In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and

the Word was God. (John 1:1)

The Word at Work (Part I)
Barbara Hollingsworths favorite time of the year is not Christmas, her
birthday or her anniversary. It is always the first weekend in August. On that weekend,
she books a room at the Galvez Hotel in Galveston, Texas, a beautiful old historic
hotel on the waterfront. She always stays on the top floor in a room which has a
balcony overlooking the ocean and she goes from Friday afternoon to Sunday
afternoon. During this personal retreat she simply seeks God with no agenda. She
seeks His will and His Word in her life. The three most important things in her small
luggage bag are her Bible, personal journal and several pens.
This weekend is Barbaras annual personal retreat and she leaves her two young girls at home with her husband. It is her
time to be alone with God each year with no cell phone, computer, television, children, husband, friends, students, administrators,
coworkers, pastors or church members. It is her annual getaway with Jesus which includes sunrise walks on the beach with Him, late
night moonlight communions on the balcony overlooking the bay, and one sixty minute massage from the hotel staff on Saturday
afternoons. This is also a time of fasting for her; she eats just one meal a day. She eats fish at the best local seafood restaurants in the
city that are within walking distance from the hotel.
Barbaras favorite chapter in the Bible is John 21. In this chapter, the resurrected Jesus appears to His disciples on the beach
while Peter and his friends are having no luck fishing. Jesus is on shore and tells them where to throw their nets and they haul in a big
catch of fish. The disciples then recognize Jesus identity in the early morning mist. They come ashore and see Jesus has cooked
breakfast for them on the beach. Jesus talks with Peter about love and commands him multiple times to feed my sheep.
It was in college at Texas A&M Corpus Christi, as an English and education major, that Barbara experienced Jesus for the first
time while on a *Young Life retreat at the beach. The leader of a local worship band was playing her guitar and singing that night for the
retreat and Barbara felt something enter into her. Warmth spread throughout her entire body and she was filled to overflowing with
the peace, presence, and penetrating love of God that passes all understanding. This experience was life transforming. The speaker
that night, as a brilliant yellow and orange sunset filled the sky, read John 21 and spoke to the fifteen to twenty college students in a
three part message about 1) hearing the voice of God when things arent going as planned, 2) looking for God in unexpected places,
and 3) how to practically feed love to those in your spheres of influence, especially those who are lost from God, hateful, unforgiving
and angry.
The week before this event, Barbaras high school boyfriend had broken up with her after their dating for three years. She
realized at the Young Life retreat that Jesus, not a boyfriend or husband, was to be the first love of her life forever. She realized she
was to follow Him the rest of her life and that she could trust Him to keep His promises and always unconditionally love her.
Following Jesus was an especially large step for Barbara because she had been raised in a Jewish family. Her maiden name
was Goldstein. When she shared with her family this life changing experience at the beach, several close family members rejected her.
Though her mother and sister continued to unconditionally love and communicate with her, her father and brother did not. Her father
cut off her college financial support and did not speak with her until four years later when she was married.
The divine peace and love of Jesus enfolded and insulated Barbara during this time in her life. She endured with patient love
her fathers and brothers rejection. She returned evil with good. It drew her even closer to Jesus and her new found family of friends at
college in the Young Life group who loved and befriended her through this time of trial.
On that same eventful night at the beach, Barbaras call from God to be a teacher was confirmed. She knew she was
supposed to feed the lambs and sheep in the education sheepfold, especially those who were lost, rejected, and unloved. Upon
graduation she applied for work at one the most challenging inner city high schools in the Houston Independent School District and was
hired within thirty minutes of her first interview for a freshman English teaching position.
Barbara has been at Washington High School the last eleven years feeding lambs and sheep. She has been the faculty
sponsor of a growing Young Life Christian club at the high school which has made a huge positive impact on the campus climate. A
large multi-cultural Young Life team of University of Houston students is mentoring many students at her high school and helping the
high school students not just find an open door to God, but to higher education and college as well.
Barbaras visit to the Galvez Hotel, before starting her eleventh year in education, was a crossroad experience that changed
her career and life forever, just as that day on the beach had her junior year at college. (To be continued.)
Prayer: Jesus, speak into our lives. Be our first love this entire school year. Help us set aside special times to hear and love you.
Reflection: What time in my life have I been closest to Christ? Where, when and how do I spend time alone with Him, my first love?
Getting Real: Ask God in prayer when and where He wants to be alone with you. Follow and listen to Him
CLASSROOM LIGHTHOUSE SERIES: Love Ladders Love Matters (For info or prayer contact ceaihouston@sbcglobal.net.) WEEK 4
*Young Life see www.younglife.org.