The mysteries I have discovered in this life often deal with the contrast between the way I see things and the way God sees them.\u00a0 I am more careful saying “God did that” because I have seen pretty clearly that some of my “successes” were only “successes” in the eyes of the world… because I was in charge.\u00a0 In other words, I have had several “successes in the flesh”.\u00a0 I don’t think God gets much glory for such things.\u00a0 On the other hand, I have had what seem to be great defeats… which may have ended up as victories in God’s eyes.\u00a0 The one who obeys His Lord, loses all for the gospel, and dies at the hands of evil men will be counted great in the Kingdom because, by faith, he resisted the flesh and lived by the Spirit.\u00a0 Such a one will be counted a fool by the world, but our God does not think like this world… neither should we.<\/p>\n
This is especially important as we view our students from day to day.\u00a0 This past weekend, many believers from around the city gathered to pray for one of our graduates who is being “sent out” to Kansas City to be a part of a prayer ministry that is quite unique.\u00a0 Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, prayer and worship take place at the International House of Prayer (I.H.O.P for short).\u00a0 Billy Humphrey and his wife Maribeth intend to live in Kansas City a year, and then come back to Atlanta and start a similar ministry.\u00a0 For thirteen years, Billy has been youth pastor at Victory World Church in Norcross.\u00a0 His leaders have encouraged him to follow this vision God has given, believing this is for the Body of Christ in Atlanta, not just their congregation.\u00a0 I write this to tell you that as presiding assistant principal when Billy was in school, I would have never predicted that God would use such a one.\u00a0 Billy was a bit of a rebel.\u00a0 He would confess he did not follow God while at GAC.\u00a0 But at UGA, he was radically saved and is now on fire for the Lord.<\/p>\n
This past summer, I got a letter from Pam Watson.\u00a0 Most of you know that her daughter Krista was killed in a car accident last May on the way to her graduation ceremony in Murphy, NC.\u00a0 Krista was a unique person who presented challenges at times.\u00a0 Her mom wrote, “Krista was a little different and sometimes hard to deal with.\u00a0 The combination of being strong willed and outspoken yet very sensitive presented her with some challenges.”\u00a0 Yet, God was at work in a young lady.\u00a0 Pam continued, “Although she was in Murphy a short time, she was well known and loved.\u00a0 She had found her home there and an environment in which she could flourish and grow.\u00a0 She loved her new church home as well.\u00a0 As the final weeks of her time here flew by, she became noticeably happier, softer, and I think, at peace with herself.<\/p>\n
“God has worked through her death.\u00a0 A reporter from the Asheville newspaper came to Murphy to write about her death.\u00a0 He interviewed a number of her friends who talked about her smile, her fun loving nature, and her faith.\u00a0 He was a Christian as well and has incorporated her faith into the three articles that have subsequently been published in the newspaper.\u00a0 She was their lead story on June 24th, one month after her death.\u00a0 Through this writer she was able to witness to others even after her death and to touch a great number of people.”<\/p>\n
To close my encouragement that we constantly ask for wisdom to see as God does \u2014 in the Spirit as opposed to the flesh \u2014 I want to share a few of the journal entries Krista wrote during her senior year.\u00a0 I believe these were written in her English class at Gainesville High School before they moved to Murphy.<\/p>\n
Aug 12, 2002 \u2014 ONE WISH
\nMy wish is to find the perfect man that God has arranged for me to find.\u00a0 I know he won’t be perfect, but I just want to find a man that will stay by my side forever.\u00a0 I want a man that will better himself every day for his family and be an awesome father for our kids.\u00a0 My husband will be God’s disciple and my faith will grow through him.<\/p>\nAug 13 \u2014 CHANGE
\nIf I could change one thing in this world right now, it would be for every boy to be 6’5″ or taller.\u00a0 That way I would have a choice of any boy without having to worry about the whole height issue, since I am 6’4″.\u00a0 Actually, I would want them to be around 6’7″ so that I could wear heels and still be shorter than the guys.<\/p>\nAug 19 \u2014 ONE LESSON
\nIf I could teach my children one lesson for a happy life, I would teach them to love God with all their hearts.\u00a0 God was the one who put us here and gave us free will; therefore we should thank and love him every day.\u00a0 I would take my children to church twice a week and help them develop their own faith in God.\u00a0 I would kneel beside their beds at night and teach them how to pray.<\/p>\nAug 27 \u2014 DINNER PARTY
\nIf I could have a dinner party and invite any four people from history, I would invite Jesus and three other people who aren’t Christians.\u00a0 That way, I could learn and watch Jesus as he showed them the light so I could learn how to disciple others.\u00a0 The reason we were put on this earth is so we can convert others, but I haven’t converted anyone.\u00a0 I guess I don’t try that hard, but if I learned from the master, perhaps I would be enlightened.<\/p>\nOct 30 \u2014 MOST PROUD
\nThe moments I feel most proud of myself are when I help someone out who needs help.\u00a0 One example would be when I go to mentorship and help kids read.\u00a0 Another instance is when I would go to a soup kitchen the first Sunday of every month with the old church from GAC.\u00a0 We would make and serve breakfast to the homeless in downtown Atlanta.\u00a0 I remember seeing the same people there month after month.\u00a0 It felt good to serve them.\u00a0 It was kinda like when Jesus would serve his disciples \u2014 but not really.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nSo from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view.\u00a0 Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. II Corinthians 5:16<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The mysteries I have discovered in this life often deal with the contrast between the way I see things and the way God sees them.\u00a0 I am more careful saying “God did that” because I have seen pretty clearly that some of my “successes” were only “successes” in the eyes of the world… because I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1711"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1713,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1711\/revisions\/1713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}