Dr. Yvonne Harwood: Summer Devo Series

Yvonne Harwood: Good morning. I love Wednesday devotionals. I just love, I love this tradition. I love this time to
get to see you guys. It's not something we get to do all year long. So I love this time in the
summer that we get to come together and just have a minute to talk to each other and share what God's
putting on our hearts. Because I just, I just told Erin Drumwright when I was grabbing stuff off the
printer. God's always working on me on something. So this is as much a reminder to me as it is
hopefully things in here that speak to you, that speak to where you are. But this is something that
God has just kind of been putting in front of me lately. And I hope that it's something that's
meaningful to you guys. So I am, I'm filling in for Josh Clem. I am the substitute speaker today,
but this is going to be a little bit in honor of Josh and his family because I'm going to talk about storms.
And in the very short time that Josh has been affiliated with LCU,
they have gotten to witness a couple of storms that made us as native Lubbockites say,
wow, that was something.
So this is in honor of him and his family as they transition to Lubbock.
We're so excited to have them here.
If I say storms in this crowd, if I were to ask everyone in this group to think of a storm,
you all immediately, I think, probably have something in mind.
Something that you have witnessed or experienced as a family or on your own.
Maybe it was a long time ago. Maybe it was recently.
But you all immediately think of something.
You think of a storm that you sat through, waited through.
When we think of storms in this region, especially probably in every region, we have this, we
immediately understand what it's like to be in the wind and to hear the wind and to hear,
we don't have waves here, but to hear the wind and to hear the hail and to hear the storm
and to be waiting.
And we're in, when it's a storm all around us, that's usually what we do is we're waiting.
We're weathering the storm and maybe we're waiting in a basement or maybe we're waiting in a closet or maybe we're waiting in the bathtub and our mom's trying to drag a mattress down the hall.
Whatever the case may be, we understand what it is to wait on a storm.
And while we're waiting, because we're human, we start to worry.
That's what we do. We start to worry.
We start to worry about people that are maybe out in the storm or that we don't know where they are
or maybe they're being hit harder than we're being hit.
We start to worry about what we're going to find when we come out of this waiting.
We're going to worry about what's happening outside all around us that's bigger than we are,
that's more powerful than we are, that's so out of our control.
We're going to worry about how we're going to handle the damages or the cleanup or the changes in our plans that are going to come from the damages or the cleanup.
So we start to worry.
And in that worry, we start anxious planning.
And you guys know what I'm talking about because anxious planning sounds a lot different than like planning, planning.
Planning, planning is like we have a goal.
We're going to start saving money.
We're going to celebrate when we get there.
That's planning.
But anxious planning is a lot like scrambling.
It's a lot like, well, maybe we could do this.
Or maybe we could do this.
Or maybe we could cancel our vacation and do that instead.
Or maybe we do this instead.
And so we start anxious planning and we get in this cycle of just trying to connect dots.
And we don't even know where they are yet.
The dots are all moving because we're waiting and we're worrying.
And we're anxiously trying to plan for things we don't even know.
Life is full of storms.
Like life is full of storms.
Things that happen in our own lives, these sets of circumstances that come out of nowhere
and change everything and have the power to change everything.
Things that are bigger than us, things that are out of our control,
things that we don't understand and we didn't have a plan for.
Those things that happen in our own personal lives with our health or the health of a loved one
or relationships in our lives or finances in our own lives,
things that happen in our communities, in our schools or in our churches
with people we love and people we know,
and things that happen in the big world all around us,
things we open up our computer and we open, and you guys have all done it.
You click on Edge to open a new tab to do work,
and all of a sudden the news is all right there in front of you,
and you see all these headlines.
And maybe some of those jump out at you
because they have a power to change something in your life.
Maybe they jump out at you because they're big and they're unpredictable
and they're things you didn't plan for
and they're things you don't know how you would manage.
And every one of those types of storms,
the personal ones in our own lives, the things in our families,
the things in our communities, the things in the world around us,
every one of those storms has that same power to make us wait
and watch the storm and focus on the storm and start anxious planning, right? Sends us into that
spiral of what are we going to do? What are we going to do if this diagnosis happens?
What are we going to do if this thing happens in our bank account? What are we going to do if this
thing doesn't happen that I need to happen in work or life or relationships? What am I going to do if
this bill passes in the legislature? What are we going to do if this thing doesn't happen with our
numbers or our budget or the students that are coming? We all get into this mode and we start
anxious planning. Now remember, like I'm saying this to you guys because this is what God is saying to
me, right? So this is what God is interrupting me in my day and saying, what are you doing?
So I have to ask, what does God say about that? And when we think about a storm, we all go
immediately probably to the story of Jesus in the boat right so Jesus is in the boat and he's asleep
and all of these people who knew him best on this earth and also new storms and new water and new
being on the sea they're in a boat and the storm comes up and it's such a big powerful storm that
these seasoned weathered fishermen say um we're probably going to die right this is it we're going
to die. This is what happens. And so they're trying to wake Jesus up, come fix this. And we all know
the story. Jesus wakes up and he stands up and he says to the water, to the waves, be quiet, be still.
And they do. Everything stops, right? It stops. The circumstances stop. And then Jesus says to
his disciples, where is your faith? And so a lot of times when I read that story, I think,
Oh, yeah, call on Jesus and the circumstances will change.
And then there's my faith, right?
A, B, C.
Call on Jesus.
Circumstances change.
And now I have faith.
Now I have hope because Jesus can change the circumstances.
And that's totally true.
Jesus can change the circumstances.
But in a lot of the storms that we weather, the circumstances don't change.
In a lot of the storms that we are sitting and watching and waiting,
We're praying and we're calling on Jesus and maybe we're not seeing those circumstances change.
