It’s hard to believe that we are in the month of August and school has started back. I’ve always enjoyed the beginning of school after the summer break. Usually, it meant getting new folders, pencils, pens and paper. It meant getting some new tennis shoes and clothes. Often, it meant getting a new teacher or being promoted to middle school or high school. There was always electricity in the air, especially as the summer break winded down and the school year cranked up.
For the past thirty years, I’ve been going to school or working in the schools. After I graduated from Austin Peay State University, I started working as a yearbook salesman in the middle Tennessee schools. For ten years, I would go into elementary, middle and high schools and work with students, teachers and principals to produce their school’s yearbook. Each fall, I would get some new folders, pencils, pens and paper, along with some new shirts and ties, and begin the production of the yearbook. Later, in 1998, I responded to God’s call by attending divinity school and finished in May 2002 at Emory University. So, it hasn’t been that long since I “started back to school.”
Still, I can vividly remember the nervousness, excitement and anticipation of the first days of the new school year. Many of the children in our congregation who will attend school this year will be asking questions such as, “Who will be my teacher?” Will I have any classes with my friends?” “What will my new school be like?” Many of the teachers in our congregation will also be asking questions such as, “Will I have good students?” “Will they take learning seriously?”
For many of us, the start of the school year marks the end of summer vacations, swimming lessons and pool parties. As the change of the season nears, the lazy days of summer and the slower pace of life begins to give way to a new-found urgency in our lives. Still, at the same time, we look forward to the beginning of fall. The college football season fast approaches, the changing of the temperature and the changing of the leaves.
As Christians, it is important to recognize, that each of us experiences different seasons within our own faith journey. Sometimes our faith journey is clear and concise. Other times, our journey, like those of new students, is filled with more questions than answers.
Regardless of where you find yourself along your faith journey, it is imperative for each of us to have faith and trust God for guidance. The Apostle Paul writes in Romans 8:28, “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” God calls each of us!
I encourage you, as the new school year begins, to reflect, pray, study the Bible and come to church. Like many of you, I am excited by the promises God holds for us. Together, we can make a difference in our churches. Together, we can trust that God has it all worked out for us. Together, like new students approaching a new school year, we can use our new-found sense of urgency to rediscover what God has planned for us.
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