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With a snow shovel in hand, I enjoyed the sun on my face despite the frigid temperatures. Recruiting my teenage son, we were spending a few hours on our MLK Jr holiday to prep the school campus sidewalks. Despite our progress, a curious tension remained. Were our efforts doing any good? Would more snow and ice arrive, erasing any progress made? When we would have school? Would we even have school?
Weather forecasting in the Willamette Valley is a fitting metaphor for our walk with God. Many of us have detailed calendars to order our days, preparing us for what is to come. But there is also an invisible heavenly calendar that God positions over our personal calendar, often reshaping our well-laid plans. Just as we cannot control the changing weather, there is little we can do to take command over the daily circumstances that come our way. While God is not the author of the "hard stuff" this broken world throws our way, He is active in using them for our good. It is a troublesome dead end to attempt to control and manage our days on our own. Jesus invites us to lay these burdens at His feet, and partner with Him, inviting Him to work His redemptive power in every situation to His glory. While my son and I at times wanted to throw our snow shovels aside and call it a day, we remained committed to the task at hand. Unsure of what weather was to come, we were resolved to finish the surprise assignment provided by the recent cold front. In the same way, there are tasks, circumstances, and responses, both on our calendar and on God's hidden calendar, that will pop up today. These inevitable opportunities are known by God. Rather than being overly frustrated and surprised by them, our growing relationship with Him can build trust in His promised presence. He is more than capable and eager to walk with us through them...even lead us through them. I'm not sure if our hands will wrap around another snow shovel this year. But I am grateful to know that God has his hands wrapped around us whatever the forecast holds. For years I have adopted the philosophy that every day is my favorite day of the week. That said, Wednesday is my favorite day of the week. Directly at the center of our weekly schedule are our chapel services. We plan and invest strategically in these services. We desire students to also love their Wednesdays, developing a rhythm of weekly worship and growth in a healthy Christian community.
This week our elementary chapel services included new faces on the stage helping to lead students in worship. Then our 6th-grade students gathered their 1st-5th grade "families" to mentor them in God's Word. What a great picture of God's design for His people! Corporate worship and small-group growth under the guiding hands of Christian leaders. Our secondary chapel gave our student-led worship team a week off for Finals Week. Our guest adult worship team rocked the house! How special and exceptional for a group of young people to engage together in praise and worship right in the middle of Finals Week! Woven throughout chapel was Scriptural teaching on worship the guest parent worship leader/speaker provided 4 simple truths about worship.
Using examples from God's design of our mind, body, and spirit, the idea and act of worship were affirmed in our community. Further discussion among small groups continued afterward, along with a "healthy" dose of donuts and life-giving special treats. While Fridays can't be beat, and Saturdays and Sundays have a joy of their own, (also my favorites by the way), I can't help but declare that Wednesday is my favorite day of the week! This was a question I asked a group of students sitting before me. Each Wednesday I lead a small group of 12 Junior High boys called a Flight Team. After we have had our share of soda and sugar and salt, we gather around to practice living as disciples in Christian community. The question I asked had been prompted by our chapel guest speaker.
I was impressed as one of the boys articulated a testimony of God's faithfulness. He shared how God had orchestrated events for him to initially attend Crosshill Christian School and to remain year after year. There was a clear attitude of gratefulness in his response, as well as a genuine understanding that this good thing he had in his life was directed by God. We discussed briefly how God's faithfulness to us is not just in the things we tend to agree with or enjoy. But He remains faithful on the mountaintops and through the valley. His presence and eternal blessings are consistent evidence of this truth. God's faithfulness is impossible to measure and difficult to fully comprehend. It was a blessing to hear this young man's testimony and to share in the blessing of God's faithfulness present in the Crosshill community. In our weakness His power is made perfect. As long as we are faithful to show up each day, with all of the baggage that comes with us, God is faithful to show up as well and work his redemptive plan in our lives. Over Christmas Break my family visited the Newport Aquarium and enjoyed their evening light display. We also viewed the seals, sharks, halibut, and octopus in their nocturnal habitat. But I especially marveled at the colorful clownfish and blue tang, the real live versions of Nemo and Dory from the animated movies.
Not unlike many of us, Dory's character has some clear attention issues. Imperfections in God's marvelous creation constantly remind us of the brokenness of sin. Despite being made in God's image, each one of us in various ways experience this tension. The tension of finding our identity as part of God's design, while also realizing our real need for redemption from brokenness. And this redemption comes with a beneficial bonus. Paul writes to Timothy, "for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control." Fear is not the only ungodly spirit that this world's brokenness attempts to entrench in our hearts. But as chosen children of God, we are provided access to replace hurtful and painful emotions with God's more perfect design. Dory's parents taught her the simple song "Just Keep Swimming" to guide her decision-making to overcome the obstacles in her way. In a much more magnified way, God's Holy Spirit inside of us can guide our thinking and thus our emotions. "Do not be anxious in anything" is an often-quoted Scripture encouragement. But how? Through the power and love and self-control found in the Holy Spirit. As humans of flesh, partnering with Christ to substitute our fleshly nature with His presence is simply what disciples do. Daily worship, surrender, humility, forgiveness, and connection with the Father, orders our world rightly. We are quick to forget, so we should be quick to access God's presence. If the song "Just Keep Swimming" suddenly gets stuck in your head (my apologies), just be thankful that your memory is better than hers. |
Adam Kronberger
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