Well, it happened. The kids came back to school. People had warned me that that was part of being a teacher, and I kinda sorta believed them, but it wasn't until Thursday that it really sunk in: kids come back after summer. As I get ready to embark on Year 2 of the great teaching adventure, people have asked me what the difference between this year and last year is. I think that the difference can be summed up in the difference between "thought" and "know."
Last year, I thought that teaching would be hard, but now I know that it is a brutally difficult job.
Last year, I thought that this job would push me to my limits, but now I know that it is going to take me way beyond them.
Last year, I thought that there would be spiritual darkness among my kids, but now I know that darkness is the rule rather than the exception.
Last year, I thought that my co-workers would be great, but now I know that I've been blessed beyond measure in the people that God has given me to work with.
Last year, I thought that having my friends pray for me would be neat, but now I know that, without your prayers, I'm helpless.
Last year, I thought that God's word was good, but now I know that it is life itself.
Last year, I thought that God would see me through my first year, but now I know that he is doing something marvelous in my life and in the lives of each of my students through my time here at Restoration.
That, I believe is the key. Now I know. I know that without God, I can do nothing. The last thing that I want to do is rely on experience or some other source of strength. I want to go back to where I started last year: utterly dependent on God to do everything and well aware that this job is beyond me.
As this first month kicks off and we all get settled in, I'd like to ask you to pray for three things:
1. Pray that I never ever ever EVER for not even one second harbor the illusion that my experience is going to get me through. Pray that I would look to my Heavenly Father every day for every thing that I need.
2. Pray that I would have discernment to see where the Lord is working in individual lives and join him there.
3. Pray that I would be wise in disciplining and generous in loving my kids.
Love you guys! Thanks a million!
Sunday, August 9, 2015
Wednesday, July 22, 2015
Mercy and Grace
When I was growing up (shoutout to South Knoxville!), my dad taught us Wood kids a little saying that I've remembered my entire life: "Mercy is when you don't get what you deserve, and grace is when you get what you don't deserve." Now, that is a solid saying, but there is something more to be said, and I'd like to use this blog to say it here.
Let's take mercy first. According to the saying above, "Mercy is when you don't get what you deserve." To use a real world example, and playing by the rules of that saying, if I robbed a bank, mercy would be the judge letting me go because he chose to exercise mercy. At what cost, though, did his mercy come? You see, the instant his mercy was shown to me, his justice was invalidated. Judges can be just, and judges can be merciful, but it is impossible for a judge to be just and merciful at the same time.
What about grace? Again, grace has been defined as, "When you do get what you don't deserve." Let's say that I walked out to the mailbox today, and I found a letter addressed to me inside. When I opened the letter, a check fluttered out for $100,000 with a note attached to it. The note read, "Just wanted to pass this gift along to you. Use it well." First off, #MayItBeso. Second off, surely that is grace! A free gift, completely undeserved! At what cost, though, did this mysterious benefactor's grace come? The instant his grace was shown to me by giving me the check (and once I cashed it), his grace stopped being free. As they say, there are no free lunches.
When sharing the Gospel with Muslims, you often run into the issue of the tension between God's mercy and justice. They believe that God's mercy overwhelms his justice, and that God can, in a manner of speaking, "stop" being just for a moment and let sinners into heaven. Moreover, they believe that God can actually "stop" being just for a moment and send a righteous person to hell. Christians, on the other hand, believe in the unity of our God. In other words, God is not a person who sometimes acts just, sometimes mercifully, sometimes in wrath, etc., etc. Nor do we believe that God is a pile of attributes, each trying to grab the steering wheel from one another. All that our God does, all of his attributes do. Where does that leave us when it comes to mercy and grace, however?
Let's return one more time to my example of the unjustly merciful judge. How can that example be made right? Simple. If I'm on my knees before the judge pleading for mercy, and he tells me this: You may go. This innocent man has agreed to take your place. He will serve your sentence, in it's entirety on your behalf." That is true mercy, and everything else is just a mushy counterfeit of the real deal. With that in mind, let's amend the definition of mercy to the following: Mercy is when you don't get what you do deserve because someone else took it for you.
What about grace? Obviously, the instant I cash that check, that grace is no longer free. What is free to me cost my benefactor $100,000. Free grace is an illusion. Or, to put it another way...
