God Still Holds Back the Water

      In the movie Prince of Egypt, there is an awesome scene where the Red Sea parts for the Israelites to cross safely as they fled from Egypt. The massive walls of water are clearly depicted with sharks and fish swimming high above the people as they walk quickly to safely. I love that image because it shows exactly how powerful and amazing our God is. He can hold back the Sea so His people can cross over on dry land. He didn't let them suddenly discover boats. He didn't throw up a barrier to stop their pursuers. He didn't allow them to swim across. God parted the waters and they crossed on dry land.  What's my point? Simple. God is Powerful Enough. Whatever it is that you are struggling with, God is powerful enough to handle it.


     About a dozen years ago, I worked in Human Resources. I liked my job. I worked hard. There was a variety in what I did. I travelled for work. I earned a nice salary. Nothing I did was dishonorable to God; nothing I did showed His awesomeness either though. My job went to the West Coast. I stayed here. I really prayed about what I was supposed to do next. God called me to teach and so I became a teacher. I tell this story a lot. It's all true. However, it leaves out the part where God held back the water for me to cross on dry land.


     In a Hallmark movie, I would have received a full scholarship or won the lottery or met a wonderful benefactor that paid for me to go to school to become certified. Nope. In real life, I lost my house, moved in with my grandmother, and slept on the floor of her small home for the first six months of my teaching career. When I was finally able to pay for Taylor and I a home of our own, we went without cable television, internet, and even heat for one winter. Life was hard. I never once doubted that teaching is what I was supposed to do though and we survived. How is this God holding back the water? I went to school for 15 months with absolutely no income. I did not have a penny at times. Church members would hand me gas money as we were leaving church. My grandmother housed us and fed us. I had a jug of loose change that I carried around in the car to pay for gas and it never ran out of money. God didn't give me an easy route, but He did allow me to cross over. Taylor and my grandmother became extremely close. He wouldn't have had that relationship otherwise. I devoted myself fully to my career because I knew this was my calling from God.  I love teaching because I am called to teach. God held back the water so I could do it.

     Today, the sermon centered on Joshua 3:1-5. Joshua says three things that I think we need to remember. First, Joshua tells the people to wait until they see the ark of the covenant to leave their homes and follow it. He said to WAIT. I have student loan debt from my Masters and my Doctorate. It worries me because it is a second mortgage every month. I wanted to be a better teacher, but I also wanted to be a better paid teacher. That's hard to say. It's true though. God has not miraculously erased my debt. Today, sitting in the pew, I realized that I had not waited until I saw God's plan. I made my own plan. I am bobbing in the sea of debt because I did not WAIT. The second thing, Joshua says is to put some distance between yourself and the ark so you can see which way to go. The ark is Holy. If I am so close that I cannot see the signs of which way I am to go, I will miss the direction I am supposed to travel. I like to think I know what is best.  I sit on this board and that committee. I apply for this class and that class. God didn't call me to be all those things. He called me to teach. God knows what His plan for my life is. I need to trust Him. I need to stop trying to catch up with the ark and show it where to go. God needs to lead me. Otherwise, I am looking for the life raft when God's plan is to part the water. I need to hand it all over to Him.


     Finally, (and I LOVE this), verse 5 says "And Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify yourselves; for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you." Sanctify yourself. We all want the waters to part. We all want to be part of something amazing. Joshua clearly states that we have to do our part first. We need to spend time in prayer, in reflection, in God's Holy Word. We need to take ourselves out of the picture and put the focus firmly on God. I am called to teach. My classroom is my mission field. I need to stop worrying about what my test scores are going to be. I need to stop worrying about accolades that never come my way. I need to stop seeking the approval of others. I need to sanctify myself so that God can be seen in me. God didn't call me to teach to raise standardized test scores. I am to do so much more. I need to sanctify myself and watch God do wonders among me. He will part the waters if I do my part. I cannot wait.
    

Sundays in the South

Technically speaking, I do not have to blog today because Sundays are the free pass day of Lent.  I'm not sure I understand this logic since Lent is supposed to honor the 40 days Jesus spent preparing to die for our sins, and I don't recall reading anywhere that Jesus took Sundays off. I'm really liking the blogging anyway.  It makes me think about a wide variety of topics.  I probably come up with 3 - 4 things to write about for every single thing that makes its way to this blog. My mind just works that way.  Today's blog was an easy choice.  Today is Sunday, the Lord's Day.  I absolutely adore Sundays in the South. If you are not from the South, you may not understand why I had to differentiate that I love Sundays in the South and not just Sundays in general. If you are Southern though, you know that Sundays are about friends, family, rest, and most importantly, serving the Lord.

