What we must get in Christian schooling - Part 1

There are some things that are vitally important for us to 'get' in Christian schooling. One of these is for us to know that God is constantly growing us, developing us and changing us. This might not sound like an earth shattering revelation to you, but if you give it some thought, you'll realise how often the devil (and life) draw us away from this basic truth. We easily become convinced that we'll never be able to do something, that we're just not good enough and that we don't have what it takes. Yet God says that he is at work in us and will complete the good work that he has started.

When evangelist Billy Graham's wife Ruth died in 2007, she chose to have engraved on her tombstone words that had nothing to do with her many remarkable achievements. It had to do with the fact that as long as we are alive, Gid will be working on us, and then we will be free. She had been driving one day on a highway through a roadworks section, and there were miles of detours and cautionary signs and machinery and equipment. She finally came to the last one and the final sign read, "End of Construction: Thank you for your patience". That is what is written over Ruth Graham's grave: "End of Construction: Thank you for your patience."

I wanted to highlight this message during this week because it's report season and I know there'll be some of our students that are feeling despair over the results that are reflected on their report from last term. But please remember that whatever your results are, they don't define who you are or who God plans for you to become. They are a pit stop on the journey to glory. This does not mean that we can rest on our laurels and accept less than our best, but it does mean that one disappointment is not the end of the road, it is a starting point to future improvements. Let's work hard, learn from our mistakes and make sure that we do better next time. We are still under construction.

Ken Langley

Ref: Ortberg, John. 2014. Soul Keeping: Caring for the Most Important Part of You.