Starting Year 6

When I first went to East Asia in 2003, several people told me that it would take a couple of years to adjust to life and ministry in another country. After a year and a half I was finally able to communicate, get around town, and enjoy some of the deeper relationships I had made. Then I left to become a full time staff member here in Oklahoma.

When I first came to Oklahoma, again, the advice was the same, “After the first two years you’ll start to feel like you know what you’re doing.” It is now year four in Oklahoma, and I think I’m behind schedule! In fact, at the start of every year although I grow increasingly confident in the ways that God uses me, I grow even more aware of how much I need to learn. As I was planning for the semester and becoming a bit anxious over the gap between what I hope for and what I feel competent for, the Lord reminded me of Paul’s reflections in 2 Corinthians 3:

Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life . . . Since we have such a hope, we are very bold.

What Paul expressed about his own ministry is equally true of all of us, regardless of the shape of our calling, the substance is still the same: we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for the works he has prepared for us. Yours and my competency to fulfill our role in his kingdom comes from the Father himself, who gives the Spirit without measure, and Jesus his Son, who promised to be with us with all authority in heaven and on earth.

I am excited for the future, looking forward to this new school year and all that the Lord has for us. I am thankful for the past, looking back at all that the Lord has done these past five years. And, I am encouraged for the present, looking around at the fulfillment of the promises of God in the lives of friends, family, and students. His word does not go out in vain. His Gospel of the kingdom will be preached to all the nations before the end. His glory will be declared among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples.