The Issue of Trust

I just wanted to open up by kind of doctor to see you guys to who I am where I'm from all that good stuff. My name is Carson we How far do I go back in the story? How much do you guys want to know? Everything I was born in 1987. Who's the Revenant 2019 that's that's about it. My wife akhil and I are from the Met in Springfield, Oregon about 2 years ago. And we moved here last August and I'm a teacher a 7th grade social studies teacher at the great Crook County Middle School in Prineville, Oregon go Colts. And before I was a middle school teacher, I was a restaurant manager before that. I was a youth pastor for a few years and so was Brett asked me to come and teach what I thought about was what is like the most convicting verse in my life what I really want to explore In this passage to has ever since been impactful to me until I arrived at the Book of Proverbs. So if you would take your Bible turn to Proverbs chapter 3 we're going to be in verse 5.

My read the passage of Amanda for a little bit and we'll get to it.

Proverbs chapter 3 verse 5 says trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make straight your paths for 7 be not wise in your own eyes fear the lord and turn away from Evil and will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones. Let's pray. Jesus we come before you this morning Lord and fully in the knowledge that our cultural moment where we exist right now is unique Lord. But it's not outside of your control.

Or we become to this morning as a people who are prone to distrust and not just disc trust the pros and Trust in ourselves to try to make sense of situations that we have little to no control of in God. We pray this morning that you would instill in us a great faith a great trust in who you are. You would remind us of how good you are. Healthy baby where you are Jesus and that you would speak this morning use my voice on mines Lord to bring glory to your name is used. Maybe pray. Amen. Amen. Sell Tomatoes Carson moved here last year at my wife Kayla's in the back there. She has a ten-month-old son named Ali who is kind of loud still here. I'm kind of screeching in the service. So he's back there doing his thing. We have a Centipede 3 year old son Leon's down the kids ministry and I had a bit of a moment a few Sundays ago where Leon just moved up to the big kids class like to move from the nursery or like this kid is Biggs to keep wasps move on to that the next ice age group. I had this kind of mower. I was like letting him go into the kids miss you and I was just like he doesn't like me anymore. The car seat is this moment like oh my gosh, like I am letting my kid grow up and let him do his thing with the first kid. Just kind of like, oh my gosh. What is this whole thing? What is parenting? How does it work? It's just a huge interesting situation the second quarter, like well, whatever figure it out later this moment. I was like growing up and it was weird and I think about how little control I have over him and his choices that he will make down the road and if you're apparently sure you can understand that layer. You can kind of control and help your kids along the way they're going to make choices for themselves. They're outside of your control. I've never been an anxious person there been a worrier person. Why do you have parents that all changed? Could you have this thing? That's somehow I arrived you're like I'm responsible for this child. And I've got to make decisions to help him grow up to make the right choices. But ultimately he's going to make his own choices. And that stuff right surrendering control of the thing you love and care for the most in a world that is going to teach him things. And that's really hard.

But it's not the first time that I've struggled with this idea of trust and having a greater picture of who God is in the midst of what we're going on. Now, if if you are aware all the cultural time that we are in you know that we don't have a whole lot of control. You know that life is up and down and left and right in sideways and confusing. So what do we do? When we arrive at a pass is like this where God tells us. He said listen, you need to trust me with all your heart. You need to not lean on your own understanding. If you're not just convicted or just kind of like Journey with that initial reading of the passage man, that's off the bat on the surface. That's hard to understand. Jesus welcomes us into the reality of if we are people who truly understand who he is and his nature that we understand that what we think is rational and normal to can control really is completely outside of our grasp and I thought about this. I pondered it and I realized that different times in my life this verse as show me different things.

the words haven't changed but the significance of them has when I was younger and in my early twenties I took this first to meet that guy was telling me to do something. I did not want to do you read this verse in the surface. You see trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. You come to this reality like, okay. So I trust in God you guys are going to take away that thing I care about the most recent tell me like move to Africa between right and the trust in God down to one big moment in my life. He was calling me to make some drastic catastrophic change to my reality. That was when I was younger, you know, when you're younger you offer a pretty much solely on a motion if we're being honest, if you've ever tried till I crash and have a rational conversation with your child under the moment of Crisis, which is usually like for my son Leon. It's when my ten-month-old Ali rolls over and just snatches his book from him. That's a moment of Crisis for my son. It's a real thing or right he loves to read and all it takes is Buc-ee's like this is not my reality. This is not fair. They trying to ration with him and he's like no idea what you're talking about. You read like The Book of Love and logic back and forth with your kid, and then they're going to like go.

