Trust

I won’t complain. Today was actually quite enjoyable. I am very excited to go back to school, if solely for the social aspect. Meeting up with old friends, getting to know them again, hanging out. I like newness (is that a word?). I enjoy having a fresh start, doesn’t everyone? It’s always good to be able to start with a clean slate, and then if you manage to keep it that way, that’s even better! For those unaware, today was the King’s Back-To-School Extravaganza where they serve free lunch with drinks and ice cream, take school pictures – that was really funny (I had Ty’s jacket thrown over my shoulder, an umbrella in the other hand, and a radish on my head… We’ll see how it turns out!), and falsely advertise that a certain band will be playing (apparently there was some misunderstanding – I thought Star 51 was going to play for us, but they never showed. Maybe my mom misinformed me?). Well, it was great getting together with people: Baxter, Young, Shawn (who actually is going off to college, but it was still nice to see him again), “Gun Show” Gregg, and others. Our Senior Seminar (i.e. Bible) teacher this year is Mr. Starke. He’s an awesome guy to say the least.

Well, last week was camp college, and during that time I signed up to meet with my parents and Mrs. Threewitt, a college counselor, in the College and Career Center at 3 o’clock when the barbeque was over. She brought up some colleges that I thought I’d left behind me, reminded me of a phase of the college searching that also I thought I’d left behind me, and frowned on a few schools that I thought I’d be looking forward to applying to. Needless to say at the end of this less-than-one-hour session I was a bit discouraged, but she did hand me a little nugget to chew on that was encouraging and inspiring: “You know the best part about this, Evan? God already knows where you’re gonna go… But he’s not gonna make it easy for you to find out.” Thank you, Mrs. Threewitt.

This was so great, because it took out the worry and left the work. At the end of that session I felt like I was practically starting over, but then I was reminded of the sovereignty of God. He has a plan for my life, and if I let Him, He will guide me. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6). This verse is extremely exciting to me. It reminds me of Bobby’s talks about “Waiting on the Lord.” That it doesn’t mean sitting around waiting for God to make your life better, but rather actively pursuing God and expecting Him to show you where to go. This is exactly the same way. The passage doesn’t say to stop living life and wait for the Spirit to start moving your limbs for you. That’s not waiting on the Lord. That’s laziness! The passage says “in all your ways.” We have ways. We’re doing things. God wants us to start walking. He wants us to take the first step and truly lean on His understanding before He will bless us with a path. If those two jobs are reversed, there isn’t any trust! We don’t grow closer to God. It reminds me of Pastor Randy’s sermon about the Israelites as they were going through the Red Sea. He communicated that God’s plan for them went something like this: “If you want to walk on dry land, you gotta get your feet wet.”

Like I said: Inspiring. Revolutionary. Definitely nothing I would have come up with. Not a God who caters to our every desire and whim.

You’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain. Get your hands dirty. Get your feet wet. I dare you.