Much To Be Grateful For

Greetings faithful readers!

Since the G-force beginning of the school year, Providence has been more than generous which means life has been almost unbearable. In fact, the addage, “To whom much is given, much will be required” has taken on a whole new meaning the past few months.

The Worldview Class is going strong! I’m sorry I didn’t update you all about this sooner. By God’s grace, we have 10 students who are joining us this year. They are all doing remarkably well under the strain of an truncated calendar. This week, we move into the Biology section. I’m excited because we’re now moving into the Ephesians study.

My church has me preaching every 3-4 weeks. This is an amazing commitment. My hat is off to all the pastors out there who put together solid content on a weekly basis. Both the challenges and the experience are both incredible opportunities. Our preaching team is starting an Advent series this week and then we’re going into John’s gospel starting January.

Rowan (who most of you will know from IPS) launched a ministry to reach out to young ministry leaders a few years back. I’m working as the conference administrator for next year’s event. It’s so amazing to see the people involved and what God is doing through them across the country and the world.

Even with all of that going on, I’m still enjoying the brief reprieve I get every Monday afternoon working with my two music students. James and Rachael are both progressing amazingly. We set the bar pretty high at the beginning of the year and they both are growing by leaps every week.

My friend, Jon, is in a classroom team putting on the Perspectives course. I joined late in the year but started taking the course for credit. He’s working diligently to bring the class out to our church and I’ll probably be working along side him in the spring.

Looking at all this has thrown my constant ingratitude into sharp relief. In fact, last night I was thinking over the parade of obligations that’s standing in the middle of the street, trumpets and mallets in hand, noticing that all I did was complain. As it turns out, when I complain about God’s blessing, I treat the blessing like it’s a curse.

But the fact of the matter is that God is incredibly generous. God is doing an amazing work and he invites us to join in the task. God gives much, requires much and provides everything.

Yet even in this cycle of blessing, I can be cranky. Even in this place of God’s work, in God’s time with God’s provision, I can be a ungrateful.

The work isn’t going anywhere, but the joy belongs to those who are thankful.

So today, dear friends, I’m looking at the blessing and thanking God for His kindness.

Happy thanksgiving!