As many do, I really love this time of year.  I am excited about Thanksgiving, particularly the opportunity to spend time with family (including having a college kid home).  I am really excited about Christmas, partly for the same reasons – although this Christmas will enable us to have all FIVE of our kids at home, including the newlyweds currently living in St. Louis.  We will also gather with my parents, my sister and family, my wife’s parents, my wife’s brother and family.  Dillons really enjoy celebrating together.  While it is not always planned, it happens frequently when we get together that the celebration turns to the recounting of the blessings of God in our lives.  Yes, this often includes sharing what we are thankful for around Thanksgiving and being intentional at remembering the “reason for the season” at Christmas.  But, it is much more than that.  It is the acknowledgement that every good and perfect gift is from above.  The Scriptures say it this way:

Ps. 34:2 My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad.

2 Cor. 10:17 “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Gal. 6:14 But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

I believe that every time we gather to celebrate, we should move from the enjoyment of each other to the enjoyment of the One who created us, saved us, and sustains us!  I believe this is also true whenever we have opportunity to celebrate/recognize “success” in those around us.  Just this week, I had the privilege of attending the 2015 Rock Hill Education Awards Breakfast.  It was a wonderful celebration of some of the top teachers and students in our community.

I considered it a great honor to present Mrs. Janice Carter with the WCCS Educator of the Year Award and was especially blessed when Miss Bailey Westbrook was presented the WCCS Student of the Year Award.  Mrs. Carter and Bailey are worthy recipients.  They are to be recognized.  Their accomplishments should be celebrated.  BUT, as each of them would be very quick to note, any boasting should only be in the Lord Jesus Christ, who gifted them and called them to His service as an educator and a student.  We can congratulate them but the praise goes to God.  We can celebrate (as was evident in the smiles on the faces of Janice’s husband and Bailey’s parents as they received their awards) AND give God the glory.

As I look forward to Thanksgiving, I am thankful for so much.  I look forward to telling those closest to me how much of a blessing they are to me.  But, my prayer is that I would be intentional in giving God the praise and glory for His provision of these blessings – even as I am telling family and friends how much I love them.  While I have you, let me go ahead and say how thankful I am for the Westminster Catawba Christian School and Westminster Presbyterian Church communities that have embraced our family and loved us well.  I appreciate you so very much – and give God the glory for calling us here!

 

The First Annual Christian Calling Symposium is behind us and, as reported by many, was a huge success.  It was a great joy to hear from Dr. Cale Horne and Dr. Derek Halvorson as they connected God’s call on our lives to His work in our world, in the arena of politics and beyond.  It is an overwhelming thought that the Creator and Sustainer of the universe would call us to serve Him in His Kingdom.  But, He not only calls, he equips us for that service.  He gives us the gifts, talents, personalities, and passions necessary for that service.  And then, He allows us great joy as we use what He has given for His glory.  WOW – what a great God we serve!

As I sat listening to several of the talks last week, I couldn’t help but think that God was at work – right here at WCCS – using our Symposium as part of that equipping of our students for service.  He was furthering the passions of some who are already interested in politics and government to a deeper level of commitment.  He was allowing others who had never considered how God was calling them to serve – to simply know that He does.  I was so excited to hear one student exclaim, “I had never thought about it (politics) in that way before.”  That’s it!  He was softening hearts and opening minds to Kingdom service.

BUT, the equipping didn’t end when Dr. Halvorson closed out our chapel last Friday morning.  Instead, the conversations continued into the classrooms, the lunchroom, and even the family dinner tables throughout the last week.  And, Lord willing, this is just a small part of the process of God’s equipping of His children.  As a Christian school, we have opportunity to be a part of that equipping as we teach Math and English and History and Science and Bible and Foreign Language and the Arts and Athletics and…  We get to hear, “I had never thought about it that way before” on a regular basis as we teach our students to “think God’s thoughts after Him” with regards to His Kingdom.  Truth be told, I even told Dr. Horne and Dr. Halvorson that, while I was thrilled to have them here to share with our students, faculty, and community, they were really just a small part of the bigger picture of the desired END of WCCS – “to educate students to bless our world as disciples of Jesus Christ.”  May ALL that we do seek this end – and may God enable us to use the gifts He has given us to teach our students to do the same!