To College He Goes

 I have shed tears a little at a time as I prepared to send Benjamin off to college.  I guess you could say I grieved in stages. I was hyper-aware of how fleeting time was transpiring all throughout his senior year. 

I was overjoyed to watch him spend time with friends, laughing and just being “a kid”. I shed tears with him as he walked through his first broken heart. I witnessed his resilience through the Covid era and all that was lost.  I treasured so many moments up in my heart as I witnessed my baby boy becoming a man. 

Logically I knew this day would come. I recognized the fact that it’s what we are supposed to do as parents…prepare them and send them forth. I know it’s a special season he’s entering and that he will learn and experience so many new things that will continue to develop and shape him. I know he will meet wonderful people that will become his tribe. 

What I can’t deny is the sadness of knowing he won’t come down the steps each morning and plop down next to me in the kitchen. His jeep won’t be parked out front ready for the next adventure. I won’t hear him say “I’m going to meet the boys for lunch”. I won’t hear the play-by-plays of his day. He won’t sit on my bed and unpack his thoughts or ask me to scratch his back. 

I think for me it’s the inability to see his face as he reads a funny meme or laughs at a GIF…not watching his face as he processes something hard. It’s this space of not being able to see up close what he is seeing and experiencing like I have up to this point. 

I have a new season of waiting. Waiting to hear his voice. Waiting to hear stories of new adventures. Waiting to meet his new friends and hear how old friends integrate with the new. Waiting to hear about professors and classes. Waiting for him to decide what and when he wants to share. 

While I wait, I trust God will keep him. I know He sees his every move. I just sort of have more of a distant view through a window now and that’s hard to accept. I will accept it…but it’s the tears rolling down my cheeks that are my usher into the acceptance of the new season. 

The Helper

“But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” John 14:26

In a couple months, I’ll be sending my firstborn off to college. Some of you may know how that feels, while others just imagine it as you change the diapers of your littles. It’s not like I’m sending him to another planet nor is it like I’m sending him to something dreadful. It’s college! Yet I know a change is in the wind for our family unit and I honestly just grieve that a little. Seeing our kids leave the nest is natural and necessary, but I know I’m going to need God’s help as I navigate this new normal.

We all need help sometimes. Even Jesus sought His Father’s help and often went to a quiet place alone to pray and seek His will. As Jesus, in anguish, sank to his knees in the Garden of Gethsemane, He prayed for Father God to take the cup from Him and for God’s will to be done. It was at that moment, the Father sent an angel to strengthen Jesus (Luke 22:43). What a good Father! What a beautiful picture of the Father’s heart providing for His child. He knew Jesus needed help in that place of anguish, so He released a helper. As we catch a glimpse into this tender moment between Father and Son, can you sense that God wants to be there for us as much as He was for Jesus?

I think one amazing quality Jesus possessed was His ability to receive from His Father, and because Jesus knew how to receive, He also learned how to give to His followers. In John 14, Jesus shares about the coming gift of the Holy Spirit. Jesus saw the sorrow and confusion in the disciples' eyes as He forewarned of His death and departure. He knew there were future generations to consider and was aware of all the enemy would dish out to them, because Jesus also experienced it. He knew we would need a Helper!

God never asks us to do anything without Him. How comforting that He sees, He knows and He provides. How wonderful to know we have full access to a loving Father. We can ask daily for a fresh filling and He loves to give it. His Spirit empowers, comforts, teaches, and reminds us what Jesus said and did for us. Remembering truth is vital as we continue on life’s journey. We need His truth in our marriages, our parenting, our workplaces, our homes - our everything. And just as we don’t withhold good gifts from our kids, He doesn’t withhold from us either (Luke 11:13).

Where do you find yourself needing some help? Maybe you are having a hard time in your marriage feeling like you can’t get on the same page. Maybe you are having a hard time being patient with your two year old. Maybe you are living in a place of isolation because you’ve been hurt, but you are longing to establish some deep friendships. All of these things can make us feel defeated before we even start to address them. Let’s get into the right posture as we move forward...on our knees and hands open expecting the Holy Spirit to come alongside us. Expecting He will help us, teach us, guide us and equip us. And knowing He’s enough for everything we will ever face. 

The Helper. The Comforter. He is more than enough for all of us. 

My Good Shepherd

 “The Lord is my Shepherd, I lack nothing.”

I lived half of my life without knowing or following the leadership of the Good Shepherd. But when I was 24, I encountered Him in a tangible way and began what is now a 24-year relationship with Him. I have encountered the valleys and the mountaintops. I have needed His robe of righteousness, healing, peace, love and the fulfillment that only comes from living attached to Him. I have seen His hand protecting me, providing for me, and His heart loving me and blessing me. He is a GOOD Shepherd. 

The more I ponder what David penned in this special psalm, the more I see a picture of salvation in it by a God who is fully engaged with us. Each verse leads you further into God’s plans and purposes. Each verse exposes His heart to save His people and to dwell with us.

We read the elements of Psalm 23 throughout the Old Testament. The Lord pursued Adam and Eve after they sinned. It was The Lord that led His people out of captivity and into the promised land. He was the cloud by day and fire by night. It was The Lord that repeatedly saved them from their numerous enemies, and taught them how to live obediently to remain in that blessed state of salvation.

In the New Testament, we see the ultimate way He revealed Himself as a Shepherd ushering His sheep to salvation. Jesus (God wrapped in flesh) is The Good Shepherd in John 10, laying down His life for His sheep. He held fast to His Father’s words, ways and plans. He conquered the enemy and rose victoriously from the grave so that we could dwell in the safety of His care. Great is His faithfulness, for He is still shepherding us! 

“Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” Hebrews 13:20-21

God is still supplying everything we need to be saved, healed and delivered. He has always been the provider and always will be. Salvation is His gift to His people because He values us. He created us for a relationship with Him. He wants us to live life in His presence, fully becoming what He designed us to be. We were made to reflect Him in this world and He takes perfect care to make sure we are successful in that endeavor. Every word in Psalm 23 reveals who He wants to be for us through all of life. David saw it from the time he was a shepherd and all through his kingship, leaning into the fullness of relationship with Him.

I encourage you to ask the Holy Spirit to guide you through these beautiful verses of Psalm 23. No matter what life has thrown at you, He is enough to save, heal and deliver you. To Him, you are completely worth it, so much so that He gave up His life for you. That, my friends, is love. And isn’t it what we all truly long for? To be known fully and loved fully? The Good Shepherd is the only One who can fulfill us and usher us into a place where we lack nothing. He is enough.

Oh Jesus! I need You as much today as I did 24 years ago. You saved me then but You’re still saving and transforming me. I depend on You for my joy…my peace…love… I know from experience that You are the ONLY ONE for me! Love You!