Okay, that makes total sense.

And I'm guessing that you try to do that. It hasn't really panned out the way you saw if you've raised a middle schooler. Or a teenager and there in a moment of Crisis, which is be honest is usually a break up and my right that's usually the moment of Crisis right try to talk him through that. Hey, listen, there's plenty more people out there. You're going to be fine. Just keep doing what you're doing. Everything is going to be great at work. They're like right now emotions are LED solely by your emotions. And so you're kind of going up and down and the reality of it is as human beings are brain develops at this rate of winter younger. You don't have the regulation on your Part of your brain that controls your emotions your hippocampus. It's always firing when you're younger and you're offering this emotion state constitution as you grow up and if you're a guy I like 25 you listening. All right, that doesn't make any sense operating does a part of your brain that develops as a front the prefrontal cortex, which regulates your hippocampus and says, hey emotion, you're feeling not only logical right now. We need to kind of piece this together this truth. So I should grow up you realize oh my gosh all this emotion. I've been feeling It just kind of unbridled. I need a rain this back together. You can start to embrace logic and Truth to guy what you're saying though. I do I say that's like this is not a like a psychology classes is church. So what does this all mean?

part of being young Is enjoying that time to be kind of impulsive to be emotional to learn that? Legend older it's hard to trust her to realize there's a logical conclusions to your actions. So we see this idea of trust in the Lord with all your heart when I was younger. I embrace this emotional part of it this gut check feeling of okay. God is calling you to make this big decision.

But as I grew up when I got older I started really said trust was not just these few and far between big choices moments that she made to move somewhere to take on a new job to marry or not. Marry someone. What is actually a daily choice to live out Jesus's identity for me on a daily basis?

So where in the Book of Proverbs and if you know anything about the Proverbs or you've heard the word problems before you know that Proverbs are just kind of like short wise sayings that Express at universal truth and the Book of Proverbs the first 10 chapters the author of these first 10 chapters Psalm is running to the younger generation you saying Hey, listen, I want to give you advice about how you're supposed to live in the reality of your existence. What does it mean to be wise and he chooses this word for wisdom, which of the Hebrew we're going to try to say correctly, but I just listen to it on the internet so it could be wrong is Hulk Ma. There's no way that's correct. That's fine.

There's any keepers cars out there afterwards. Tell me what how you actually say it but this is no lie in her is the wisdom in the sense that someone as skilled as a craftsperson sailor singer. I'm in counselor Etc. They're skilled intellectually and experiential if they're skilled in life. So this word of wisdom is not like all this person is incredibly wise when you sit down with him to just very call me a very like Dalai Lama's denish and they're just kind of like, yes, but the world is bigger. That you're small concerns near like, oh my gosh wisdom you like raking sand got it wisdom. So Justin and life wisdom is. It's about being skilled in life. It's about saying this is someone who has both experience life and intellectually understands how to do something. So if you were going to start a business, you wouldn't go to the guy or gal who just graduated from business once a Halo. I do my business because they have an intellectual knowledge. They don't have an experiential knowledge. You know the person to run a successful business for 30 years and ask them how they did it. That's what it means to be a wise person is that life experience combined with its intellectual understanding?

So that's the worst Pokemon and Proverbs is meant to help instill truth in a younger generation. I don't have a cool technology piece like an iPad or a laptop anymore to write my stuff in the journal in red pen. That's all I could find. So if I get lost this is probably why.

So this idea of wisdom? It means that someone is good at life.

And one of the truths he gives this younger generation is this idea of trust now trust gosh. It's a moving Target.

