Back to School -- OMG

The prayer request cards were stacked up high last Sunday, and a bunch were from parents of children starting school or going off to college. The anxiety was palpable. Students have to face the unknowns of a new school year. Parents have to watch their babies leave the nest. It's back to school time.

So we needed a word from Hebrews to remind us of the great "cloud of witnesses" that surround us, cheering us on, encouraging us as we run the race set before us. In my sermon, I shared stories about people who root for us. Our associate pastor Rob Leveridge later shared this story with me.

"My mom is a psychotherapist and several years ago had a group therapy group that was part of a state-mandated probation program for teens who’d gotten into serious trouble with you-name-it, bad stuff. And one of the activities she did with the kids was to have them think of a person who they knew wanted only the very best for them. Think of a person who didn’t judge them, didn’t want to use or abuse them, someone who they knew only wanted good things for them. And the exercise was that, when contemplating whether to make a choice in the day to day that might have negative consequences, think about that person, and think about what that person would want for them.

"Well, there was this one girl, who really worked hard on this exercise, but finally told my mom that she could not think of anybody she had ever met in her whole life that fit this description. But she didn’t give up. She decided to use Bill Cosby as her person for the exercise, because she had come to believe that Bill Cosby wanted the best for her.

"I’ll never forget my mom saying, you know, you could dwell in the horror of this child growing up believing that every person in her life wanted to use or hurt or steal from her, but at the same time, you have to say, wow – thank God for Bill Cosby!"

If you are having an OMG moment during these late summer days, remember that we're rooting for you. Call a pastor or call your deacon if you need some encouraging words. You are not alone, and we are easier to reach than Bill Cosby.