Chancellor's Challenges: The World that Now Is

I was reading the promises of God the other day and it struck me that nowhere was I promised that the world would be as I think it should be. Then I remembered a time when I was complaining to my boss over a period of several weeks that, “As a first and second grade teacher, I ought not to have to deal with little boys and girls being 'boyfriend and girlfriends.' That is not supposed to be something that children of 6 and 7 are to be interested in.” And in the world that I grew up in (think Dark Ages), those kinds of things were not on any child’s mind at that age. His response: “Kelly, get over it! That is the world that is!”

You and I are living through a cataclysmic event. Not unlike World War I or World War II or even the Cold War, this coronavirus event is the defining moment for the whole world at this point in history. (For those of you that are younger, think 9/11.) I am afraid that there are a lot of us thinking that the world “after this passes” will return to what we have been comfortable with. Business, government, education, and life itself will return to “normal” and all will be well. If you study history, the world was never the same after that defining moment.

I am thinking that what will happen is the same thing that has happened in history before. In the area of education alone, predictions of seating being 6 feet apart, having students maintain consistent groups, the ending of large group assemblies and field trips, lunch in the classrooms – all are proposed challenges that we will need to figure out. Education will not return to anything “normal” in the near future. And we can be like me and grumble and complain about how “it ought not to be like this!” (meaning that I don’t like it because I am not comfortable with it) or I can understand that God in His sovereign plan is doing something to the world that is necessary to bring about the fullness of His kingdom.

I must learn to adapt to the world that is... technologically oriented, socially hungry, and suddenly aware of the theft of busyness to what is really important and to bring the fullness of God’s Good News to a world that is desperately looking for it. (And I must remember that that ‘good news’ is NOT the good old days!) Today’s adventure is to live with confidence, grace and hope in what Christ is doing to this old world to make all things new.