Let's take mercy first. According to the saying above, "Mercy is when you don't get what you deserve." To use a real world example, and playing by the rules of that saying, if I robbed a bank, mercy would be the judge letting me go because he chose to exercise mercy. At what cost, though, did his mercy come? You see, the instant his mercy was shown to me, his justice was invalidated. Judges can be just, and judges can be merciful, but it is impossible for a judge to be just and merciful at the same time.
What about grace? Again, grace has been defined as, "When you do get what you don't deserve." Let's say that I walked out to the mailbox today, and I found a letter addressed to me inside. When I opened the letter, a check fluttered out for $100,000 with a note attached to it. The note read, "Just wanted to pass this gift along to you. Use it well." First off, #MayItBeso. Second off, surely that is grace! A free gift, completely undeserved! At what cost, though, did this mysterious benefactor's grace come? The instant his grace was shown to me by giving me the check (and once I cashed it), his grace stopped being free. As they say, there are no free lunches.
When sharing the Gospel with Muslims, you often run into the issue of the tension between God's mercy and justice. They believe that God's mercy overwhelms his justice, and that God can, in a manner of speaking, "stop" being just for a moment and let sinners into heaven. Moreover, they believe that God can actually "stop" being just for a moment and send a righteous person to hell. Christians, on the other hand, believe in the unity of our God. In other words, God is not a person who sometimes acts just, sometimes mercifully, sometimes in wrath, etc., etc. Nor do we believe that God is a pile of attributes, each trying to grab the steering wheel from one another. All that our God does, all of his attributes do. Where does that leave us when it comes to mercy and grace, however?
Let's return one more time to my example of the unjustly merciful judge. How can that example be made right? Simple. If I'm on my knees before the judge pleading for mercy, and he tells me this: You may go. This innocent man has agreed to take your place. He will serve your sentence, in it's entirety on your behalf." That is true mercy, and everything else is just a mushy counterfeit of the real deal. With that in mind, let's amend the definition of mercy to the following: Mercy is when you don't get what you do deserve because someone else took it for you.
What about grace? Obviously, the instant I cash that check, that grace is no longer free. What is free to me cost my benefactor $100,000. Free grace is an illusion. Or, to put it another way...
"Then Aslan stopped, and the children looked into the stream. And there, on the golden gravel of the bed of the stream, lay King Caspian, dead, with the water flowing over him like liquid glass. His long white beard swayed in it like water-weed. And all three stood and wept. Even the Lion wept: great Lion-tears, each tear more precious than the Earth would be if it was a single solid diamond. And Jill noticed that Eustace looked neither like a child crying, nor like a boy crying and wanting to hide it, but like a grown-up crying. At least, that is the nearest she could get to it; but really, as she said, people don't seem to have any particular ages on that mountain.
"Son of Adam," said Aslan, "go into that thicket and pluck the thorn that you will find there, and bring it to me."
Eustace obeyed. The thorn was a foot long and sharp as a rapier.
"Drive it into my paw, son of Adam," said Aslan, holding up his right fore-paw and spreading out the great pad towards Eustace.
"Must I?" said Eustace.
"Yes," said Aslan.
Then Eustace set his teeth and drove the thorn into the Lion's pad. And there came out a great drop of blood, redder than all redness that you have ever seen or imagined. And it splashed into the stream over the dead body of the King. At the same moment the doleful music stopped. And the dead King began to be changed. His white beard turned to grey, and from grey to yellow, and got shorter and vanished altogether; and his sunken cheeks grew round and fresh, and the wrinkles were smoothed, and his eyes opened, and his eyes and lips both laughed, and suddenly he leaped up and stood before them."-C.S. Lewis, The Silver Chair
The gift of life that King Caspian received was not free at all. The cost was the blood of the lion. It cost him dearly. How much more did the grace we received cost our Heavenly Father? Peter put it this way, "18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect," 1 Peter 1:18-19. With that in mind, might we amend the meaning of grace to this: Grace is when you get what you don't deserve...because someone else paid for it.
Grace and mercy are marvelous gifts to us, but these gifts did not come at no cost. The next time you hear someone talking about mercy and grace, take a moment and give thanks to the one who provided those precious gifts at the greatest expense.
