Every Monday, we as a middle school staff gather together for devotions before beginning our week. It is a blessing to begin our week giving glory and credit to our Savior and asking for His wisdom to cover us and our students.
As we are reminded in our own lives, family, and friends; following Christ comes with both blessings and trials. Our principle, Joy Watson shared some thoughts concerning Job and his faithfulness in spite of severe suffering and bad advice. In Job 19, he states, "I know that my Redeemer lives." He knew God had a plan to send a Redeemer to cover our iniquities. In Job 27, He continues to say,
"As God lives, who has taken away my right, and the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter, as long as my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils, my lips will not speak falsehood, and my tongue will not utter deceit." (27:2-4) Job was experiencing personal tragedy and his friends probably made things worse with their poor advice based on faulted thinking.
Some of us are experiencing personal tragedies in our lives and may be wondering about God's purpose through the trials. Others may not know how to support and love those who are hurting. I love how Job's friends, when first encountering Job, tore their robes and wept. They sat on the ground beside him for a 7 days and nights, "for they saw that his suffering was very great."
The message this morning was on being faithful in spite of trials and sufferings we experience in our lives. God did not call us to be successful, but to be faithful. Our pastor shared the story of Clarence Jordan who earned two PhD's and instead of entering an opulent career, he began a farm called Koinonia Farm in the Deep South in 1942. The purpose of this farm was to serve poor whites and poor blacks, sharing God's love for everyone regardless of race or color. As you can imagine, this did not go over very well. Clarence, his family, and those living/working on the farm began to experience attacks from the church first. Churches in the South at that time were happily segregated and were not willing to change. Hostilities increased and the nearby communities boycotted garden produce sold by the farm which created economic difficulties. The Klu Klux Klan became involved as Clarence refused to stand down or leave. Klan members threatened and finally burned the farm to the ground and shot bullets through the main house. Those living on the farm survived yet not without injuries. One of the Klan members showed up the next day as his daytime job, a news reporter for the town paper. He found Clarence in the field, hoeing and planting and became angry and asked with all of his education, where was his success? Clarence straightened, looked him in the eye and stated that He was not aiming for success but to be faithful. For over ten years, those living and working on the farm had dealt with hostility, hatred, and violence yet most refused to give up. This is a beautiful story of perseverance and faithfulness in everyday life.
Soon after, Millard and Linda Fuller contacted Clarence and Habitat for Humanity was born from this farm. I have attached a link if you would like to read more about the history of Clarence Jordan and the Koinonia Farm.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2005/marchweb-only/32.0a.html
https://www.koinoniafarm.org/koinonia-history-timeline/
Our principle, Joy also shared a song from Michael Card and I have also attached a couple of his songs from YouTube. One is entitled, Come Lift up Your Sorrows and the other is Joy in the Journey followed by A Violent Grace. The words are deep and full of meaning!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TciR2ITXbaY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfW61yKyirY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtYZoPS8zik
The challenge given by our pastor this morning was to be faithful in our week as we serve our truly amazing God! May He continue to walk with you during your week!
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