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Educational Vision at Fayetteville, West Virginia
By arnelle | November 22, 2010
TLC (The Learning Center)
It is both easy and difficult to write about what TLC means to me: easy because a thousand memories spring forward demanding to be included, difficult because there is an essence here that goes deeper than any of them or even all of them together.
TLC is the embodiment of a vision from the Lord – a vision that haunts my waking hours and frequently intrudes into my nights. God wants to make a difference between His children and the children of the world. He first said this to Moses before He brought His people out of Egypt. At that point in history, He gathered up His people en masse and separated them from the only country they knew, the only culture they knew, the sights and sounds and foods and schedules and routines and rhythms of the only life they had ever experienced, and He started over with them. He completely rewrote their lives out in the desert. He taught them new ways to eat, new ways to worship, new rules for society, new forms of leadership, new responsibilities and privileges for every aspect of their lives. His desire was that they would be His people, and He would be their God. He was looking for a love relationship so comprehensive that there would not be even one aspect of life that it did not touch. He told them what to do about sickness, what to do about death, what to do about rebellion, about hygiene, about government and about training their children. No one understands a creature like his Creator.
Many things have changed since then, but God’s heart has not changed. He still wants us to come out from the world and be separated uniquely unto Him. He wants to teach us His ways in every aspect of our lives, now as then. And, at TLC, He wants us to train His children His way.
Unfortunately, we don’t know His way. None of us had the privilege while growing up of being educated in God’s way. Not that He was not with us – I remember walking down the halls of a large public school, having transferred from another state in the middle of the year, and feeling His presence right there beside me walking from class to class with me before I had any other friends. No doubt, He was with Moses, too, when he was getting the finest education to be had in Egypt. But, later, God had to completely re-educate Moses before he could lead His people to the promised land. Paul had a fabulous education, too. It took 3 years in the desert for him to get over it.
Maybe, in a nutshell, I envision TLC – if we can see God’s way and follow it – as an education that God could use from the beginning. Something done right the first time, that God will not have to tear down and rebuild.
TLC is a standard bearer. As such, it may never be big, it may never crush the enemy or take new lands for the King. But it is here to rally the troops who will. One standard bearer, a thousand soldiers. We are probably not called to become the thousand, but a thousand and a thousand thousand will follow us if we are true to His colors. If we do not falter, if we keep His standard high, if we persevere in the hottest battle (just to stand; He will fight), if we will stay at all times close to the side of the King whether by life or by death, then He will glorify Himself and vindicate Himself and take back all that His enemy has stolen from us.
TLC is for our children – that they might be raised on the finest things at the table of the King. TLC is for Fayetteville – a beacon in the treacherous darkness. TLC is for the world – all those weary in the battle who look up to see that glorious banner waving in the sunlight and take hope and rally once more to the King. But, above all, TLC is for the Lord God himself who founded it for His glory. Glorify Yourself in us. Amen.
Topics: Teach! |