From your South Campus Principal, Grant Bickell
Although I love Dave Ramsay, there is one response of his I do not care for. If you have ever listened to his show, you will know when someone asks him how he is doing, he responds, “Better than I deserve.” True Dave, we are doing better than we deserve. But man, sometimes it just feels like we are doing worse. There is a time in our early marriage where we saw a moment like this come to fruition. It was the first time we responded, “Eh, Ok.” to the Sunday morning question, “Hey! How are you doing?” Certainly, there was no ill intent by the person asking but their response stuck out to Joy and me. They just walked away. The smile fell off their face and they walked back towards the freshly stocked donuts and coffee. What did we need in that moment? What do any of us need in these moments?
I am sure at some point in my life someone has preached on sorrow, sadness, (really any emotion) or mourning but it had never sunk in until this moment. We were held by God, but hurting. No one seemed to know what to do or to say. Our church just finished a series on Job, and I have been amazed by the ways in which Job interacts with God and his friends while his whole life crumbles around him. Even though he has everything taken away, Job continues to recognize the fact that he is blameless and that his redeemer lives. Often I have read Job and thought about what a terrible job his friends did, that was until this most recent sermon series. I will grant you that they did in fact do a terrible job, but not the whole time. For the first seven days of mourning with Job, his friends sat in silence with him and they postured themselves appropriately to show their friend that they mourned with him. The problems didn’t come until they opened their mouths.
“Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him. And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven. And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.” Job 2:11-13 ESV
So, why was Job able to walk through 40 chapters of his friends calling out every single thing they thought could be wrong? Charles Spurgeon in his book Morning & Evening tells of Job’s true reason he can withstand their verbal storm, “The marrow of Job’s comfort lies in that little word “my” – “my Redeemer” and in the fact that the Redeemer lives… Surely if Job, in those ages before the coming and advent of Christ, could say, “I know that my Redeemer lives,” we should not speak less positively. A living Redeemer, truly mine, is joy unspeakable.” May the words of John 16 wash over us this week.
“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
Please Note – The last day of school has changed from a full day to a half day of school!
Please check our most update to date calendar at https://theacademyok.org/event-calendar-widget/
May 17 5th Grade Creative Curriculum – Chreia Day
May 17 8th Grade Send Off – Date Change
May 18 Chapel. Formal Day.
May 19 Bake Sale – Jerome
May 19 Griffin Games – Date Change
May 21 Graduation at Midtown at 7:00 pm.
May 21 Dialectic Finals.
May 24 Chapel. Formal Day.
May 24 Kinder Creative Curriculum. ** Mad Hatter’s Tea Party
May 24-26 Dialectic Test Week
May 26 LAST DAY – HALF DAY. Changed from full day to half day.
May 27-28 Teacher Workdays.
May 28 All grades and attendance due in FACTS.
We are still looking for a teacher for Dialectic Math for next year. If you know someone that may be interested please reach out to me! gbickell@theacademyok.org