Wednesday, July 15, 2015
A better way forward
I don't want to be eloquent today; I want to be plain spoken. Many of you were outraged, and rightfully so, when you saw Russell Moore's post on just how deep the horror of Planned Parenthood's legally sanctioned genocide against the unborn goes. You posted the same articles that I did, you liked and shared other people's posts on the same topic, and perhaps you even went so far as to pray right then and there. Well...it's a new day today. When you log on to Facebook, there will be a whole new batch of distractions, and maybe even a few new outrages. What are you going to do with the outrage of yesterday? If yesterday's outrage was all that we as Christians can muster up in the face of such horror, then yesterday was a waste. It's easy to post and re-post articles within the Christian outrage echo chamber. People are going to like what you post. People are going to support what you say. The problem is, when we post these things, the world isn't listening. When we pray, however, our God is listening. If outrage doesn't lead to prayer, the outrage is meaningless. If you were outraged yesterday, I'm going to challenge you to do something. Starting on August 1, I am going to mail out a 31 day calendar of specific things to pray about in the fight against abortion. We will pray for ourselves, our leaders, crisis pregnancy centers, and the names of specific abortion providers. Will you join me? Will your outrage lead to prayer? If you want to join me, message me at joelawood1@gmail.com and tell me that you want in. Also, this is the website of an incredible, Christ-centered crisis pregnancy center. They need your prayers; they would love to have your financial support, and they desire to have you come and give of your time. Will your outrage lead to action on behalf of the unborn and the poor? I challenge you to find some way to support this incredible organization: http://savalife.org/HowtoHelp.aspx
Outrage is good. Heartbreak is good. Outrage and heartbreak that leads to repentance and desperate prayer is best. Let's follow this better way, Christian. Let's cry out to our God and watch him move.
Outrage is good. Heartbreak is good. Outrage and heartbreak that leads to repentance and desperate prayer is best. Let's follow this better way, Christian. Let's cry out to our God and watch him move.
Friday, May 22, 2015
Month 9: Shaped by the master
How long does it take to create a masterpiece? For Michelangelo (No, not the Ninja Turtle), the answer was four years. In September of 1501, Michelangelo was commissioned to complete work on a large sculpture that was to be placed in a Florentine cathedral. Work was actually begun in 1466, but complications arose, and the sculpture was placed on hold until 1501. When Michelangelo began, the 14 foot, 6 ton statue was largely a block of marble. It wasn't until after four years of excruciatingly pain-staking work had taken place, a chisel here and a chisel there, that the masterpiece was unveiled. For anyone who has seen it in person, I think that they would say that it was worth the wait.
Well, I made it til the end, my friends. The last exam has been graded; the last parent has been met with. I'm done. When I was having my end of the year meeting with our principal and director, they asked me what one of my highlights from the year was. My answer was really easy: making it up til now is the highlight of all highlights. Think about it: I'm a waiter, y'all. I was in completely over my head, and it is only by the grace of God that I have made it this far. His grace moved through your prayers, so right after I get done thanking God, I move to thanking him FOR you. I have needed the body of Christ more than ever this year, and you have not let me down.
Now that I'm done, however, the question arises: what did I accomplish this year? Well, from the looks of the grades, not that much. A few kids shined all year. A few kids tanked all year. The rest of them just kind of milled around in the middle. What did I really accomplish? From the outside, it may appear that not that much happened, but I'm confident that there is more happening here than meets the eye. After all, if it took 4 years of painstaking labor to create the statue of David out of dead marble, why would I think that I can do any better with a child? Progress WAS made in the lives of these children, and I'm so grateful to God for it. Prayers were prayed for them, and the Gospel was shared with them. These things do not return void.
That's not all though, is it? While I was chiseling THEM, God was chiseling ME. I truly hope that you've seen a change in me during this year, and, if you have, please know that it is because God truly loves me too much to leave me the way that I am haha. Being chiseled and shaped is not always a pleasant experience, but I know that it is worth it. After all, I'm not being shaped into a piece of cold, dead marble, but into the living image of the sovereign king of the universe. When I see him face to face, I won't regret a single strike of the hammer.
Some ways to pray:
Protection for the kids: Pray that the seed that was planted in them is protected from the enemy, and pray that they are physically protected as well.
Pray for the teachers: Pray that we find rest physically, mentally, and spiritually. Pray that summer is not what we look to restore us, but rather that we all look to Christ as our true vine.
Pray for me: Pray that I use my time wisely this summer to become a better teacher and disciple maker.