It feels like it's something that our culture doesn't jive with anymore. If you feel like trust is kind of pushed to the margins of society. You're not alone. Statistically speaking right now. We are at the lowest point of trust in each other in the last 40 years. according to one Pew research survey Americans are 70% 75% of people are less trustworthy than they were 30 years ago. And how they Define trust is reliability. They say people are less reliable than they were in the past. Already received there's this relational disconnect in the idea. Trust. We're not good at trusting other people. Now let's expand this out to the world. There was a survey conducted last year by the elementary with a non-profit business research firm who looked in the saying what do people believe about trust when it comes to businesses. And what they found was Earth's four main organizations that we have trust in aside from people non-governmental agencies businesses the government and the media.

As I said in my last four reason a guy. So and they created this kind of like Squadron if you were a mass start all you know, there's a Quadra there's an x-axis and y-axis and they said okay, we're going to measure your trust in a company based on ethical behavior and competency ks6 means your ability to do the right thing your ability to be honest.

And then we have this confidence in your ability to do what you say you're going to do are you functioning healthy money making business. Are you a healthy nonprofit that kind of stuff so they create the Squadron and they stayed over here is a pupa in the companies that are ethical and confidence while running a business and they're doing the right thing over here is companies that are less confident, but very ethical they're not leaving any good job, but they've got really high standards and down here. We have things that are not confident and not ethical. And over here, we have things that are confident but not ethical. Now I'm not going to do you already know which category two of those things fall into? All right, and spoiler alert. There was no organization. That was both competent and ethical.

Not a too many people to ask worldwide. None of us for organizations. I mentioned we're confident and ethical.

There's only one that was ethically but not confident but was ethical and that was nongovernmental organizations things like charity water organizations like that. They're doing kind of humanitarian work throughout the world. Businesses were seen as competent but not ethical.

And then our two friends the government and media were seen as both not confident and not at the Gulf.

I'll let that sit for just a little bit.

I guess you probably could have figured that out. If I put the graph on the 40 wouldn't like where this is fall.

So we find ourselves and it's interesting Paradigm linear. Like what about the church where does the church founded this idea is secular perspective of faith-based things is totally like Jesus kind of judging the perspective of things. When it comes to the church with signs of clergy, which are people that are leaders in the church. how to highest point of trust in 1985 2 years before I was born so it's how old am I?

and then are the early 2000s plummeted? Phil began to trust religious leaders clergy specifically less

and so they found was you survey people you said, how do how long do you think you how did well do you trust these different organizations? The highest most trustworthy profession was nurses by a large margin? 75% of people said they trusted nurses hitrust. and a bottom which is like 13% trust was Congress so not to get political.

About to say some political political but so then is somewhere in the middle.

Just above contractors.

and just below Funeral Directors

So sorry Brett, I guess I don't really know what to do with you here man. You're not as trustworthy as a funeral director, but you are more trustworthy than a contractor. So that's good. So we arrived with the situation where we were eroded trust and a 75% of Americans believe that the person across is not as trustworthy as they think they are. Okay. What's the big deal? Why relationships mirror our relationship with God? That's just the truth. You don't trust people your default is not to trust God because our experiential knowledge always seen the tangible reality. It's not trust that. Teenage we're key terms in our society are like terms like fake news and misinformation trust is not getting any better if I should continue to drop off. As time goes on and right now in our society. We are at the lowest point of interpersonal trust ever.

There's a lot of factors for that.

But another factor that exist in this is trauma. If you've experienced trauma, you are less likely statistically to trust somebody else. In my life curly I and my time before I was a restaurant manager. I was a youth pastor for four years at a church in Eugene. And I poured my life into this church. We did nothing else. We work like 60 hour weeks my schedule on Sunday morning is as a youth pastor College pastor and children's Pastor. So you get this already a problem here was arrive at 6:30 unpacked is unnecessarily heavy sound equipment with no like dolly or truck or anything. You just took a speaker who threw it up on your shoulder and carry it in your like it's okay. I'm 20. I'll get surgery on my back later. Okay, you move on and just drink your Dutch Bros. You just power through, okay. And I arrive at 6:30. And then at night I would go home at 10 on Sunday, but it's okay because the next day I got half the day off.

