The Summer is coming to a close. For some of you guys, school has already started! Whether it has or hasn’t yet, it’s still a drastic change to the way that we’ve all been living the past few months. Summer really is a wonderful time, but like even wonderful things, it had to end sooner or later. Of course, knowing that doesn’t always change the sadness that we feel about the end of summer or the anxiousness we may feel about the new school year starting; especially because, for some of you, a new year means a new school. I know a little bit of how you feel as this year, I too, am starting a new school!
As some of you may know, this is my first year teaching middle school Bible at Holmesburg Christian Academy. Even though I teach the Bible all the time here at church, teaching it in a school atmosphere is very different, and I’ll admit…a little intimidating! As I’m writing this, I just got back from my first day and I have to say it was not without its share of challenges. From trying to figure how to get back and forth to Holmesburg from my other job at Cairn to being locked out of the building when I got there to having NO IDEA how to write lesson plans! And then as I was teaching and meeting my students, many of my stresses and fears faded away.
Why? Because the experience was so much greater than my fear of it! Paul says in Philippians 4:6 to not be anxious or worry about anything. Instead, he says, take things to God in prayer. Because God knows better then we do. God knows that the things that we think are so incredibly scary are not really all that bad. It’s us who make it seem so much worse than it is by being anxious and worrying about before it even happens!
That doesn’t mean that everything will be easy. I still have to write lesson plans. I still don’t have a key to get in the building. The guys in the back row are still talking. Still. Talking. …… But what it does mean is that if we put all of the new, intimidating, scary things in God’s hands, He will make sure not to drop them. So stop worrying. You don’t need to. We can sing “He’s got your new school in His hands” if you want to.