Praying for Our Students

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Wednesday, August 31, 2011 11:02 AM

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All of our students have been adopted for the coming year, but I fear that we have lost sight of the vision I originally had for this ministry. The main purpose behind our "adopt-a-student ministry" was to have people praying consistently for them during the school year. What brought me to begin this at Calvary were Paul's Letters. One of the repeated themes in his letters is consistency in praying, both through his example and his instruction. Praying must be a priority in our relationships.

On a practical level I believe all of our students need prayer. They all face pressure and temptations, and I believe it is our spiritual obligation to take each of them to the throne of grace. On more than one occasion Blake told Barb that he knew people were praying for him during exam week.

However, I think the train has derailed a little and, therefore, next year we will have a major overhaul to this ministry. I sense that we have focused more on gifts than prayer. This practice is destructive to the kids for two reasons: first, it makes them more selfish because they get used to looking for a gift when they see their adoptive family on Sunday; second, it takes away from the main focus of prayer. I daresay that some have even hesitated in adopting a student to pray for because it means more buying.

I'll lay the burden of derailing the train on myself, but from here on let's keep the focus on praying. To encourage you to remember here are some tips that may help:

  • Place reminders in your life to pray (i.e., pictures on refrigerators, names on a sticky note in the car, etc.).
  • Ask you student (or parent) to give you a class schedule.
  • Be sensitive to pressure cooker times in your student's life (i.e., exams).
I think without too much trouble we'll get back on track, and as we grow our students will know that we've got them covered in prayer!

Grace & Peace,
Scott

The Earthquake of 2011!

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10:51 AM

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At approximately 1:51 p.m on Tuesday, August 23, 2011 I felt the earthquake. At first I thought it was the helicopter flying over at the time or maybe a big truck trying to make it up the hill on Pearl Street, but no it was an earthquake! For those of us who experienced it, it was pretty cool in one way. It's one of those rare things that happen, and it reminded me of a couple of things from Scripture.

First, an earthquake is one of those reminders from God that the earth is under a curse because of sin. When sin came it didn't just affect humanity, the effects of sin are universal. Our entire planet feels the result of man's disobedience and desperately wants to get out from underneath its curse. Paul wrote,

For the creation itself was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now (Romans 8:20-22).

Tuesday afternoon we felt "mother earth" push!

Second, an earthquake reminds me that life happens quickly! Certain events, good and bad, come into our life unexpectedly. No matter how much we plan, something could come at us out of the blue and knock us out of our argyle socks. People don't plan to have a catastrophe touch their life. None of us wake up in the morning saying, "I think I'd like something really bad to happen to me today." That would be crazy, but these things happen every day, and when they touch close to home it hits an emotional chord we didn't realize existed.

The plain fact is that we just don't know what's going to happen tomorrow; in fact, we don't even have a promise that tomorrow will ever get here (and for some it won't). Listen to what James had to say on that matter,

You do not know what tomorrow will bring (James 4:14).

It is moment like these we need to be reminded that God has reversed the effects of sin through the cross. It is in the gospel we find our hope in catastrophes, not in our emergency preparedness (as important as that is). It is only through Jesus and what He did at Calvary that we find hope at times like these.

Grace & Peace,
Scott

Newness

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Thursday, August 18, 2011 2:31 PM

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A new school year has begun! For many this is a time of getting back into a good routine. Teachers want to teach a fresh batch of young, eager minds, and students want to show their friends their new shoes, jeans, shirts, and boyfriends...it's something new for everyone. It's simply an exciting time of year! At least it's better than sitting around bored with nothing to do but watch the grass turn brown in the heat of the summer. "Newness" is wonderful and this time of year reminds me of the constant newness of the Christian life.

God spiritually created us to be new through Christ. Paul called us God's "new creation" and then he describes God's creative activity in our lives with the statement "the old has passed away; behold, the new has come" (2 Corinthians 5:17). God is not satisfied with leaving us the way we were; He wants and expects change. This change is radical in the sense that it affects every single, solitary area of our life. It's a different direction for our lives, a different desire for our passions, a new set of habits, and a different way of looking at life.

Another point I want to make is that this change never ends. The newness is always new again. We will never get to a point in our lives when change is no longer necessary. We must always be growing. This constant, spiritual growth is by God's sovereign design according to Romans 8:29,

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son...

Just think about it, God's plan from before time began was to make us more and more like His Son. This plan is rooted in the gospel, continues in the gospel and finishes in the gospel. I say this because our spiritual growth is about being conformed to the image of Jesus. He didn't say conformed to a set of rules or traditions, but His Son. Central to being remade int he image of Jesus is the cross, and so central to our spiritual growth is the cross.

Grace & Peace,
Scott
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