I'm grateful beyond words for each and every one of you. I love you guys!
Well, I made it til the end, my friends. The last exam has been graded; the last parent has been met with. I'm done. When I was having my end of the year meeting with our principal and director, they asked me what one of my highlights from the year was. My answer was really easy: making it up til now is the highlight of all highlights. Think about it: I'm a waiter, y'all. I was in completely over my head, and it is only by the grace of God that I have made it this far. His grace moved through your prayers, so right after I get done thanking God, I move to thanking him FOR you. I have needed the body of Christ more than ever this year, and you have not let me down.
Now that I'm done, however, the question arises: what did I accomplish this year? Well, from the looks of the grades, not that much. A few kids shined all year. A few kids tanked all year. The rest of them just kind of milled around in the middle. What did I really accomplish? From the outside, it may appear that not that much happened, but I'm confident that there is more happening here than meets the eye. After all, if it took 4 years of painstaking labor to create the statue of David out of dead marble, why would I think that I can do any better with a child? Progress WAS made in the lives of these children, and I'm so grateful to God for it. Prayers were prayed for them, and the Gospel was shared with them. These things do not return void.
That's not all though, is it? While I was chiseling THEM, God was chiseling ME. I truly hope that you've seen a change in me during this year, and, if you have, please know that it is because God truly loves me too much to leave me the way that I am haha. Being chiseled and shaped is not always a pleasant experience, but I know that it is worth it. After all, I'm not being shaped into a piece of cold, dead marble, but into the living image of the sovereign king of the universe. When I see him face to face, I won't regret a single strike of the hammer.
Some ways to pray:
Protection for the kids: Pray that the seed that was planted in them is protected from the enemy, and pray that they are physically protected as well.
Pray for the teachers: Pray that we find rest physically, mentally, and spiritually. Pray that summer is not what we look to restore us, but rather that we all look to Christ as our true vine.
Pray for me: Pray that I use my time wisely this summer to become a better teacher and disciple maker.
I'm grateful beyond words for each and every one of you. I love you guys!
Sunday, April 12, 2015
Month 8: Finish strong
Hello, my friends! Thank you so much for reading this blog and praying for me. I know that you all have been doing both because a.) the page views are eerily consistent every month. Y'all actually read this thing! b.) I haven't killed anyone yet by either commission or omission. Gotta be divine intervention haha.
This is going to be a very simple update, gang. We have 6 weeks left of school. Of these 6 weeks, the first 2 are given over to some state mandated testing, the middle 2 are "normal", and the last two are exam review and exam taking weeks. That's it. All in all, I have about 12 days where I will actually be "teaching" anyone anything. On the surface, that might seem like a good thing. Awesome job, Andy! You've made it till the end! Well done! In reality, I'm really afraid of this stretch run, and I especially covet your prayers now.
You remember what it was like to be in school and know that the end is near? There is almost an unspoken pact made between the entire student body to collectively shut down. The silent logic states that if you ALL stop giving effort, the teachers won't punish ANY of you. What's worse, the teachers can easily switch into that mindset. The kids are checked out, we have lots of tests to prepare them for, so let's just ease this baby onto the runway nice and slow. I need your prayers to fight that mindset with all that is within me. My job, my opportunity, is to speak the gospel to about 80 kids everyday who desperately need it. It's not an easy job, but it's just about the best job that there is. The enemy would be thrilled if I just slid into "take it easy" mode, but that's not what I'm called to do. Pray for me that I will be full of energy and zeal, and that the hearts and minds of my kids will be open to hearing what I have to say. I may have shared the gospel to a hard heart 150 times to no effect, but it may be that 151st time, or the 179th time, that will do the trick. How will I know unless I try? Join me in praying that I, and the entire staff, will resolve by grace to finish this year strong! Love you guys!
This is going to be a very simple update, gang. We have 6 weeks left of school. Of these 6 weeks, the first 2 are given over to some state mandated testing, the middle 2 are "normal", and the last two are exam review and exam taking weeks. That's it. All in all, I have about 12 days where I will actually be "teaching" anyone anything. On the surface, that might seem like a good thing. Awesome job, Andy! You've made it till the end! Well done! In reality, I'm really afraid of this stretch run, and I especially covet your prayers now.
