This year, staff at Nowra Christian School have been meeting every morning to read the bible, and pray. I have been greatly encouraged to listen to how God has continued to shape us to be more like Jesus.
On Monday, Mrs Poulden started the week by reminding us that Christian walk is a marathon, not a sprint. As life happens, we can feel overwhelmed and focus on ourselves. Life is hard. She encouraged us to fix our eyes on Jesus as we can look too intently at our own situation and not to lose sight of Jesus.
Ms Axtens continued on Tuesday morning asking us an important question to ponder. Is the light of God shining through us or has it been polluted, contaminated or filtered by us? Do we suffer from the cranky teacher syndrome? Do we contaminate situations with anger, envy, bitterness? She suggested that we need to confess our sins (I John 1:7 - 9) and to follow Jesus (John 8:12) because Jesus is the light of the world. It was also timely as Mrs Arthur and Mrs West invited some refugees from SCARF (Strategic Community Assistance to Refugee Families) to speak to our Year 9 & 10 students about how we respond to refugees. Students have been learning about indigenous and refugees in their curriculum and, as teachers, we want them to understand how we can demonstrate empathy, love and care for them. We want them to be challenged to think, as Christians living here in Australia, how we can share God’s blessings of salvation with them.
On Wednesday, Mrs Dallimore challenged us to throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles from Hebrews 11 & 12. In our culture, it can be our busyness, our children, our work, our status in social media, or many other pursuits. What are the things that hinder us from fixing our eyes on Jesus?
I also had the great privilege to attend a funeral, on Monday, of a 93 year old man from my church whom I have had the pleasure of playing music with for the last 18 years. He would join our youth service and play bass to encourage our young people. In all the years of playing music with him, he was always encouraging and joyful, never cross. His famous words are 'I am so blessed!' He lost his wife before I met him, and had occasional health issues, but he never once complained. In his eulogy, his daughter spoke of how he would reflect each day, and how he would say that he is so blessed by God, counting his many blessings. It really challenged me to be more thankful for my many blessings. I can start with the blessing of being called to be God’s child, not because of how worthy I am but how unworthy I am. I do not deserve His blessings but God’s love is always overflowing, and i want to have my life overflowing with joy.