I attend a small church in Liberty.  I love the people there.  Church services begin at 10:30 a.m. I normally arrive around 10:25 a.m., so it is not like I have huge amounts of spare time to play with if I am running behind.  This morning, I was doing just that.  I forgot that it was daylight savings, so even though my clock said I had plenty of time, I did not. I rushed to get ready and leave the house only to realize that I was out of gas and needed to stop to refuel before church or risk not getting there.  I also needed a bag for a wedding shower to be held after church which I meant to get yesterday and never did.  I thought about not going at all since so many things were going wrong, but I went. I am so thankful because if I had stayed home, I would have missed a blessing. God was at RCBC this morning.

This is Steve McLane who is serving as the preacher during the interim period.  He preaches more like a Wesleyan than a good ole Baptist, but God is in him. This morning he led service using scripture from Matthew and his points were simple.  We think there has to be so much more to salvation than there is.  We feel we have to work for it, that we can somehow become worthy of it.  God does not deal with us based on our worth.  Did you get that?  God deals with us even though we could never be worthy of the sacrifice. Second, God doesn't charge us for His gifts.  They are freely given.  You could never afford the peace of God. I need this peace more than ever, and I just have to pray for it. It's free. Jesus paid for it on Calvary. He descended and snatched the keys from Satan before ascending to Heaven. "Jesus Christ ain't no wimp."  Steve did a colorful version of how he thought that went down with Jesus kicking open the door, slapping Satan, and taking the keys.  We are no longer in bondage because Jesus Christ died for our sins and was resurrected. Wow. I serve a powerful God. His final point was that we are to give to others.  Share what God has given you.  No one is talking money here.  God has given you a gift.  Use it. I'm so glad I showed up this morning.

Sundays in the South are also about family and friends.  Although Taylor was raised in RCBC, he changed churches as a youth to Red Hill where his best friend attends.  I am okay with this change.  He is under the word of God and is involved.  I love the people at Red Hill; I just feel God wants me at Rices Creek.  However, every Sunday, I meet Taylor and a huge group at Michaels Restaurant in Pickens for lunch.  Michaels in locaed on Main Street and serves a basic meat and three dinner.  The food is great! It's hilarious to sit at the table and listen to five different conversations that are going around around you.  It's a mixed group of school teachers, teenagers, a court reporter, and a retired highway patrol.  Everyone likes each other, so we can just laugh and catch up on what has been happening since last Sunday. My biological family gathers en masse about five times/year; this created family of friends gathers every week.  Nothing better than Southern food and laughter.

I normally try to grab a nap on Sundays as any good Baptist does.  Today, I couldn't because I had a review session for my AP US History class. I try to hold a review session every Sunday before each unit test. With AP classes, there simply isn't time to cover the material and review in the allotted time. We meet at the public library and review for about an hour. A third of my students were there today. Because it was sunny and beautiful outside, we reviewed on the picnic tables.  The girls hair got tangled by the wind and it was a little warm, but the fresh air did us all good. Good weather just makes Sundays in the South better.

Still no time for a nap because I had choir practice at 5 pm. I cannot sing.  I love to sing, but I cannot sing.  I can, however, talk so I am serving as the narrator for the Easter cantata.  Jared Roper (our music minister) does a great job of playing and singing every single part.  I never hear any difference but the real singers do.  I just smile until it is time to speak.  Speaking is easy.. singing is prettier though. God works at all times.  During rehearsal, Jared entioned that he had been reading the Bible through with his children every night and people are taught HUGE lessons that they then promptly forget until they are taught the same lesson again.  It was not the sermon; it was a simple conversation with people in the choir. I felt like it was God speaking to me though.

When Taylor was born, he was not breathing and he did not have a heartbeat.  His Apgar score was a 0.  For all intents and purposes, Taylor was dead.  However, he was revived, spent a long time in the hospital after I went home ~ well, I was discharged and went right back to the nursery where Taylor was ~, and recovered.  The doctors told us at one point to say goodbye and yet he made it.  Prayers surrounded him and he lived.  He has thrived.  God took care of him.

When Taylor was about seven, he had a lump in his neck.  The doctor ran tests. While I was sitting at my desk one day, the doctor called to tell me that he thought that Taylor had leukemia.  "If we get really lucky, it's a bad infection of his lymph nodes, but we need to discuss treatment options right now if it's not." To say that I was terrified is an understatement.  The only prayer I could even say was PLEASE.  I sobbed.  I finally called family and started them praying. It was an infection. God took care of Taylor.

Taylor is enlisting, and I am terrified.  I am terrified that he will be hurt, that he will move far away, that he will need me and I won't be there for him.  God has already proven to me that He will protect Taylor. I have to trust Him. If you think I made a lot out of a conversation that wasn't even directed at me, that perhaps it wasn't God the Almighty speaking to me to calm me, the sermon tonight was on following God's will.  We dampen the spirit of God by not following his will. See, God knows that sometimes I need to hear things a few times to get the point.  I am listening though.  God is in control, and Taylor will be fine.