You remember what it was like to be in school and know that the end is near? There is almost an unspoken pact made between the entire student body to collectively shut down. The silent logic states that if you ALL stop giving effort, the teachers won't punish ANY of you. What's worse, the teachers can easily switch into that mindset. The kids are checked out, we have lots of tests to prepare them for, so let's just ease this baby onto the runway nice and slow. I need your prayers to fight that mindset with all that is within me. My job, my opportunity, is to speak the gospel to about 80 kids everyday who desperately need it. It's not an easy job, but it's just about the best job that there is. The enemy would be thrilled if I just slid into "take it easy" mode, but that's not what I'm called to do. Pray for me that I will be full of energy and zeal, and that the hearts and minds of my kids will be open to hearing what I have to say. I may have shared the gospel to a hard heart 150 times to no effect, but it may be that 151st time, or the 179th time, that will do the trick. How will I know unless I try? Join me in praying that I, and the entire staff, will resolve by grace to finish this year strong! Love you guys!
Friday, March 6, 2015
Month 7: A school full of prodigal sons (and daughters)
To be perfectly frank, this has been a really odd month. When we came back from Christmas break, I realized that I had lost around a dozen kids over the course of the first semester. Most of these kids had been asked to leave due to discipline issues or grades; only two or three had chosen to leave. It was a new experience for me, losing kids like that, but I was told that this was normal (albeit with a few more kids leaving than usual) for a year at Restoration. Kids leave. Then came February.
Around three weeks ago, we announced that, due to not having enough players, we were not going to have a varsity football program this fall. That sparked what will be known as (in our little circle anyway haha) as the Great Exodus. Over the last three weeks, we have lost about a dozen football players. They have transferred away to schools where they have football teams, and I have felt a tinge of sorrow over every single one of their departures. These are kids that I have prayed for and ministered to over the course of a year, and now they are gone. I know that it's not Restoration or Mr. Wood that is the key to their spiritual growth. I know that God can (and actually promised that he will) use everything in their life, even their mistakes, to transform them into the image of his Son. I know that God is sovereign, in control, and that he has these kids exactly where he wants them to be. I know all of that, but it still hurts when they leave.
Today, a senior transferred away to a local public school. 44 days away from graduation, a senior walked out of our school for, presumably, the last time. It's actually worse than that, however. This senior comes from a beyond broken home. His mother gave him up. His father gave him up. For years, he's been passed around and rejected. At the beginning of this year, however, our football coach took him in and became his legal guardian. It seemed like the beginning of a beautiful gospel story-the wealthy, NFL veteran football coach takes the poor, orphaned-by-neglect child into his home and loves on him all year. He gives him a key to his house and tells him to make himself at home. He buys him a car to get around town. He promises to help get him into college and help him there as well. Everything seems to be perfect. Unfortunately, sin hates a happy ending. Today that senior demanded to have his legal guardianship transferred back to his father-the man who has abandoned him for years. He left this school, the school with teachers that have loved him for years, and went to a failing public school. He walked away from a guaranteed, full ride to a great school. He did all of this for really no reason at all except that sin makes us fools.
If you all didn't know me so well, I'm sure that you would think that I made us this story so that I had an "urbanized" version of the prodigal son to tell to my kids. I wish that that was the case, but this is the truth. This really happened today. I don't have a happy ending to share with you beyond this: God can rescue even the runaway who is sleeping in the pigsty. I'm a living testimony to that beautiful fact. While this senior may be the most stark example of this "prodigal son tendency" that our kids have, he is by no means unique. We hold out the gospel and plead with these kids day after day, but many of them choose the pig sty. My request for you this month is that we teachers would not grow weary in our pleading and that the kids' hearts would be tender to respond.
Praise for: God sustaining me this far, growth in Marquan and Reggie
Pray for: All the kids who have left. Pray that they would hear the gospel and be protected in their new school.
Around three weeks ago, we announced that, due to not having enough players, we were not going to have a varsity football program this fall. That sparked what will be known as (in our little circle anyway haha) as the Great Exodus. Over the last three weeks, we have lost about a dozen football players. They have transferred away to schools where they have football teams, and I have felt a tinge of sorrow over every single one of their departures. These are kids that I have prayed for and ministered to over the course of a year, and now they are gone. I know that it's not Restoration or Mr. Wood that is the key to their spiritual growth. I know that God can (and actually promised that he will) use everything in their life, even their mistakes, to transform them into the image of his Son. I know that God is sovereign, in control, and that he has these kids exactly where he wants them to be. I know all of that, but it still hurts when they leave.
