Warrior News

Good Afternoon, Warrior Nation

I want to kick off our new devotional series, “Thankful,” with a story from Luke 17:11-19. To recap: Jesus, on his way to Jerusalem, encounters ten men afflicted with leprosy.  As they cried out, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” Jesus told them to “go and show themselves to the priests."  When they went, they were cleansed.  After receiving the healing miracle, only one of them, a Samaritan, returned to Jesus to thank him.  A couple of things stand out to me here. 1. Jesus didn’t heal them, THEN told them to go to the priest.  He just told them to go to the priest.  It took a measure of faith for them to obey, since, as lepers, they were not even allowed anywhere near the temple.  The healing came along the way to the priest.  Sometimes, God asks us to do something out of obedience, knowing he will work it out on the journey rather than beforehand.  Having faith that he will do it allows us to demonstrate our thankfulness by being obedient first.  The second point that stands out is what happened after.  After arriving at the priest's home, healed of this awful affliction, only one of the ten returned to Jesus to say, “thank you."  To me, this speaks to the heart condition of the ten.  God grants a miracle to all of them, but only one feels compelled to give thanks.  We don’t know why the nine did not return – only that the one, who wasn’t even a Jew, returned to thank Jesus.  Sometimes, it is easy for us to take for granted the many blessings we have throughout the day.  We can have the heart of the one by taking a moment to praise God in everything we have.  As believers, we understand NOTHING we have is ours because we deserve it.  In fact, the contrary is true.  What we truly deserve (eternal judgment and separation from God as sinners), Christ freely offered himself and took on himself in our place.  What a true gift we have in Jesus to be truly thankful for!

I want to thank those of you who have already joined us in the Envelope Challenge, our first fundraiser of the school year, by taking envelopes in carline this morning and again this afternoon.  If you missed our social media post explaining this, here you go: We have labeled 350 envelopes with a dollar amount (from $1 to $350).  If you wish to participate, we ask that you choose one (or more) envelopes from the stack, and commit to donating the amount written on the envelope to help cover the cost of a new bus, new carpet in the building, and new lockers in the high school.  You can give it as a lump sum or spread it out over the next weeks or months.  We will have them available again at the morning carline next week, so if you would like to pick one up then, let our carline staff know and they can help you get one.  You can make the donation through FACTSgiving, drop it off at the front office, or return it to us at carline.  Thank you in advance for participating in this activity with us!

Remember that this coming Wednesday, 23 September, is our annual See You At The Pole prayer and worship event.  Please join us with your student at the front flagpole from 7:00 am – 7:30 am for student-led worship and prayer for our school, community, and nation, followed by breakfast in the cafeteria from 7:30 – 8:00am.  If you wish to join us for breakfast, pre-order your meal HERE.  Prices will be a little higher at the door, with à la carte items available as well.

Be blessed this weekend – we are truly thankful for YOU and your partnership with us!

All For Him,

Bill Sharp
Head of School