Prince Caspian and ESL

Recently, I have been struggling with discouragement with the lack of support for the ESL classes I have been trying to organize. I have several very committed people, but it feels like I am swimming upstream most of the time. It is easy to pick out faults and complain about "church cultural tendencies," and it would be the easiest thing of all to just give up and blame the failure on others. But as I was griping to God the other day, He brought this to mind.

    "Lucy," he said, "we must not lie here for long. You have work in hand, and  much time has been lost today."
    "Yes, wasn't it a shame?" said Lucy. "I saw you all right. They wouldn't believe me. They're all so--"
    From somewhere deep inside Aslan's body there came the faintest suggestion of a growl.
    "I'm sorry," said Lucy, who understood some of his moods. "I didn't mean to start slanging the others. But it wasn't my fault anyway, was it?"
    The Lion looked straight into her eyes.
    "Oh Aslan, " said Lucy. "You don't mean it was? How could I--I couldn't have left the others and come up to you alone, how could I? Don't look at me like that... oh well, I suppose I could. Yes, and it wouldn't have been alone, I know, not if I was with you. But what would have been the good?"
    Aslan said nothing.
    "You mean," said Lucy rather faintly, "that it would have turned out all right-- somehow? But how? Please, Aslan! Am I not to know?"
    "To know what would have happened, child?"said Aslan. "No. Nobody is ever told that."
    "Oh dear," said Lucy.
    "But anyone can find out what will happen," said Aslan. "If you go back to the others now, and wake them up, and tell them you have seen me again; and that you must all get up at once and follow me--what will happen? There is only one way of finding out."
    "Do you mean that is what you want me to do?" gasped Lucy.
    "Yes, little one," said Aslan.

 I was convicted. I had been "slanging the others" and not taking responsibility. And I was giving up because I thought I was alone. If I am following God's leading, and I believe I am, then I have Him with me. And he will provide all the things, money, and people that I need to do his work. My job is to go wake the others up and get them to follow Jesus - whether that means advertising for the class, encouraging our church to get more involved, or writing a gospel overlay to the curriculum.

God may not answer my desires as I want Him to, but He will help me do His work. And He does have "good works that have been prepared in advance" for me to do. So "I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me", "forgetting what is behind" (i.e. what might have happened/what I wanted to happen) "and straining toward what is ahead, I press on..."

It is good to know that God guiding me. And even though it sometimes feels like  I am just following a shadow, it is His shadow, and I wouldn't want to be doing anything else.


So we had a soccer game that started with one student and a teacher, the overseeing elder, and the directors husband - but ended with a game of 4 on 4. Advertisements went out to two different churches, and more will go out tomorrow. I still don't have a curriculum because it costs more money that I had allotted for it, but I am sure that God will provide for that too. I am realizing that I have a lot of cross-cultural translation to do, and that sometimes it is more difficult to communicate to my own culture. And in 2 weeks classes will start!