Pastor Steve's Weekly Letter for Thursday, July 30, 2020

This morning, my grandson Kolby (7) learned from his parents that his flag football season had been cancelled due to COVID-19. He responded with tears, and then informed his parents: “This has been the worst year of my life. We have had everything taken away.” I suspect a lot of children (and adults) feel like this. Due to the pandemic, your children or grandchildren or nieces and nephews have missed out on graduation ceremonies, summer jobs, summer recreational activities, and family vacations. My granddaughter, Gabriella (6), cried this week when she learned she could not start kindergarten this fall in person at Adler Park Grade School. The question to ask is, how does the gospel of Jesus Christ speak to this? That is the point of gospel fluency. We speak the gospel into life’s challenges. In the next couple paragraphs, let me share how we might respond to the children in our lives who share Kolby’s or Gabriella’s frustration and sadness. Obviously, we’ll take a slightly different approach with a child who is seventeen rather than seven, and we may want to drip these insights into their hearts over time. Here is the conversation I might have with Kolby. By the way, I’m letting his parents take the lead on this, and they are doing a fine job. Yet I’m sure I’ll have the opportunity to speak some of these things into his life.

“Kolby, I am so sorry that your flag football season has been cancelled. I know that makes you sad, and it makes me sad, too. You have a lot of fun playing football, and I have a lot of fun watching you play. This is hard, isn’t it? It really has been the worst year of your life. You have had a lot of things taken away from you—school (your friends and the math program you were enjoying), the trip to see your grandparents in Montana, and now your flag football season. I want to remind you of one thing that you have, though, that can never be taken away. Do you know what that is? It’s that God is with you. He will never leave you or abandon you. Before Jesus was born, the angel told Joseph to name Mary’s baby ‘Jesus.’ But the angel also said that Jesus would be called ‘Immanuel.’ Do you know what Immanuel means? It means ‘God with us.’ And that’s the greatest gift we could ever have! God is with you, even though you feel sad about not getting to play flag football. Now do you know why it’s so good that God is with you? It’s good because the Scriptures tell us God cares for us. There’s a place in the Bible that says, ‘Cast all your cares upon him, because he cares for you.’ It’s in 1 Peter 5:7. Do you know what a care is? It’s something that makes you sad or something that makes you worry. So when you are worried or sad or upset about something, you can tell God about it, and he promises to care for you.

“Maybe you’re wondering why God doesn’t do something about your football season if he really cares. Well, that’s not always the way God works. God lets us go through hard times. He calls these ‘trials.’ Even though God loves us very much, he does not take all the hard times away right now. He uses these hard times to make us strong [refer here to James 1:2-5 or Hebrews 12:7-11 if it’s appropriate to be specific]. One of the greatest promises in the Bible is that there is no bad thing that can ever stop God from loving us. Romans 8:39 says that nothing ‘will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.’ Kolby, here’s one more thing that helps me when I feel frustrated or sad about all the things we’ve had taken away this year. When I cast my cares on God—and remember, we do that by praying and asking for God’s help—I thank him for all his gifts. The Bible tells us to pray ‘with thanksgiving’ [Philippians 4:6]. So whenever you ask God for something, thank him for what he has already given you—your new house, your dad and mom and brothers and sister, for the chance to play with all the neighbor kids last night, and most of all, for Jesus—God’s Son who loves you and died for you. This is a hard time, Kolby, but God will help you through it. And he will make you stronger.”

Alright, you get the idea. You might need to say these things over the course of a few conversations, and you may have to keep repeating them. But this is how the gospel informs what we’re currently facing. And, yes, I’m praying for all of you as you navigate working at home this fall while your kids are doing their e-learning or e-school at home. Please join us online or outdoors in our parking lot at 9:00 a.m. For worship this Sunday, August 2, I plan to preach the sixth commandment in Exodus 20:13. My sermon title is: “The Ten Words: The One about Human Life.” I’d encourage you to read Exodus 21:12-32 and 22:2-3 as well. Finally, my grandson, Blake (9), said this to his mom last week: “Mom, now that you’re going back to the gym, you’re not as crabby.” We think he meant it as a compliment, but Anna wasn’t quite sure how to take it. By the way, I’ve received permission from my “sources” to share all these anecdotes today. Thanks as always for reading. I’ll see you Sunday or sometime soon!

See more weekly letters here