Joy.

September Highlights

• Our children, Scottie, Samantha, and Garrison started the school year at Westbury Christian School in Houston, TX.

• FluentBible.Academy – We have been diligently editing, downloading, and uploading classes to Fluent Bible Academy. We will continue to update the site with new content and in additional languages.

• Scott led the devotional at the Westbury Christian School, during the Teacher In–Service Week.

God’s Plan for You

One of the many blessings of living in Houston is its incredible cultural diversity. When we were looking for a home, we wrestled with where to live and ultimately felt drawn to being close to the church and the work God had planned for our family.

Scott’s administrative assistant, Won, is from Korea. As she learned more about Intercultural Bible and Logos Answers, she fell in love with the God’s Plan for You video. Her genuine zeal for God and immediate desire to share the video with friends in hopes of reaching them with the Gospel, moved a Korean translation to the top of our priority list.

Won’s husband, Shimin, is from China and will work alongside another member of the congregation to assist in the Chinese translation!

We are so thankful for moments like this, when the work is received with such gratitude, and we can see firsthand how God is using it to share His Word with others.

The church. The school. Joy lives here.   

Westbury Christian School was founded by Westbury Church of Christ more than 50 years ago. Today, the school serves students from three-year-old preschool through 12th grade. While most students come from a “churched” background, the school attracts students from other faith backgrounds and even from other parts of the world. Most of the teachers and staff are part of the church of Christ, and the school offers an unique opportunity to share the Gospel with children and families from diverse backgrounds.

Although the school and church are separate organizations, their buildings are connected, and the church provides the facilities for the school. We are incredibly blessed to be part of the Westbury Church of Christ and equally grateful to be part of the school community. Many administrators, teachers, and athletic coaches are also active members of the Westbury church of Christ, creating a close connection between the two communities.

At the beginning of each school year, the church and school come together to celebrate the year ahead, encourage one another, and support their shared mission to glorify God through faith and works.

Scott was invited to present a lesson during the Teacher In–Service. He opened with a story I have never heard him share with anyone other than me. I was caught off guard and overcome with emotion as I listened to him talk about his father. 

He shared about how unfortunate circumstances will always be dark, threatening to overshadow and take away our happiness. We live in a broken, sad, and chaotic world. Bad things happen to good people. Innocent children suffer, religion doesn’t change that fact. Faith doesn’t change that fact. Blessings may help us momentarily look past it, but it doesn’t change it entirely.

We all have a choice to make. How do our circumstances, evil, and tragedy affect our outlook? Do we become negative people, or do we choose to search for the positive?

Philippians 2:14 says, “Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent.”

Sit with that verse from God for a moment. Can you see how focusing on that one verse at the start of a school year could have an impact? It was a room full of teachers and administrators, who are also parents, grandparents, spouses, sisters, brothers, uncles, aunts, friends, and neighbors. For all of us, a negative outlook can directly affect so many souls around us, and it is not becoming of a child of God.

We have a pattern laid out for us by our heavenly Father, and we can make a conscious effort to be more joyful.

Matthew 6, Jesus said, “Do not be worried about your life.... Do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself”

Philippians 4, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Be anxious for nothing.”

While the urge to complain and the experience of anxiety are a large part of this fallen world, that is not the ideal. The Bible teaches us that the ideal is peace, and joy, and trust in the provision and protection of our God and Savior. There are always blessings and joy to be found in Jesus.

So, what is true joy? It’s not simply a good feeling or a feeling of happiness. It can result in those things; however, true joy is being secure in our identity with Jesus despite the dark world around us. In the same passage where Jesus said, “do not be anxious,” He also said, “Are you not worth much more than they?” When Paul said, “Do not grumble or complain,” he also said, “because you are children of God.” God created and values each of us. Who we are, our identity, is more than our daily battles with darkness. Our identity tells us that we are secure and safe in the arms of our Savior who strengthens us. Our identity tells us that our strength derives from God alone. And our identity reminds us that we have a hope of a forever life when this dark world has passed.

Joy lives here – not because life is easy here. Not because the storms don’t come, or the school year doesn’t get hard, and long, and heavy some days. Joy lives here because He lives here. In the hearts of His precious disciples.

Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say rejoice. Because joy doesn’t get buried here. Joy lives here.

Behind the scenes. Getting organized.

Intercultural Bible, our nonprofit organization, now has its own hub page. This page is a central place to learn more about our mission and what we’re working toward, while connecting visitors to the ongoing resources and platforms of LogosAnswers.org and FluentBible.Academy.

We’re continually evolving and growing, and we’re so thankful you’re part of the process. Whether through prayer, support, sharing these resources with others, or using them to grow in your own knowledge of God’s Word, thank you for helping us share His Word across cultures and languages.

Love,

The Ihle Crew