GOD IS IN CONTROL

I came home that night tired, disappointed, and discouraged. Our forum at the high school on underage drinking and the health, safety, and legal risks associated with it attracted only 20 people. Previous drug/alcohol forums were attended by more than 100 parents. Of course, some of those well-attended events followed recent crises – the death of one of our teens due to drinking and driving and middle schoolers caught with marijuana on school grounds – and one featured our own high school students talking about binge drinking and easy access to alcohol.

The more I thought about the forum I found myself getting angry. Why was I so angry? Did parents not care? Did we need another crisis? Did we not publicize the event enough?

I realized that I was judging the success of that night’s program based on the number of people who attended. I took a step back to remember that I am doing work God led me to do. More than three years earlier, after a period of discernment of what to do after leaving a fulltime job of many years, I decided to run our local school-community coalition focused on youth drug, alcohol, and safety issues. With a daughter then just entering high school and unsure as a parent how to address alcohol and drug issues, I felt God led me to this opportunity to pursue prevention awareness education through the community coalition.

Doors just kept opening. In the fall of 2006, a group of us initiated a Countywide Initiative to Reduce Underage Drinking. We called together leaders of the school system, county agencies, local law enforcement, and the community to establish a truly collaborative effort on underage drinking. Awareness of underage drinking issues is increasing in our community.

As I reflect, I am reminded that I am doing God’s work, and God is in charge. My job is to sow seeds, not results. I will never know all the ways in which God is using me and my work to achieve His purposes. As theologian and author Henri Nouwen writes: “For God, numbers never seem to matter. Who knows whether the world is kept from destruction because of one, two or three people who have continued to pray when the rest of humanity has lost hope...? God’s joy can be ours in the midst of it all.”

I decided to put away my anger and focus on the blessing of knowing that God is in control.

— Sara Freund

Courtesy of The Church of the Good Shepherd United Methodist