Which was nice. And I poured so much energy and life in this church and then six years later. It went through this massive falling out because it's true. It's my reality and so is a result. I just trusted people in authority and Leadership. I didn't trust them very much then I'll experience. This is someone who I worked really hard with and I felt like going to let me down. That's a reality. It's so it is we place our trust in things that aren't God. and so it is we place our trust in things that aren't mint to be trusted

not meant to give us that hope so trauma effects that when sociologists recently said it because we're living in a time of collective trauma to varying degrees in the midst of the covid-19 era. We are experiencing a collective trauma to different degrees. Depending on how close in proximity you are to this.

What's happened is? in different types of trauma people would come together. To work out issues to talk through things. And now the people do is push farther away.

Bush people's father to the margins weather in your personal items that you know, I just can't trust him moving that away from that. I'm pushing myself away from that. This is the reality of a time of trauma and a culture that their trust is already so fragile, I push people out. More than we would come together. And it's a unique situation. But certainly within trust we have to accept the fact that trauma and hurts our reality. It's hard to trust people when all you've experienced is wounds from them. How many people prefer not to say I just had a kind of a kind of joke about that kind of go away. I have trust issues. That's a reality for people. You've gone through a hurtful time and your family and your job you believe that someone was something that they were not and they let you down and so now trust is already a fragile thing. And now it's just blowing up in your life. You don't trust anybody my wife and I we were in Eugene we did Young Life was students that experienced trauma on a daily basis unstable home lives difficult is not dead. He just took for them to arrive at school and go to school was a miracle that he even got out of bed. There were kids in our school that their parents would see the school bus going by in the fallen. So it's School get out the door and go to school. They had no idea what was going on their kids life. The school bus rolled up and they booted him out the door. It's all right, go to school. Didn't know what day it was or what month it was. That kid is going to struggle. He's got going to have a whole lot of trust your pee when the people are supposed to take care of him aren't taking care of him. So now we're in this place where someone needs trust and what we can't do as a normal Young Life thing. I didn't you guys have been familiar with young life for your life. What you do is your college student you roll up you or find your exciting you put on lazy dance around you sing and the kids coming over Jesus somehow, it's toil Holy Spirit know how it works. You give your talk and you like Show YouTube video that's funny of a guy like skateboarding and falling and they're like, all right, and Jesus is real. Goodbye.

I'm serious. I'm not joking about this. Divinity are getting ceiling light. Please keep getting.

Reality of this is not the 10th work or we're at because if someone deleted their kids life for two years and it said now I've graduate from college. I got to go move to do a job. I'll see you later. To take a killer already has issues a trust. I was going to trust an individual with his life for her life for two years that a person is split when they graduate from college. You can see her like an issue now works most the time. But the reality of it is my wife and I knew and I knew and she knew way better than I did it because she was amazing and she has worked with kids that are from impacted backgrounds for a lot of her life. You had to earn that trust. You had to keep showing up didn't matter like. Didn't matter what you said you were going to do yard actually do it. Cuz trust was so broken and so was with teachers new schools. You have to actually show up every single day and love them and love them. I love them. I love them even though they didn't reciprocate that because they didn't trust you and I knew you were going to stick around. So this is the status of trust in trauma by trauma creates a barrier.

If you lost a loved one. Are your kids have gone sideways? You have to look at 11 to learn. I do wrong and God. Why are you doing this to me? I feel like I was faithful to you. Like I did everything that was asked to do and now this is the result that I have that creates a barrier to trust. It's predicated on what our own action. I did this I did this I did this there for the outcome should be this.

The question I would ask us a really trust in God. We trusting ourselves.

We live in a culture that right now deeply desires to build Utopia. They want to build the perfect Society. We often talked with a Sadie about the kingdom of God. We said man people want to build the kingdom without the key. We're having trouble trusting Jesus and as a result, they want to build a kingdom on their own achievement. And their own ideas and we're not any different from that has the church. I feel like at times the church struggles at this idea. If you want to build utility want to build a perfect Society, but you need only to look at the 1970s cult movie real life. Human beings can't build Utopia can't do it why simple?

