Biting and Devouring

I am routinely approached by parents with the question, “How’s school going?”  My response is generally along the lines of, “Things are going well; we are really blessed with a lot of great students, teachers, etc.”  I truly am thankful for the many blessings that God has showered upon us, and I continue to pray for His leading and directing at Faith Christian School.

Serving or Consuming?

An interesting perspective I gain from my vantage point involves the unfortunate reality that many of us get all wound up about petty things that really don’t have lasting value in the grand scheme of God’s plan.  I had the occasion to listen to various individuals discuss an aspect of our student dress code.  It appeared to me that these folks were investing a lot of time and effort in communicating about various standards they disagreed with, even though they agreed to these standards by sending their children to school at Faith.  I was reminded of the verses in Galatians 5:13,15, that remind us “not to turn our freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love, serve one another…and if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.”

Putting Challenges into Perspective

There are times when I can let these types of issues discourage me.  As I was focusing on some of the challenges with this situation, my friend from Hope Christian School in Masaka, Uganda, e-mailed me to pray for his students whose father had died the other day as a result of the AIDS epidemic.  At that moment I was really reminded about some of the aspects of life that are really important.  Matthew Kujoba is the headmaster at Hope Christian School in Masaka.  Matthew lost both of his parents before the age of 10.  His brothers have died as a result of sickness, and his school serves between 500 – 600 children under the age of 12, many of these students being orphaned as a result of the AIDS epidemic and other sicknesses.  Lord willing, Matthew will be visiting Faith Christian School during the month of October.  I am excited for the opportunity to host Matthew and to allow him to observe our teachers and students as well as to share with all of us the mission and opportunity to partner with him and Hope Christian School.

Future Opportunities

Later this year, I am planning to take 10 other individuals from FCS to Masaka, Uganda, and Hope Christian School, as part of our J Term program.  Lord willing, we will leave from Chicago on December 27th and return on January 10th.  While in Uganda, we hope to help with various program aspects at Hope Christian School and Hope Secondary School.  Our group will hopefully have the opportunity to be a blessing to the students and teachers at Hope by teaching, training, painting, building, and various other tasks that will strengthen and encourage our brothers and sisters in Christ.  The Ugandans are truly beautiful people. I know that this trip will be a “life-changer” for our students as they get involved in a “lasting” activity that also seeks to obey the command of our Savior, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”.

Where’s Your Focus?

There are many things in this life that can derail us on a daily basis.  My hope is that we can choose to focus on the things that are truly important and not get side-tracked in accomplishing our mission.  Would you please pray for Matthew’s trip to Faith along with our group’s trip to Hope over the next few months?  I pray that lives will be changed, ministries will be strengthened, and that God will be glorified.  “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.  Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”

Scott Grass
Scott Grass is the administrator of Faith Christian School. He has been involved with Faith Christian School since it began in 1997. He and his wife, Debbie, have been active members of Faith Church since 1990. Scott also serves as a deacon and an ABF teacher.