Like this:

We are in a new term.  One of the things that I really enjoy about this work is the different rhythms.  However, I’m also realizing that like my first truck, switching gears isn’t always smooth.  Going from “out” of term to “in” term inevitably leaves me feeling the “grind” of gears as life accelerates.  And like my old truck, peeling out is overly easy to do.  This morning I feel a bit like “burnt rubber”, a mark on the blacktop of my own life.

Aside from that, I am excited to meet our new students and that summer is supposedly on the ferry already – almost here.  Summer always has more student turnover, shorter stays and higher volume.  It is exciting, but more of a challenge to go deep with people.  Perhaps that is ok, because God knows what they need.  If it were up to me, I’d structure the life out of everything.  That is what makes me feel safe.  As I’ve learned, safe and comfortable might be my goal (even if a questionable one), but it is rarely how God changes people.  What does it take for us to change?  More often than not, pain.  As C.S. Lewis put it, “Pain is God’s megaphone to a deaf world.”  Now obviously this doesn’t apply to every painful situation.  Life if far more complex than to attribute everything to God trying to get our attention.  However, it never ceases to amaze my how effectively pain does grab us and force us to ask questions, precisely because it tears away assumptions, comfort, and supposed safety.  Ouch.  Nothing has the potential to strip away illusions like pain – this works both for culture and for people.  Yet pain can also drives us into illusion if we choose to respond differently.  For many of our coming students this term, there is an immense amount of pain in their lives.  If you are reading this (and if you pray) please pray with me, that whatever the cause, whatever the complexity and brokenness, we would have the wisdom to help them respond well, and that God’s grace would bring healing.  I believe that is how people change, even if we don’t recognize it.

Jeff Adams

Cedar House, Bishops Hill

Canadian L’Abri

Advertisement