Saturday, September 1, 2012

Blessings Come From Rejection

Not until halfway through the Feast did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to teach. The Jews were amazed and asked, “How did this man get such learning without having studied?” -- John 7:14-15

They were desperate for Sunday school teachers. They said so. The nominating committee just couldn’t find enough volunteers for all the classes. So I volunteered. That is what we’re supposed to do, isn’t it? That was what they wanted, wasn’t it?

Well, as it turned out, not exactly.

See, I wasn’t raised in church. I didn’t grow up learning all the little songs and books of the Bible. I was baptized at age 18 and attended different churches over the years. I loved to read the Bible but I didn’t develop a deep desire to study it until later in life. And that all meant I didn’t qualify to teach at their church.

Oh, they never said it out loud. This is the Deep South and that wouldn’t have been polite. But the only class they had available for me -- despite their comments of desperation -- was for the three-year-olds. I guess they figured I couldn’t mess that up. We’ll never know because I just said no.

It worked out for the best just as, I’m sure, God planned it. A year or so later I ended up in a different church that welcomed outsiders into their fold. Two years later I was teaching an adult Sunday school class and leading a women’s Bible study. I never really expected it. I simply wanted to learn and God opened doors I thought were closed forever.

Last Sunday at this church a young man gave an emotional testimony of heartache and faith. He spoke of falling away from Christ, of drugs and jail and hurt. And redemption. Because this was truly a story of how God can take a broken life and use it for good if we’ll only trust Him.

This young man now teaches Sunday school at a small church in a neighboring town. I think I’d like that church. What wisdom to take a broken vessel and put it where others can see and learn and grow from its lesson. This young man is an inspiration to us all. “I was lost but now I’m found,” echoes through my mind.

Many of us don’t have pretty stories of faith and stellar lives. We are broken people who cling to Christ as our anchor in a stormy life. But God can use us if we’ll open up and let Him. We can show others who are lost, hurting, different, that it’s okay to meet God where you are. The altar is open. The living water is free.

I sometimes wonder what my life would have been like without the rejection I faced. It likely would have been somewhat normal but not nearly as rich and rewarding. God had a plan that led me to where He wanted me to be. There’s a rightness to it. A blessing that has emerged from a painful time.