January, 2021
Vol. 9, Issue 5
FOR THIS DAY
Pictured from left to right: Emily, Jill, Max, Abby, Zach, Trey, and Mike McCalley
In The End, We Win!! It’s hard to believe we are almost through January 2022. A few short weeks ago we welcomed in a new year with celebrations and resolutions to live a better, healthier life. When the confetti settled and we returned to work, we were faced with the reality of challenges in life; challenges with our health, our relationships, our careers. Veteran Coram Deo Academy Flower Mound teacher Wendy Powell shared a message this month that challenged her audience to have some perspective amidst our challenges. CDA teachers, logic and rhetoric school students were all blessed by Mrs. Powell’s wise words at a faculty meeting and a chapel this month, and we decided our CDA families would enjoy reading her thoughts as well. Inside this edition of For This Day, you can read about why we should rest in the knowledge that in the end, WE WIN! Coram Deo Academy
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Happy January!? January has a dubious place in our annual calendar. The Saxons called it Wulfmonath, or the month of wolves, because it was the time of year when starving wolves would ravage the towns and villages of Britain looking for food. Today, January is known for similar superlatives: 1. January has the coldest weather of the year. 2. January is when the most people are diagnosed with depression. 3. While June is typically the month when the most people get married, January sees the most couples file for divorce. 4. January records the greatest number of deaths each year. January truly is, in the words of Shakespeare, “the winter of our discontent”— too often a month of disappointed dreams and failed resolutions. And don’t even get me started on “the third quarter”: One quick Google search provides descriptions of the “third quarter blues,” the “third quarter slump,” and the “third quarter grind.”
In Hebrews 11, Paul calls faith, “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen,” and he commends the great heroes who “died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar.”
So, this January as we begin the third quarter, I’d like us to reflect on two things. The first is the story of a faithful Christian missionary who died thinking his life’s work was a complete failure. The second is a way of living which helps us to hold on during the Januarys of our lives. In Hebrews 11, Paul calls faith, “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen,” and he commends the great heroes who “died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar.” Dr. William Leslie was one of those heroes. A pharmacist until his conversion to Christianity in 1888, Dr. Leslie felt called to medical mission work. During the last seventeen of his thirty-four years in Africa, he dedicated himself to serving the people in the Vanga area of the Congo. Some of the communities where he healed and taught still practiced cannibalism. He and his wife battled disease and encountered leopard-infested jungles, armies of ants, and charging buffalo. Eventually, Dr. Leslie had a falling out with one of the tribal leaders. Although they reconciled, Dr. Leslie and his wife returned to Canada, discouraged by the lack of response they had seen to the gospel, and feeling that their life work had essentially failed. Dr. Leslie died in in 1935, nine years after their return. It wasn’t until 2010 that another missionary team reached the Vanga area. Eric Ramsey with Cox World Ministries partnered with Mission Aviation Fellowship to bring the gospel to what he expected would be a largely unreached people group. What they found in Vanga amazed them. Each of the eight villages within a 34-mile range held a prospering church. One of the villages featured a 1,000 person stone cathedral. Eighty-four years after his departure, the name of “Leslie” was still honored in these communities. Through his ministry, many dedicated their lives to Christ and the resulting churches thrive to this day. Dr. Leslie thought his ministry was a failure only because he couldn’t see the end of the story. Seeing the end of the story also brings redemption in Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol. Every Christmas Eve, I gather with my family to watch as Ebenezer Scrooge encounters the three spirits of Christmas. I’ve found Dickens’ trifold framework of past, present, and future helpful in holding on to faith during hard times.
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The Spirit of the Past: Remember God’s Faithfulness
In A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer’s hard heart starts to soften as he revisits his past. The name Ebenezer is a Hebrew word that means “stone of help.” In the Old Testament, Samuel raises an Ebenezer to remind Israel of God’s miraculous deliverance. A stone endures, it stands unchanged, and Samuel wanted God’s people to remember His faithfulness, not for days or for years, but for generations. Holding on to your faith in times of trouble means recalling God’s specific acts of faithfulness, first in Scripture but also in your own life. Look back at the times when you especially sensed His presence, when you saw more clearly, when your path was plain before you. Remember the unexpected blessings, the friend or the job provided, the need met at just the right moment. Remembering God’s past help provides the foundation for future hope.
