I Can't Wait

Thursday morning when the devestation of the flooding in Niamey was kind of beginning to sink in, I had been out for a walk and listening to this sermon by Crawford Loritts.  He was talking about the importance of the altars that people like Abraham and Jacob built.  The following were some of his thoughts:

• Altars are built to mark spiritual milestones in the lives of believers.
• Altars mark the fact that we worship.  Building them is meant to deepen our worship.
• Altars are intended to pull us away from self-reliance.
• Altars remind us that the journey is not about us but about God and the story he is writing.
• Altars declare the glory and presence of God to a watching world.
• Altars are intended to keep us moving. In the Bible, you remember to go forward you don't remember to relax.
• Altars declare God's faithfulness.
• God wants us to become his altars because it's not so much about the building of stones as it is about the building of lives.

The day before God had reminded me of the history of Toccoa Falls College, the college where I earned my degree in Early Childhood Education.  In November of 1977 the campus of Toccoa Falls College was devestated by a flood that killed 39 people. Today it is a thriving Christian Liberal Arts College.  The same God that brought life out of complete devestation at TFC can bring life out of complete devestation at Sahel Academy.

 

I never thought of it before but the Toccoa Falls memorial pictured above is an altar - a visible reminder of how God took an impossible situation and brought new and vibrant life out of it.

 

Today, as I was getting ready to face the day, the thought crossed my mind that one day there will be a place, an altar or memorial of some sort where we as a Sahel Academy staff are going to be able to gather our students around and remind ourselves of the faithfulness of God.  We will remind ourselves of how we leaned into him in the face of overwhelming questions and of how he faithfully, step by step revealed the story he was writing, a story that will declare HIS glory and presence to a watching world.  Honestly, I know it may be a long ways off but I can't wait for that day! It's going to be amazing!

 

Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;

his greatness no one can fathom.  

One generation will commend your works to another;

they will tell of your mighty acts. 

Psalm 145:3-4