Today, a senior transferred away to a local public school. 44 days away from graduation, a senior walked out of our school for, presumably, the last time. It's actually worse than that, however. This senior comes from a beyond broken home. His mother gave him up. His father gave him up. For years, he's been passed around and rejected. At the beginning of this year, however, our football coach took him in and became his legal guardian. It seemed like the beginning of a beautiful gospel story-the wealthy, NFL veteran football coach takes the poor, orphaned-by-neglect child into his home and loves on him all year. He gives him a key to his house and tells him to make himself at home. He buys him a car to get around town. He promises to help get him into college and help him there as well. Everything seems to be perfect. Unfortunately, sin hates a happy ending. Today that senior demanded to have his legal guardianship transferred back to his father-the man who has abandoned him for years. He left this school, the school with teachers that have loved him for years, and went to a failing public school. He walked away from a guaranteed, full ride to a great school. He did all of this for really no reason at all except that sin makes us fools.
If you all didn't know me so well, I'm sure that you would think that I made us this story so that I had an "urbanized" version of the prodigal son to tell to my kids. I wish that that was the case, but this is the truth. This really happened today. I don't have a happy ending to share with you beyond this: God can rescue even the runaway who is sleeping in the pigsty. I'm a living testimony to that beautiful fact. While this senior may be the most stark example of this "prodigal son tendency" that our kids have, he is by no means unique. We hold out the gospel and plead with these kids day after day, but many of them choose the pig sty. My request for you this month is that we teachers would not grow weary in our pleading and that the kids' hearts would be tender to respond.
Praise for: God sustaining me this far, growth in Marquan and Reggie
Pray for: All the kids who have left. Pray that they would hear the gospel and be protected in their new school.
Monday, February 2, 2015
Month 6: Going numb
Hello, my friends!
Trying to adhere to our unofficial "once every 30 or so days, I ask you to pray for something," here is a Monday night blog post for you all to peruse at your leisure.
I remember a moment from this past summer that I think will be with me for a long time. I was on a treadmill at my gym, and I was cooling down after a workout. I had forgotten my headphones, so I was watching all of the news channels that were on the TV's at the front of the gym. As I scanned from left to right, I saw story after story that made you want to cry. Do you remember this past summer? Do you remember this past summer as our news cycles were filled with disappearing airplanes, shot down airplanes, ISIS beheadings, riots in Ferguson, and a dozen other stories that I don't even remember at this moment? If that wasn't enough, there were typhoons, landslides, and mudslides. There were collapsing buildings and bombed buildings. That moment on the treadmill, though...everything just hit me all at once. This world is so broken, so hurting, that it's devastating to try and look at it all. I nearly started sobbing on the treadmill as it all washed over me.
Most of us are probably familiar with C.S. Lewis' illustration of the cattle moving peacefully to the slaughter, unaware of their danger. For those without Christ, that is probably our enemies favorite ploy. What about for those IN Christ, however? What does our enemy love to use against us? I think, and this is just my personal experience talking, that he loves to use an OVER-exposure of calamity to numb us to the state of our world. If everywhere we look we see pain and suffering, it just becomes easier for us not to look. It becomes easier for us to shut our eyes, throw up a fake "there but for the grace of God go I" and go on about our day, content in our salvation. Is that what our Savior did, though? Didn't he see the pain of the people around him, the very ones who would someday crucify him, and wasn't his heart moved to compassion? Didn't he weep over Jerusalem and her refusal of him? Didn't he grieve over the souls of the people who were mocking him on the cross? He touched the unclean and ate with the outcast. We have to do the same.
