Prayers for a Friend

(Before I forget it, let me invite you to watch the new show "Sing-Off" beginning next Monday night. A group of young people from our flagship university, Lee University, will be competing. They are called the Voices of Lee.)

I went to a very nice reception/roast today for a dear friend that I hired twenty years ago to teach at Oakwood High School. Her Ed. D. is being conferred on Saturday. She literally has been working toward this for twenty years. I am very proud of Shari Atkinson and her accomplishment. She and her husband, Tom, are in need of our prayers. He has MS and is completely disabled now. Shari's faith is strong and I know that they will make it. Shari-it is the crisis in our lives that make us strong. I know that you have heard that there are two Chinese characters that mean "crisis"; one means "opportunity" and the other means "danger."

Theologically speaking a "crisis" is a time of decision in our lives. It's a time when we "step up to the plate" or get out of the game all together. We have to decide that the risk is worth the reward. Remember, as a child of God, everything that happens to us goes through Him first. He really isn't going to put onto us "more than we can bear." He will strengthen us enough that we can bear the crisis which in turn builds our character and relationship with Him.