What God May Be Saying In This Season
Shocking. Absolutely shocking. These last few weeks very few words describe my feelings quiet like the word shocking. If you are anything like me, you like order and structure. In a week, all of that has been upheaved. The first shock for me was with talks about schools closing a week early for spring break. Even in that though, there was an initial thought that “hey that will get this thing knocked out and everything will be back to normal”. Then the next shock came, and would start coming in waves. The NBA shut down their season, schools closed for most of the semester, the NCAA and conference basketball tournaments cancelled, the UIL stopped all spring sports, any major community events, any gatherings, cancelled. In the span of a week, everything just seemed to stop. Shocking.
Monday March 16th I walked into my office and just had fog and questions about everything. Where do we go from here? What will things look like a week from now? A month from now? What will things look like on the other side of this thing? It seemed all structure, all order, all sense of control in a moment was gone. In the span of a week everyday life suddenly looked very, very different. I prayed. I read. Then I woke up Tuesday morning and there was some clarity. Not necessarily about what all is happening as we all our humans with finite understanding, but clarity about some specific things. About what I think the Lord could be teaching, if to no one else, me during this time. I believe that the Lord is sovereign and none of this took God by surprise. He is good, He is holy, and He is still on the throne. Those truths are deeply rooted, and things that we should remember about the Lord during these days. But I think under the layers God may be revealing some other things about Himself, and about us.
The first thing I see is that while all these institutions of our everyday life come to a halt, there are some institutions that continue on. That is because these institutions are foundational and paramount in the created order of what God has intended. I know we may theologically know that, but that is different than suddenly being thrust into it. The family unit remains while others do not. In light of that, I think God may be giving us an opportunity to reconnect and reestablish our homes in God-centered ways. The way that we interact with our spouses, and the way we interact with our children or parents could be reestablished. Now may be a great opportunity to hit the reset button on things that have spiraled out of control and pulled our families out so wide. We can reevaluate and decide where are these things taking us. You may realize that my kids are pretty great, or my parents are pretty cool. There was a reason I fell in love with this other human. With the busyness of life sometimes our schools, work, and extracurricular activities can pull us so many ways we are merely ships passing in the night. What if in this moment God is wanting for us to lean in together as a family and remember what is important and long lasting.
Another thing I see in our current place is that as people, I am unsure if there has been a moment equal to this in my lifetime of a realization of our need across the globe. In the uncertainty of tomorrow, we are confronted with our realization that we are all in real need. The fake sense of security and control that we have in even our everyday life is just simply not true. In our society it is so easy for us to take the everyday things for granted, or as if we have the ability to control those things. Something like this quickly reorients ourselves to be able to see things a little bit differently. That there is One who is in control and knows what tomorrow will bring. Best laid plans are made without real knowledge of what tomorrow holds. So we do what we can in the moment, to love our neighbor, to love our children, to express kindness, and to live for things that matter. Nothing is promised, and that should free us to live fully for Christ and each other every day.
There are many more things God is revealing to us during this season that if we are willing to listen we may learn some things about Him and about ourselves. About the way that we function, about the way we live our everyday lives. Never waste a season, God is speaking, let’s listen together.
Kyle Fowler
Monday March 16th I walked into my office and just had fog and questions about everything. Where do we go from here? What will things look like a week from now? A month from now? What will things look like on the other side of this thing? It seemed all structure, all order, all sense of control in a moment was gone. In the span of a week everyday life suddenly looked very, very different. I prayed. I read. Then I woke up Tuesday morning and there was some clarity. Not necessarily about what all is happening as we all our humans with finite understanding, but clarity about some specific things. About what I think the Lord could be teaching, if to no one else, me during this time. I believe that the Lord is sovereign and none of this took God by surprise. He is good, He is holy, and He is still on the throne. Those truths are deeply rooted, and things that we should remember about the Lord during these days. But I think under the layers God may be revealing some other things about Himself, and about us.
The first thing I see is that while all these institutions of our everyday life come to a halt, there are some institutions that continue on. That is because these institutions are foundational and paramount in the created order of what God has intended. I know we may theologically know that, but that is different than suddenly being thrust into it. The family unit remains while others do not. In light of that, I think God may be giving us an opportunity to reconnect and reestablish our homes in God-centered ways. The way that we interact with our spouses, and the way we interact with our children or parents could be reestablished. Now may be a great opportunity to hit the reset button on things that have spiraled out of control and pulled our families out so wide. We can reevaluate and decide where are these things taking us. You may realize that my kids are pretty great, or my parents are pretty cool. There was a reason I fell in love with this other human. With the busyness of life sometimes our schools, work, and extracurricular activities can pull us so many ways we are merely ships passing in the night. What if in this moment God is wanting for us to lean in together as a family and remember what is important and long lasting.
Another thing I see in our current place is that as people, I am unsure if there has been a moment equal to this in my lifetime of a realization of our need across the globe. In the uncertainty of tomorrow, we are confronted with our realization that we are all in real need. The fake sense of security and control that we have in even our everyday life is just simply not true. In our society it is so easy for us to take the everyday things for granted, or as if we have the ability to control those things. Something like this quickly reorients ourselves to be able to see things a little bit differently. That there is One who is in control and knows what tomorrow will bring. Best laid plans are made without real knowledge of what tomorrow holds. So we do what we can in the moment, to love our neighbor, to love our children, to express kindness, and to live for things that matter. Nothing is promised, and that should free us to live fully for Christ and each other every day.
There are many more things God is revealing to us during this season that if we are willing to listen we may learn some things about Him and about ourselves. About the way that we function, about the way we live our everyday lives. Never waste a season, God is speaking, let’s listen together.
Kyle Fowler
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