Back to School!

Back to school!

The stores are crammed with school supplies and lunch box snacks in every aisle. Can the summer be over already? Mothers are dancing and kids (and teachers!) are moping. It must be true.

I have a terrible first-day-of-school memory.

It was my freshman year of high school, and I was literally shaking with fear and anxiety. I rushed to catch the huge bus that would carry me to Bridgeton High School for the next four unscripted years of my very sheltered life. Growing up in Elmer, I had been educated with the same 23 kids since kindergarten. I had walked to school twice a day (we came home for lunch) for nine school years. What drastic changes were coming my way…and even back then, I didn’t do change or “the unknown” well at all. I was scared out of my mind. 

I had never ridden on a school bus, and it would take 40 minutes one way each day. I had never eaten in a cafeteria or packed my lunch. I had never changed classes, had a locker with a combination to remember, worn a gym suit, carried my books around, had multiple teachers, used hall passes, navigated one way stairwells, and had hundreds of classmates swarming around me. And I had never had to get up so early. That was the worst.

But I didn’t have a choice. I had to go. And I was late.

I had vainly fussed over my hair and makeup too long. My clothes had been carefully decided upon and spread out for weeks, but my hair, with a mind of its own, decided not to cooperate that morning. Shoveling down my mandatory breakfast, I practically had to run to Elmer School, probably about a mile away, where I would catch the dreaded bus. The uneven sidewalk along Front Street was shaded back then, and I remember hearing the birds singing in the trees, calming me down a bit.

Until one of them let loose on my head.

Really.

It dribbled down my carefully arranged curls onto my brand-new, light blue blouse. A huge, juicy plop. I had no tissues. I had nothing. I cried. Now my makeup was running down my cheeks. I ran faster. I couldn’t wait for the safety of the bus so I could hide.

I really don’t remember how I cleaned myself up, if a classmate had something I could use or whether I had to hit the lavatory the minute we arrived at school. Remember, this is long before wipes and sanitizers were invented. That part of the day is just a blur.

But I do know my hair was gunky and plastered to my head and my mascara was gone. What a first impression I made on all those sophisticated city slickers! It was true. Elmer kids were all dumb—and messy—hicks. I was mortified.

There is a lot that could be said about this now-comical memory of mine, but my main point in relating it today is to simply say this: All kinds of unexpected things happen when our kids go off to school.

Some of them are silly and unimportant, easily handled, laughed at, or overlooked altogether. But there are other events that are much more significant than my sparrow attack. There are painful, life-altering, and innocence-robbing circumstances that our children are woefully ill-equipped to know what to do with.  And we are not there.

Thankfully, our Heavenly Father is.

We know we can’t anticipate or control all our children’s life experiences, especially when they are away from the protective environment of our homes. Who could have foreseen a bird dropping? No matter how loving and responsible we are, no matter how carefully we manage and train, we live every day in a broken, messed up world full of broken, messed up people—and birds. Into that, we send our most precious gifts from God, our children.

We spend hours and dollars preparing our kids to go to school—clothes that fit their ever growing bodies, back packs, tissues, notebooks, glue sticks, fruit snacks, Gogurts—so many things, so much time. All of this is necessary.

May I humbly suggest that it is even more necessary to spend an even greater amount of our energy and time praying for our children while they are in school or on their way? How we need our Ever-present Father to watch over them! How He loves for us to ask!

I have a laminated card in my car that gives me verses and specifics to pray for my children and grandchildren every day. I found a similar one on the FamilyLife Today website earlier this year to share with our parenting class members. A Parent’s Daily Prayer Guide, compiled by Don and Sue Myers, missionaries for many years with Cru all over the world, suggests seven specific requests we can pray for our children, one for each day of the week.  

Here is their list with verses you can look up and cling to.

Monday: Ask God to place a protective, solid hedge around your children so that Satan cannot reach in and lead them into temptation and so they will be safe from harm (2 Thessalonians 3:3; Psalm 33:20).

Tuesday: Pray that your children would use godly wisdom in selecting friends and peers that will make a positive difference in their lives. Ask God to give each child a discernment of people as well as knowing the difference between right and wrong (Proverbs 1:10; 18:24; Deuteronomy 13:6,8).

Wednesday: Pray that your children would stay pure in their thoughts and deeds (Psalm 24:4-5; Job 17:9).

Thursday: Pray that they will be caught if they wander into cheating, lies, or mischief (Hebrews 13: 18-19).

Friday: Pray they will be alert and thinking clearly as they attend school and extracurricular activities and as they take exams. Ask God to help them be motivated to do the best they are capable of doing (Colossians 3:17; 1 Corinthians 10:31).

Saturday: Pray for the spouse each child will marry someday. Ask that they will come from godly homes and have an appetite to live the spiritual truth they’ve learned. Pray also that their goals and purpose will be the same as our own children and their future homes would be godly (Deuteronomy 5:29).