Besides telling you to watch the evening news more often, where am I going with this? What does this have to do with Restoration? Well, every Monday, we (hopefully!) take prayer requests in every class. Week after week, I can safely assume that the majority, maybe even 3/4, of the prayer requests will sound something like this: "Pray for a better relationship for me and my dad." If not that one, maybe it will be, "Pray for my mom and I; we aren't getting along at all." We have kids who are abused and shipped from foster home to foster home. We have kids who live in the middle of brokenness and despair that would leave most of us in the fetal position. What do you do in the face of relentless, systemic, pervasive brokenness and sin? It is SO. EASY. to tune it all out. It is SO. EASY. to log their prayer requests, and move on with my day. My request for you this month for me is that God would not let me look away. I don't want to view their suffering with hopeless eyes, that doesn't help at all, but I do want to view their suffering with the eyes of the Gospel. I want to hate the sin and the corruption that has brought them to this point, and I want to yearn for the glory of God to be seen in their lives. That doesn't come from a hurt that goes numb to protect itself. That comes from a heart that is gloriously vulnerable and alive to the suffering that is all around it. Those are the hearts that pray earnestly. Those are the hearts that will rely on grace to sustain them. Those are the hearts that will make a difference. Will you ask God to give me that heart?
Pray for: Consistent kindness in the classroom and a heart that feels all that God would have it feel.
Pray for: William H. and Devin T. These two young men have expressed some doubts over their own salvation.
Pray for: Revival in the 10th grade. There are a lot of things happening in that class, both good and bad. Pray that God would bring them to him now.
Trying to adhere to our unofficial "once every 30 or so days, I ask you to pray for something," here is a Monday night blog post for you all to peruse at your leisure.
I remember a moment from this past summer that I think will be with me for a long time. I was on a treadmill at my gym, and I was cooling down after a workout. I had forgotten my headphones, so I was watching all of the news channels that were on the TV's at the front of the gym. As I scanned from left to right, I saw story after story that made you want to cry. Do you remember this past summer? Do you remember this past summer as our news cycles were filled with disappearing airplanes, shot down airplanes, ISIS beheadings, riots in Ferguson, and a dozen other stories that I don't even remember at this moment? If that wasn't enough, there were typhoons, landslides, and mudslides. There were collapsing buildings and bombed buildings. That moment on the treadmill, though...everything just hit me all at once. This world is so broken, so hurting, that it's devastating to try and look at it all. I nearly started sobbing on the treadmill as it all washed over me.
Most of us are probably familiar with C.S. Lewis' illustration of the cattle moving peacefully to the slaughter, unaware of their danger. For those without Christ, that is probably our enemies favorite ploy. What about for those IN Christ, however? What does our enemy love to use against us? I think, and this is just my personal experience talking, that he loves to use an OVER-exposure of calamity to numb us to the state of our world. If everywhere we look we see pain and suffering, it just becomes easier for us not to look. It becomes easier for us to shut our eyes, throw up a fake "there but for the grace of God go I" and go on about our day, content in our salvation. Is that what our Savior did, though? Didn't he see the pain of the people around him, the very ones who would someday crucify him, and wasn't his heart moved to compassion? Didn't he weep over Jerusalem and her refusal of him? Didn't he grieve over the souls of the people who were mocking him on the cross? He touched the unclean and ate with the outcast. We have to do the same.
Besides telling you to watch the evening news more often, where am I going with this? What does this have to do with Restoration? Well, every Monday, we (hopefully!) take prayer requests in every class. Week after week, I can safely assume that the majority, maybe even 3/4, of the prayer requests will sound something like this: "Pray for a better relationship for me and my dad." If not that one, maybe it will be, "Pray for my mom and I; we aren't getting along at all." We have kids who are abused and shipped from foster home to foster home. We have kids who live in the middle of brokenness and despair that would leave most of us in the fetal position. What do you do in the face of relentless, systemic, pervasive brokenness and sin? It is SO. EASY. to tune it all out. It is SO. EASY. to log their prayer requests, and move on with my day. My request for you this month for me is that God would not let me look away. I don't want to view their suffering with hopeless eyes, that doesn't help at all, but I do want to view their suffering with the eyes of the Gospel. I want to hate the sin and the corruption that has brought them to this point, and I want to yearn for the glory of God to be seen in their lives. That doesn't come from a hurt that goes numb to protect itself. That comes from a heart that is gloriously vulnerable and alive to the suffering that is all around it. Those are the hearts that pray earnestly. Those are the hearts that will rely on grace to sustain them. Those are the hearts that will make a difference. Will you ask God to give me that heart?
Pray for: Consistent kindness in the classroom and a heart that feels all that God would have it feel.
Pray for: William H. and Devin T. These two young men have expressed some doubts over their own salvation.
Pray for: Revival in the 10th grade. There are a lot of things happening in that class, both good and bad. Pray that God would bring them to him now.
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