the perennial learner

i have the whole library all to myself on this fine Sunday afternoon ... working hard on my message for the plenary session of Asian Baptist Congress in Chiangmai, Thailand. the library has always been one of my favorite places, ever since i was a student at SLU, TBTS, and ABGTS-Baguio ... and now that i'm a teacher, i still somehow feel that there is still so much more to learn that a whole lifetime would not be enough. just like last Friday a student came to my office and asked me about images and visions, symbols and figures of speech, their relationship to interpretation of the Book of Revelation ... gee, i almost felt "embarrassed" that i do not have answers to all his questions ... but it's good that the better part of me reigned and took over ... yes, i have to be humble enough to admit that i do not know all the answers ... i do not know everything ... the more i know, the more i realize that there's so much more that i do not know! the message during chapel that morning was a great encouragement and challenge to me. the passage was taken from 1 Cor 8:1-3. The verse that says "knowledge puffs up, but love builds up" strikes me the most. Even if i did not satisfy the student's intellectual curiosity, did he feel my sincerity to openly discuss with him, my willingness to spend time with him to wrestle with the problems, my availability even in the midst of my hectic schedule, my humility to admit my limitations and not put up a front?!? on the other hand, this incident and the chapel message motivated me to learn more ... to study more ... to be a perennial "student" and "learner"