Dear West Family

Earlier this week I had the opportunity to address the chapel service at a small (and quite lovely) Christian school in South Austin. It is one of those things that has been sitting on my calendar for months but only really registered in my conscious thought a couple of days before it was due to happen. It was only then, when reading the invitation more thoroughly, that I realized that the school is made of learners from Pre-K to Middle School. If you have ever spoken to someone in Pre-K or to someone in Middle School, you will know that they are not really the same audience.

I was terrified. How do you say something that is helpful to a 7th grader and interesting to a 4 year old? How do you keep both of their attentions for 30 minutes without being totally lame or totally irrelevant to one or both of them?

I decided that the only thing I could do is to teach - from the Scriptures - something that is proving really helpful to me, and to do so in language that a 4 year old could understand and a pre-teen could apply. By the Spirit’s help I think I managed to do that and what follows below is my very simple outline that I used for the school chapel. In making it understandable for small children, I think I somehow managed to make it more applicable to old heads like me. Lemme know what you think.

Do you ever worry about stuff? I worry about lots of things. I even worried about standing up here and speaking to you all, and while I do this, I am worried about some of the things that I have to do later in my day.

When I was a kid in school (which was a very long time ago) I used to worry about a lot of things. I worried about the work that I knew I should do, I worried about what I would be when I grew up and how I should go about that, I worried about my relationships and whether I was like by the people I wanted to be liked by, and I worried about my relationship with God and whether He was pleased with me.

Then I discovered that there were verses in the bible that tell us to not worry.

These only made me worry more!

But there has been one that has been extremely helpful to me over the years and continues to be helpful to me today. It is in Philippians 4, and it says.

6 Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Php 4:6–7 (CSB)

This is so great, because it doesn’t just tell us to not worry, it also tells us what to do instead. So when I do worry - which is still a lot - then I try to practice these four things from these verses.

Tell God. Ask God. Thank God. Let God.

Tell God.

It says in everything … through prayer.

I can and I must tell God what I am thinking about and what is worrying me.

I did this even this morning in the car on the way here. I am worried about some things with the health of some people I love. I could either keep that in and let it just get bigger and bigger, or I can tell God. He knows anyway and it is really good for us to talk to Him about it.

Have you ever felt how good it feels to just tell someone you trust about something that you have been keeping inside for a long time? Well, when we are worried, we get to tell the God of the universe what is bothering us and He listens!

 Ask God.

In everything through prayer and petition, present your requests to God!

You can ask the God of the universe to help! God doesn’t just listen to your problems, He is also able to help you through them. God isn’t just able and willing to hear us, He is also able and willing to help us. That is a great combination!

Thank God.

It says “with thanksgiving!”

Why is this so important? Well, I have found that it is hard for me to be anxious about the future and thankful for the past and present at the same time. When I am worried about what might happen next, then it really helps me to think back on all the ways that God has blessed me in the past. It takes my worry and turns it into worship, because God has been very, very good to me and it helps me to remember that.

Let God.

The peace of God wants to stand guard. That’s the image. God’s peace stands guard at the door of your heart and refuses to let any worry and anxiety back in, but you have to stop opening the door as if you are the guard yourself.

When I get really worried or anxious about something, then it helps me to write them down and to put them in a sealed envelope. Then when I am tempted to worry about them again, I take the envelope out and remember that I gave it to God for Him to worry about and there is no real point in us both worrying.

When you are worried. 

TELL GOD. ASK GOD. THANK GOD. LET GOD.

It is amazing how the simplicity of that has been ringing in my head all week. Sometimes we really need to bring ourselves to the level of a child in order to understand some of the most profound mysteries in the universe. After I finished with the chapel, I did a little tour of the school, and it brought me great joy to see written on a blackboard … tell God, ask God, thank God, let God.

The music this week is once again from Loud Harp. This one is worthy of quiet contemplation.

Immanuel | Loud Harp

Press on.
Ross