want to pray that I can reconnect with God’s light.”

We prayed together. I left feeling very grateful that God brings hungry hearts my way to study the Bible.

Author Profile:  Kathy Varis is a speaker, writer, personal coach and mentor, musician, youth drama guru, educator, a codirecting member of the FOCUS Leadership Team at Portland State University, and a long-time campus minister with Chi Alpha Campus Ministries. Kathy served 12 years as a lead instructor at Mt Hood Community College directing the Rockwood Lifelong Learning Center, helping establish the Mt Hood Literacy Coalition. She has lived with her husband and family in the Hawthorne district of southeast Portland since 1992. Read more from this author