The Spirit of the Present: Draw Near to God and Wait
Ebenezer’s second visit is from the spirit of the present. Some of you are currently experiencing great trouble. It is easy to talk about hope and faith when things are going well, but times of suffering shake us. Like Job, often the best we can do is to cry out to God. Job demonstrates this tension between trust and questioning: “Though He slay me, I will hope in Him; yet I will argue my ways to His face” (Job 13:15). Job takes his doubts, his questions, even his anger, straight to God. Others close to God sometimes question Him… Abraham, Gideon, David, and Thomas. Psalm 105:4 calls us to seek God’s face always: We pray even though our prayers get lodged in the corner of the ceiling, we attend church even when our neighbors ignore us and the sermon puts us to sleep, we read Scripture even when it seems to glare silently back at us, leaving us unmoved. And we wait. We wait for God’s rescue: for our heart’s healing. Isaiah promises us that “those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31).
The Spirit of the Future: All Shall be Well
Toward the end of A Christmas Carol, a vision of his future death brings Ebenezer to repentance. Looking to the future can also be a source of peace and confidence. I vividly remember another January, nine years ago. Saturday night January 12, 2013, found me pacing circles in my driveway. It was pitch-black outside and freezing cold. Heart pounding, palms sweating, I struggled to muster the courage to reenter the stress and chaos of my own family room. It was the Divisional Playoffs for the AFC, and the Ravens were playing the Broncos at Mile High Stadium. The game has some great memories: Injured linebacker Ray Lewis notched 17 tackles wearing an arm brace that looked like it had been designed by Tony Stark. Joe Flacco’s 70-yard Hail Mary tied the game with only 30 seconds left in regulation. Rookie kicker Justin Tucker sliced a 47-yarder through the uprights, winning the game in double overtime. But the game was also full of agonizing mistakes: Within the first three minutes of Q1, the Broncos returned a punt for a touchdown. The first play of the second half? The Broncos returned the kickoff for a touchdown. At one point the Ravens’ center heaved a snap to no one…well, one of the Broncos was there to get it. Yet I watched a twenty-minute highlight reel last weekend utterly relaxed and with great enjoyment. Why? Because I knew we won. I am one of those people who sometimes peeks at the final pages of a book—if it isn’t going to end well, do I really want to read it? Years ago, I refused to go see the hit movie Titanic for the same reason: I
Psalm 105:4 calls us to seek God’s face always: We pray even though our prayers get lodged in the corner of the ceiling, we attend church even when our neighbors ignore us and the sermon puts us to sleep, we read Scripture even when it seems to glare silently back at us, leaving us unmoved. Coram Deo Academy
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knew exactly how it was going to end. Fortunately, God lets us read the ending of our story, even while we are still living through the middle, in the midst of our persistent sin, our tangled lives, and our foolish mistakes. Read these verses from Revelations 21: “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.’ And he who was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new.’ Also he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.’” (Revelation 21: 3-5 ESV). As I face difficult times in my own life, I remember the legacy of Saint Julian of Norwich. Born during the 100 Years War, she never lived to see its end. It was a time of famine and plague. During the current pandemic, 1 out of every 500 Americans has died of Covid. Almost all of us have in some way been touched by this tragedy. During St. Julian’s lifetime, 1 out of every 3 people died of the plague. St. Julian’s faith was grounded in her memory of God’s past faithfulness. She drew near to Him through a life dedicated to meditation and prayer. And she looked to the future with an abiding hope. Her most famous prayer is this simple statement of confidence: All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well. How do we get through the third quarters and the Januarys of our lives? By remembering God’s faithfulness and drawing near to Him. And then, like Julian of Norwich, we peek at the ending. And you know what? We win!
How do we get through the third quarters and the Januarys of our lives? By remembering God’s faithfulness and drawing near to Him.
Parent Resources
PTF (Parent Teacher Fellowship) - partnering with CDA FM making our school a great community PTF President: Nicole Hofley **To volunteer, please contact Nicole Hofley Moms in Prayer - meets Tuesdays and Wednesdays after drop-off Contact: Kandis Autrey P2P - mentoring new families Contact: Jacque Younger Idea Exchange - for families for grades Pre-K to 4th Contact: Jennifer Jaetzold Straight Talk - for families of grades 5th to 12th Contact: Jacque Younger Staff Liaison: Kristan Williams
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7 4
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