Young Life camp out in Antelope, Oregon and you know this if you're an organ is story of the before it was Washington and Ranch it was Rodney from Or I can see wild wild country, you know, okay, they wanted to and I'll tell you this. They wanted to build the perfect Society self-sustaining. Everybody loves one. Another buddy comes together to help one. Another is no money. There's no none of that stuff. It's just people living and existing and serving one another. How quickly in a row because behind this guy's was actually greed and Cinda drove the whole thing. If you were so let down by that but it wasn't the only story of that in the seventies during a hyper spiritual woman people built up these utility to size we can do it. We can meet next Farm stuff and then will only eat vegetables will grow our own stuff and we'll have cows and stuff to be great. But have any money till just love each other. The work guy about to poop you that idea, but we can't do that. We're not capable of

right now if you'll just over trying to do that. You look in a broken Society. We don't trust. I always think is if I can change my exterior reality. And things will come together.

But doesn't work. Text history is marked by movements that try to do this but didn't weren't able to give it what it want it now great. I'll talk for a long time with sexy talk about this Bible verse.

We come to this passage of scripture that is just on the surface and of itself convicting trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Now this idea of trust. Is Hebrew word for trust? I'm displeased confidence so you can have confidence in which I think is like an obvious definition. But what if this definition fit a little bit more? Trust Is abandonment to the Divine mind?

It's rust is you taking your situation and surrendering it over to God's will in your life.

One of the biggest struggles of had in my life and I've asked myself this many many times. Maybe you have to assess idea of what is God's will for me. What does God want for me? And this verse when you read it can make you feel as though God's will is somehow like this moving Target its fluid it goes from side to side. I don't know what God's will is for me. But what if the abandonment to the Divine mind is the will of God? You say my mind surrender to his mind is the will for my life. Tim Keller says a trusting or trust is accepting my God send them to your life whether you understand it or not. It's a feeling of Safety and Security. A confidence that is felt when you can rely on something. So it says trust in the Lord with all your heart and that word heart means the center the seat of your intellect and your emotions. I want to try I want you to trust me with your mind with your logic and with your feelings of your emotions. Now generally speaking. We as individuals kind of fall on one side of a spectrum. I don't know if I gave written this task. Yes, bring big round of applause for brand give around and flies.

I said he can you create a little Spectrum. He was like, I don't know when he did. All right. So we have this spectrum that we live on emotion and logic. Any kind of all naturally gravitate towards one side logic is like the pragmatist. Okay A plus b equals c this makes sense. I'm going to do it. The emotional person is the person that uses life is kind of like a big adventure. Give me more type B. Maybe a little bit more disorganized. We're going to have a lot of fun in life. That's kind of the point right there impulsive so like teenagers probably exist.

So emotion is this feeling bass thing. Metalogic is the part of our mind that says this is the inevitable outcome than this is the mathematical conclusion to get there. Now. Here's the goal in life is that we arrive somewhere in the middle of this. we tried to balance out our emotion with our logically understand the truth of who God is and it regulates how we feel but God is a feeling God. He gave you feelings and emotions are not bad things just to make sure everybody knows that and is aware of that. He also gave you your mind and gave you a logic to piece things together and learn things over time. That's part of your designed to function naturally kind of steer one way or the other. My wife is a pragmatist. She is a logical thinker and I am emotional. I musician there's no surprise in that and so no offense Michael emotion. It so I kind of go. I kind of look I'm a question. I'm a skeptic. What is the true meaning of that was that really mean?

Lincolnshire But what is it means this like no.

