Test, Test, 1, 2, 3…

I feel you little guy! Life can be that way sometimes. Those days come where everything feels like you are being tested. Tests always seem to bring us some anxiety. Remember your first big high school test or college test? You remember when you took the SAT or ACT? How stressful indeed! However, we tend to think any small inconvenience is a test. 

Here is a good example. As I was typing this newsletter, my five year old, Soren, came into the room several times. On the surface this is no big deal. Kids do this all the time. However, when you explain many times that daddy needs to finish this newsletter, your naive expectation is for said child to listen. The fools we are as men! The test is on! Do I go with the urge of my frustration and irritation to lash out? Of course, you cannot do that, but my goodness would I love to. 

It, too, is a test. Albeit a small one. Now imagine yourself in the shoes of a poor person in the hills of Appalachias, a child in war torn Somalia wondering if anyone will notice how hungry they are, or living in fear of the next bomb going off in Israel and Gaza. These horrible and tragic events are when faith is put to the true test, but there is no pass or fail. We are on a journey, not trying to pass God’s exam. Grace gives us freedom to fail and gives us the comfort to not beat ourselves up about it. 

My friends, tests come and go. Some are super easy and others are unimaginably hard. Nonetheless, it is the beloved community of God that serves to hold one another up in these trails. In our communion with God and our neighbors we are able to surpass all tests by God’s grace.

Zac