Do you ever feel helpless?  Do ever feel so overwhelmed with a project or problem in front of you that you have no idea where to begin?  Do you ever feel like the situation is just too big, and that your small meager effort will make no difference at all?  Do you hear or see the news about another act of senseless tragedy and feel like there is no hope?

Like many, I have been deeply saddened this week by yet another school shooting in which too many young people lost their lives.  It saddens me because honestly I fear becoming numb to school violence.  It has become way too common place in our world today.  It saddens me because as a parent I cannot even image how you cope and move on from a tragedy like this.  It saddens me because more than likely some of the students didn’t know God and will now spend eternity without Him.  It saddens me because as a leader in student ministry I need to talk to students that I deeply care about, once again about how short and uncertain life is.  It saddens me that this young man was never taught about the love of God and that killing people is not a solution to anything.  And it saddens me that this is the culture and society we live in and that every day hundreds of students I know have to go to school with this reality in their lives.  And it scares me that my own children (one as an education major and the other as a nursing student) might one day come face to face with this kind of violence and tragedy in their lives and jobs.

The reality is that we live in a sinful and fallen world.  Romans 3:23 reminds us that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  Not some of us, but all.  As followers of Christ, we are called to be different, to be set apart.  1 Peter 1:15-16 says “but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, ¹⁶ since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”  With that calling to be set apart comes a choice.  Every single day we wake up with a choice.  We can either live for God or live for ourselves.  We can either share God’s love with others or keep it to ourselves.  We can either do something or simply try to put it out of our minds because it’s too painful, or just seems too big. Don’t get me wrong here, when bad stuff this happens it is okay to be sad or angry or frustrated and discouraged.  But it is so easy to get stuck there and do nothing but complain about our world and the things we can’t control.  I believe we are called to do something!  None of us can solve the problem of school violence ourselves, but guys we serve a BIG God, who can.  And while, he doesn’t need our help, he invites us to join Him.  I’m even going to go so far as to say he calls each and every one of us to join Him.  Matthew 28:19 even says it “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”  Note the action words here: go, make, baptize.  He didn’t say talk about it, but go and do it.

We each have to ask ourselves- what are we going to do today, this week, this month?  It doesn’t have to be big.  Small things matter.  Take your child out for ice cream or coffee and have an honest conversation about this stuff and how they feel about it.  Go ahead and take a risk and invite that co-worker to church with you this weekend.  Put down your phone or other device and fully engage with what is going on around you.  Regardless of which church you attend I can almost guarantee that the children’s and student ministries not only need help but would love to talk to you about you can get engaged in helping out.  Again it doesn’t have to be a big thing, little things like just showing up and being available matter more than you realize.  You don’t have to know all the details and understand the entire plan or even solve the problem. We do have to do something however,  Take a look at what Mark 10:45 says “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”  Jesus came to serve so should we.

Some of us know what we should be doing and have been avoiding it for one reason or another.  I find myself in this category.  Sitting down to write this blog post may not seem like that big of thing for some of you, but for me it is something that I have been avoiding for a while now.  You see I cannot deny that God is calling me to write and share what I write with others.  Being a writer was never something I aspired to become.  In fact for most of my life I have done my best to avoid both reading and writing.  It was not something that I enjoyed or did well.  But over the past few years, that desire has been placed in my heart.  There are very few days that go by without me jotting down a note of something I want to write about and share.  But I have allowed day after day to go by without going any farther that the making of that note.  I have been stuck in the bigness of what I feel I am being called to do.  Earlier this week a friend of mine said something that has stuck with me and has motivated me to sit down and write today. She wasn’t even talking to me directly, but a group of students and she asked them “What are you waiting for?” It didn’t even really hit me until the next day when I was having my quiet time and was reminded that walking with God requires action on our part.  We have to actually do something. You see that is the way God works, my friend had no idea that God would use her words to challenge me and get me moving again, she was simply being faithful to share what God put on her heart with a group full of high school students. Who knows how God will work through your faithfulness.  But don’t you want to find out?

You have a choice to make today, are you going to do something or not.  The question really is for all of us -What are you waiting for?