I live in a fantasy world awesome. So When we first read this passage, the audio trust is Lauren hits being an emotional spot. What does God claim to do? Like why my heart my mind I think about it's got to move or change my job or go somewhere or do this sort of thing for that gut feeling. When I was younger, I just Embrace that is a reality got them, do something crazy. What's it going to be? The province's ghost wrestler with all your heart just logical God's really address. Therefore. I trust that I have confidence in that. The Balancing Act comes from this it's both

Sneaky Snake it. Yes, it's full. To trust in the Lord is not just to go hear these big life choices and decisions that you have to make. Because God is calling you somewhere or trying to do something or change your job or sell this thing or move to a new city that God does do that need to follow that but God also tells you every single day to wake up in the morning and trust him. Right, it's not just these big things. I have a one every once in awhile. I said everyday decision to get up and choose his way over your own way. hard and it feels like it's moving farther and farther away from that idea.

CS Lewis

said it best. See if they got that nice.

This is an idea about how the World Views trial stages of old said you learned how to conform result of the world's reality through wisdom today. We want to conform a real eats her own wishes through technique. I just meditate something. I'll drink calming tea and I'll eat kale. Nobody's eating kale here anyway.

Andrew that you'll understand

CS Lewis says this in the old way to look at history, man. I need wisdom in my life. I need truth to govern my trust.

He also says this. trusting in God pass to begin all over again every day. As if nothing has been done before.

He also says life with God. Is not immunity from difficulties, but peace in our difficulties.

If you continue to read on through this this person Proverbs who finally says you're not supposed to lean on our own understanding. This is the idea of looking towards technique to gain consciousness. Doesn't work or understanding is flawed. And based upon our experiences. Doesn't want you trust me. I don't want you to lean on yourself. Nice is December 6th. All your ways acknowledge Him recognizing knowi'm have an intimate knowledge of who God is and he will make straight your paths. I struggle with this last section so much because it felt like I was being said was if you trust God everything's going to work out. But if you're a human being you understand that that's not the reality of your existence. Now here's a deal with Proverbs. If you live in a wise way if you trust God are things going to pan out a little bit easier potentially. Okay, if you are a good Steward of your finances when you faced a difficult Financial moment. Yes, you're going to be okay, then somebody else you had them is more of their finances, but that doesn't mean nothing is ever going to go wrong. You can't fall into that trap. But what if God making your your path straight?

Implies of right now. We are striving to create a straight path a flat path and easy path, but God says I'm not going to tell you the end game. Find me to carry you through this pass. Doesn't even arrived at the end goal over you wanted to be but it does send it along the way I'm going to provide guidance for you in this life is going to smooth your pad. Just a quick example this one day when I was in Eugene. It's snowing like a foot of snow in you did like heavy wet snow since I was like, well, I really want to go for a jog, but it's knowing I got my son a thing called a BOB stroller took off. I think I'm just going to run and Eugene. They don't plow the snow. So just like in the road and so I'm pushing I'm striving and I'm pushing him, but it was a miserable experience. Because I was trying to forge my own path through it.

But that's not what I was designed to do. A bomb is designed to roll on a flat surface.

So so are we if we accept the fact that we're supposed to somehow create a straight path for a cell's life isn't always going to pan out and easy way, but rest in God means you trust him to carry you through that providing understanding at the end. One quick example of this and then we'll close.

If you're somebody who believes that trusting in Jesus will always yield the joyous. simple result you need to see the example of Jesus.

You know the story of Jesus at the end of his ministry. He arrives at a garden. Knowing that he is headed towards the cross. Not just the most gruesome way to die. But also the most humiliating way to die. Keep in mind you this was perfect. Didn't have our fly to do a trust that we do.

He says this in the garden he's with his friends.

This is Jesus Went to went with them to a place called Gethsemane Jesus and his disciples sit here while I go over there and pray. And talking with him. The two sons of Zebedee. He began to be sorrowful and troubled. When he said to them, my soul is very sorrowful even to death remain here and watch with me and go a little farther you fell on his face and praising my father if it is possible. Let this cup pass from me nevertheless. Not as I will but as you will to cut their is the wrath of God. He says never last one as I will but as you will and it came disciples and found him sleeping. He's in a time of turmoil and his friends are there, but they're asleep.

Just so you could not watch with me one hour watch and pray that you may not into temptation the spirit indeed as well, but the flesh is weak again for a second time and went and wait and pray my father. If this cannot pass until I drink it your will be done.