Maybe we're not seeing this immediate stillness of the world outside of us.
Maybe we don't watch the wind immediately die down and hear the quiet and the birds come out in the world around us.
So I have to, when I get discouraged by that, say, well, what else does God say?
So I'm going to go to Philippians.
I'm going to go to Philippians 4 because this is what God usually takes me to.
And I'm going to say Philippians 4 starts with a really important word, therefore.
So you have to go back a little bit because therefore means that whatever happened before here,
it's going to be really important to what happens next.
And what happens before that is that Paul says a couple of really important things.
He says, I haven't accomplished anything on my own that's more powerful than Jesus.
Jesus is the only thing in my life that has the power to do stuff.
Everything I've accomplished on my own that I thought was meaningful is not as powerful as God through my faith in Jesus.
The power of God.
Two, he says, I'm going to keep practicing this because I don't have it right yet.
I haven't achieved it yet, but I'm going to keep trying.
I'm going to keep moving forward.
I'm going to press on towards the goal.
and three he says we are citizens of heaven we are citizens of heaven where Jesus Christ is Lord
and Jesus Christ is the power and that's where we are that's where we belong that's our kingdom so
therefore because of those things we're going to go to verse 6 in Philippians 4 and I'm going to
read I'm reading from the New Living Translation because I love the way this says it therefore
and then skip one through five. I mean, don't skip it. It's all really important. But for today,
for this Devo, we're going to skip down. Don't worry about anything. Instead, because God knows
we can't just stop worrying, right? So he's going to say, don't be anxious planning. So you're going
to replace it with something. Instead of that, you're going to pray about everything. You're
going to tell God what you need and you're going to ask and you're going to thank him for all that
he's done. And then you inside, in here, will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything
you can understand, bigger than anything we can imagine. His peace will guard your heart
that gets heavy with the weight of the world and the weight of all the things around us that we
are not in control of. His peace will guard your heart and his peace will guard your mind, which
gets busy with all the things that we are not in control of and we have no control over. His peace
will come into those places and guard your heart and your mind as you live in Christ Jesus. And then
he gives us this instruction. And now, dear brothers and sisters, my community, one final thing, fix your
thoughts on what is true and honorable and right and pure and lovely and admirable. Think about
things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice. Keep practicing what
you learn and receive, and then the God of peace will be with you. So I want to go back to storms
for a minute. I was sitting next to Austin in a meeting yesterday, and we were talking about the
storm that hit Lubbock and all the damage in his neighborhood was hit pretty hard with lots of
windows broken. Lots of people had loss of stuff, car windshields, windows, skylights, roofs. And
Austin made a comment. He said, it's amazing to see what happens in a community after a storm.
So I was sitting here, I was thinking about this talk today and what God has to keep reminding me
of where's your focus? Where's your focus? Thinking about this letter that Paul wrote,
not to a person, but to a community to think about, to be reminded of the things that are good and
right and noble and honorable. And what Austin talked about is after a storm in a community,
people come out, right? They come out and you've all been part of a community that comes out
after a storm and you immediately remind each other of what's most important because we say
things like are you okay is everybody okay because the truth right if we're going to think about
what's true the truth is we may be surrounded by fallen trees and broken windows but people
matter more and that's the truth and that's what communities come out and they remind each other
like are you okay is your family okay because people matter more than anything else that we
can see that's already broken. And then you start to see in a community, people helping each other,
working together, doing things to work towards a common goal. And all of that reminds us of what's
most important. So when I think about Paul writing this to a community, I think about our community.
I think about what I see around here and the way that we remind each other of what is most important.
And that happens in little things and it happens in big things.
But it happens every time we have an opportunity to be part of a story that is changing someone's life.
And you guys, like I am surrounded right now by people through big things and little things in front of the scenes and behind the scenes.
people who make it possible for students to come here, for families to be part of this place,
for people to come and experience an interaction, a conversation, an opportunity to get to know
Christ in a way that changes their life and sometimes changes their life for generations
to come. And I think about, you know, in all of this world with all the heaviness and all the
stuff that's out of our control, that's big, that's looming, that can be like wind and can be like
hail and can be like thunderstorms, all the stuff that could take our focus. What an honor and a
privilege it is to get to be in a space where all I have to do is look out my window or walk through
campus or watch crazy teenagers run around in costumes to be reminded that there is something
so much bigger and more powerful and more true and more noble and more good and more excellent
and more worthy of praise happening all around me because I'm part of a community that gets the
opportunity to remind each other of these things that God says, think on these things. So it may
just be me, but if you're in a space this morning where something has been looming or growing or
you're watching a set of circumstances and you're worrying and you're wondering, and maybe you're
trying to anxious plan. I hope that as you're in this space with these amazing people who are being
led by Christ, who are, who are being led by Christ in the spaces that he's given us an opportunity
to serve and grow with people. I hope that you are encouraged. I hope that you are built up and I hope
that you are reminded of all the good and all the powerful and all the wonderful, wonderful things
that happen, not because we're wonderful, although, I mean, you are, but because God is amazing and
kind and generous, and he is more powerful than any one of those sets of circumstances that seems
looming on the horizon right now. So I'm going to pray, and then we'll be done. Father God, I just
thank you for this group of people. I thank you for this place. I thank you for the hearts of the
people gathered here today. God, I thank you for the space that's created for you in our conversations
and in our work, in the plans that we make, and in the things that we don't plan, where you just show
up and do amazing things that are bigger than we can ask or imagine. God, today we thank you for
your peace that guards our hearts and our minds. We pray that you always draw us back to you.
God, we want to live out of a place of your peace and be guided by your goodness. It's in your son's
name we pray. Amen. Thanks for listening to LCU's podcast. For more content like this, go to lcu.edu.