Sunday: Ask God to help them live their lives for Him and that He will use them as a testimony and witness for His glory. Pray that they will be grown to full spiritual maturity (Psalms 78:1-8; 103:17-18; Isaiah 54:13; Ephesians 3:20-21).

Do not leave your children unprotected—that is, vulnerable to Satan’s attack. The greatest shield of protection we as parents can provide for our children is prayer. It’s never too late to start (1 Samuel 12:23; James 5:16; Colossians 4:2).

This is a good place to begin, isn’t it? I know it is not an exhaustive list. I add things for my particular child or grandchild, requests that are personalized just for him or her at this moment in time. I often pray that they will hunger and thirst for righteousness, that they will love God’s Word, that they will love justice and mercy and walk humbly before their God, that at an early age they will acknowledge Jesus as Savior and King and follow Him all the days  of their lives. I pray against fear and worry. I pray against self-love and deceit. So many things. So many beautiful children.

Such a Big, Wise, Loving, Powerful, Comforting, All-knowing, Ever-present God!

Will you take a bit of time each day to cover your children with prayer this school year? Will you ask the Father to do what you cannot? It’s never too late.

A bird poo attack is the least of our worries…   

May God bless you and keep you and your dear children this year and every year.

—Eileen Hill

Be Holy as I am Holy: A Holy Invitation

To be separated from God is to be a sinner. To be separated unto God is to be holy. Jesus is Holy. He does nothing apart from the Father. He and His Father are one. As a man, He carried out, not His own will, but the will of His heavenly Father. He loved His Father with all His heart, mind, soul, and strength. He was not His own. When He was betrayed, He sought to honor His Father. He was not His own. When He made plans, He sought to honor his Father. He was not His own. When He was persecuted, He sought to honor His Father. He was not His own. When He was in the presence of those with differing beliefs, He sought to honor His Father.  He was not His own. When He was being crucified, He sought to honor His father. He was not His own. At all times during His earthly life, including under the most difficult duress, He sought only to honor His Father. He offered His life to His Father in love. He was and is and will always be Holy. 

We were created to be conformed into the image of the Son. God’s plan is to make us Holy. He wants this because He desires to dwell in our presence. He wants us to see Him. In Hebrews 12:14 it is written:

“Pursue peace with all people, and holiness without which no one will see the Lord.”

Are you pursuing holiness? If you are not, it will not pursue you. How much of you have you given to the Father? What is still your own? ALL is a really big little word. Do you love Him with ALL your heart, mind, soul, and strength? To be saved from sin is to be purchased for holiness. Do you entrust all to the one who paid it all for you to pursue holiness and dwell in God’s presence? Is Jesus now Lord? 

There is no more faithful response to God’s love than for us in our weakness to pursue holiness in His strength. In response to His love, may we present our lives as living sacrifices to be conformed into His image. We cannot be whole separate from Him. At all times, including under the most difficult duress, may we seek first His kingdom, His honor. May we be crucified with Christ. May we not be our own. For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen.

 “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word; and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” - John 14:23

 In Christ alone,

—Roger Garrison

*Please be advised that this blog represents the views, opinions and beliefs of the writer and does not necessarily reflect those of our church leadership or denominational affiliation.

Mess and Grace

You don’t have to hang around LFA for long before you hear someone talking about our desire to grow into a healthy spiritual family. It is a lovely goal and certainly one that is at the center of God’s heart and work in His people. Jesus Himself, just hours before the cross was to be his, asked the Father to bring Jesus’ followers into a unity that more closely reflected the way God Himself functions as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

I love this and I aspire to live as a better brother to others. I know many at LFA who have embraced the same dream and I believe many more individuals who are ready to join this wonderful party. 

However, like a long journey to a preferred destination, there are some switchbacks and potholes along the way to a robust spiritual family that we should acknowledge and common to the process and be prepared to meet. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in his classic work, Life Together, simply shared that if a person wishes to become part of a true spiritual family, that person will need to set aside their own dreams of what that would like and embrace the mess and grace of doing life together.   

So, I’ve been thinking a bit about the bumps and potholes that will be part of our journey together at LFA. Over the years I’ve become aware that becoming a spiritual family is messy, hard work for any who want to live into it. The pathway to spiritual family needs to be intentionally trod and requires heavy doses of trust, reflective listening, intercession, commitment to work through things, the grace of forgiveness, and just lots of time laughing and eating together.

May I encourage us to not over idealize what spiritual family looks like but rather trust the effective intercession of Jesus and then engage, with grace, the participation with Father that graces us to become, see, and live into the heart our Savior envisioned for His spiritual family. 

Let’s talk about it. The adventure awaits.

—George Davis

*Please be advised that this blog represents the views, opinions and beliefs of the writer and does not necessarily reflect those of our church leadership or denominational affiliation.