A Message from Head of School, Tom Argersinger
Dear Parents and Friends of CCS,
I hope this edition of Parent News finds you walking and working in the peace and power of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I want to begin by thanking you all for your response to our security survey last week, and for the many profitable conversations and emails that accompanied it. Our team benefited greatly from the feedback, and your responses have helped shape our security policies and protocols going forward.
There are more positive changes in the works on this front, so stay tuned.
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In my daily Bible reading this morning, I came (not at all by accident) to Psalm 31.
As I read, especially in the context of the ongoing conversation about security and safety, I realized that there is, on one hand, protection from human evil here on earth, and on the other, there is protection from the unseen enemies we face every day:
The spirit of the age (zeitgeist) that opposes God
Our own “flesh” (our sin, as well as the wasting of our bodies and minds that is a part of life here on earth)
The devil (Satan, the great enemy of the LORD i.e. Yahweh, the God of the Bible — and, by extension, our enemy as well).
I believe that Psalm 31 addresses all of these.
Let me encourage you to read it very slowly, even prayerfully, and if at all possible, read it out loud. Read it in faith, reminding your soul that what it asks, what it claims, and what it promises is real.
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Psalm 31 (CSB)
A Plea for Protection; For the choir director. A psalm of David.
1 Lord, I seek refuge in you; let me never be disgraced. Save me by your righteousness.
2 Listen closely to me; rescue me quickly. Be a rock of refuge for me, a mountain fortress to save me.
3 For you are my rock and my fortress; you lead and guide me for your name’s sake.
4 You will free me from the net that is secretly set for me, for you are my refuge.
5 Into your hand I entrust my spirit; you have redeemed me, Lord, God of truth.
6 I hate those who are devoted to worthless idols, but I trust in the Lord.
7 I will rejoice and be glad in your faithful love because you have seen my affliction.
You know the troubles of my soul
8 and have not handed me over to the enemy. You have set my feet in a spacious place.
9 Be gracious to me, Lord, because I am in distress; my eyes are worn out from frustration—
my whole being as well.
10 Indeed, my life is consumed with grief and my years with groaning; my strength has failed
because of my iniquity, and my bones waste away.
11 I am ridiculed by all my adversaries and even by my neighbors. I am dreaded by my acquaintances;
those who see me in the street run from me.
12 I am forgotten: gone from memory like a dead person—like broken pottery.
13 I have heard the gossip of many; terror is on every side. When they conspired against me,
they plotted to take my life.
14 But I trust in you, Lord; I say, “You are my God.”
15 The course of my life is in your power; rescue me from the power of my enemies and from my persecutors.
16 Make your face shine on your servant; save me by your faithful love.
17 Lord, do not let me be disgraced when I call on you. Let the wicked be disgraced;
let them be quiet in Sheol.
18 Let lying lips that arrogantly speak against the righteous in proud contempt be silenced.
19 How great is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you. In the presence of everyone you have acted for those who take refuge in you.
20 You hide them in the protection of your presence; you conceal them in a shelter from human schemes, from quarrelsome tongues.
21 Blessed be the Lord, for he has wondrously shown his faithful love to me in a city under siege.
22 In my alarm I said, “I am cut off from your sight.” But you heard the sound of my pleading when I cried to you for help.
23 Love the Lord, all his faithful ones. The Lord protects the loyal,but fully repays the arrogant.
24 Be strong, and let your heart be courageous, all you who put your hope in the Lord.
As I read this morning, verse 22 stood out to me.
When things go awry it is tempting to say that God does not care, that He is not engaged, that we have gone somewhere He cannot find us.
But that is a lie – there is nowhere we can go that He cannot find us and rescue us (Psalm 139:7). Is His hand too short to save (Is. 59:1)? No – a thousand times no!
There are surely times when I need to fall to my knees and pray this Psalm back to God and over my circumstances, speaking to my own soul to fan the flame of faith. And yes, to ask Him to “help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24).
Would you join me today, even right now, in that posture of submission, the only proper place before a holy and loving God?
Know this: whatever you are going through right now, you can trust the God of all comfort.
Love Him, surrender to Him, build your home in Him as He builds His in you.
Release all that holds you back from complete surrender and begin to abandon your futile attempts to find solace, peace, comfort and strength in anything other than Jesus.
Do this, and over time you will find that He is indeed your strong tower, your refuge and your strength, this day and all the rest of your days, both now and forevermore.
And that is the greatest security we could ever hope for.
For CCS and the Kingdom,
Tom