So make no mistake a bad example to do the steps for us is not that life is going to be easy, but it's going to the smooth clean EZ Pass at this end game play promises. Is that he will guide you through it? That's the truth of who he is if you don't make sense of your path.

Ngss example strictly says that he was not in a place where he was like, well, I'm going to cross and you just kind of Skips along halfway and go so that direction in turmoil. He's in worry. He knows the impending situation of his life and reality and he says listen God if it's so be it. There's another path provide that but not as I will but as you will be done.

So wherever you're at in your life. I would encourage you to consider the worst of proverbs. That'd be somebody was wise of someone who puts their full trust or pulled their full confident. They're full of surance in Jesus. If you're walking through a trial. If you're walking through a trauma. There's no promise other side of that. There's going to be clarity. There's no promise not to do that. It's going to be What you want?

I appreciate that. I was going to give us that promise. Do the dress really is going to work out? Does trust mean you'll have purpose? Trust me, you will have hope. Trust me, and you'll be carried through on a straight path with me. I hope that that verse encouraging to you. my wife and I airtime in Springfield Lake came to a close. I have thought that I was going to get this teaching position at the school. I've been working at the interview. And I feel like I did a pretty good job and to be fair the principal called me back and said listen to get the job to somebody else. So I just graduated from school. I invested 40 Grand and becoming a teacher and I was mad. We got everything right here. I can do what you ask me to do. This is what's supposed to happen and I was frustrated and I was angry and I kicked the trash can in my garage. I was upset that we know you're really mad.

but the next week I had an interview with the principal at Crook County Middle School. I was like man, this is it.

Not Africa, but it's close to me.

I mean I never would have thought that this is where my wife and I would have ended up we were we were going to be in Springfield or going to work there. We're going to work at the school. You're going to miss these kids.

It didn't happen if the job felt like I was hitting us over your house if you have any other job opportunities, so it's kind of was the inevitable conclusion. but also just a week before we left. I got a phone call from middle school that applied for a job for anything you said? Hey, we have a 7th grade social studies position would love for you to come work. And I said no. But I feel like God has called us to be in Central, Oregon and that's where we're headed. if you ask me that 10 years ago women like

Ankeny cool coffee shops in Prineville so much. It's going to end up.

We love it and we've been really thankful and part of us realize we came here with I got huge plan for us that was to surround us with an absolutely amazing community of friends and family of people that are walking through a similar stage of life that were in who never chosen that as are you really okay with wide receiver to move to revenue be a part of an amazing church and final a great friends and Philip really great Community, but that's where God let us know. You're fortunate that doesn't mean that he was certain. Was confusing frustrating angry. I was like to understand. That's the story of something where I worked out really well, but I've equal size of places, but I didn't work out. My mom passed away two years ago from cancer. And in that moment. I was like, this is not the outcome that I want. I miss us a trial. So what does it mean to trust in God through this? I don't know. Do you change anything I can affect you can't do anything?

the guy brings clarity God gives hope Got it still smells the logic that this world is temporary.

And that carries us through those moments where life's uncertain. Jesus thank you so much for this morning.

We are blessed to be your people.

We are blessed to know that your way is higher than our way.

You're blessed to know that in the midst of collective issues and Collective trauma. We can find Hope in Who You Are.

I'm making find truth in you.

Can we pray that you will be people of trust we know that people will let us down and know that institutions will let us down. We know you are above all of that.

Did your ways are true? And who you are is worthy of our trust.

Southern paper anybody here in this room who is going through a time of this uncertainty maybe at the loss of a job and maybe at the loss of a loved one. Maybe it's a collective her to be its pain and suffering from a previous decision or Choice. Got a pretty good bring Comfort there. I put you to bring truth there. I bet you would bring a path that is smooth by having clarified or understanding for hope

We pray for those that reached the end of a trial or but are still so confused as to why you did what you did.

We pray for comfort.

You pay for the truth or reality of who you are to be so evident in the life of that individual.

Build us back to be able to trust. Help us to understand the goodness of who you are and walk in the reality. R-Truth and your trust have confidence in you in Jesus name we pray. Amen.