Post contributed by, Mrs. Gail McGinty.
Years ago when we enrolled our daughters in Faith Christian School, our hope and expectation was that FCS would reinforce what we had been teaching them at home. We wanted them to daily hear that Jesus Christ is pre-eminent in all things, that every subject they could ever study is rooted in the truth of Him, and He can be found in every truth because He is the source of truth. We wanted FCS to assist us in teaching our daughters what a Christ-centered world view is all about as they helped us prepare them spiritually and academically to live in the world.
Last night, I had the privilege of witnessing yet another example of how that mission is being carried out at FCS. I happened to be in the room when Mr. Carr gave the cast of the play “The Wizard of Oz” his final instructions before sending them to the stage not necessarily to give the most stellar performance of their lives, but a greater mission.
As I listened, I heard Mr. Carr engage the cast in questions about the true theme of the story and the true purpose of this group to be telling it. He told them that in every story there is a greater story…the story of God, redemption and eternity. He skillfully conveyed to the students that within the theme of this play, “There’s no place like home,” is a message for every heart. There is a longing, a knowing, that we have been made for our eternal home where our Heavenly Father lives and where we are forever loved and safe. Our earthly homes have the potential, as Dorothy’s did, to give us a taste of that perfect home, but we all innately know we aren’t home yet.
Mr. Carr read Ps. 107:4-9 that so beautifully portrays “The yellow brick road” for every longing heart who is looking for a city to call home.
“Some wandered in desert wastelands,
Finding no way to a city where they could settle.
They were hungry and thirsty,
And their lives ebbed away.
Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,
And he delivered them from their distress.
He led them by a straight way
To a city where they could settle.
Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love
And his wonderful deeds for men,
For he satisfies the thirsty
And fills the hungry with good things.”
This Psalm answers the burning questions of all the ones who like Dorothy are searching for home, or like Scarecrow who wants to know, like Tinman who wants to feel, and like Lion who longs to overcome his fear. God “satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.” He leads those who are wandering to a settled place. Mr. Carr then led the cast in prayer that God would touch the hearts of all those in attendance with the question of what their hearts truly long for, and to the one who can lead them there.
I am so thankful that I just happened to be in the room to hear Mr. Carr’s last words before the curtain went up, and I thought you might be encouraged to hear them too. You can be sure we will be talking about what he said around our dinner table. I hope you will be too.
