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Referencing this year’s school theme, “Called Higher: Leaving Lo-Debar Behind,” I find myself wondering what keeps us in a metaphorical Lo-Debar in our lives. Let me explain.

In 2 Samuel, we read about David and Jonathan’s covenant relationship. As best friends, they promised to care for each other’s families. When his father Jonathan died in battle, Mephibosheth was hidden and eventually landed in Lo-Debar, a word interpreted as: no pasture; no word or communication; nothingness (Logan, 1991).  Perhaps he stayed hidden because of his physical disability. Maybe he was afraid because typically, the new king would kill the descendants of the former king. Maybe he’d settled into life with his wife and family in Lo-Debar, the place he’d been perhaps since he was a young boy, and did not want to face the unknown. 

Regardless of his reasons, Mephibosheth stayed in Lo-Debar for seemingly many years, from childhood until he was old enough to have children of his own. It was not until summoned by King David himself that Mephibosheth left Lo-Debar. 

As I interpret the story, Mephibosheth felt unworthy to be in the company of the king. He said, “What is your servant that you should notice a dead dog like me?” (2 Sam. 9:8, NIV). But David felt otherwise. He remembered his covenant with Jonathan and proclaimed that Mephibosheth should eat at the king’s table for the rest of his life. David gave Mephibosheth the land belonging to his late grandfather, Saul, as well as servants to work the land for him. 

What a difference!  From a place often interpreted as a land of barrenness and nothingness (Lo-Debar) to the king’s table, with productive land and servants to work it. Wow! And this change is what God has in store for those who believe in Him and call upon the name of the Lord. I don’t mean this in a “prosperity gospel” kind of way. I mean it in a spiritual way!

Believers in Christ were once metaphorical “dead dogs” like Mephibosheth. Ephesians 2:4-5 says, “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ, even when we were dead in transgressions–it is by grace you have been saved.”  Christ, the King of Kings, called us out of our nothingness and transformed us from the “dead dog” state to the status of “Child of the King.”  The Bible says, “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs…” (Romans 8:16-17, NIV). As children of God, we, like Mephibosheth, can eat at the king’s table forever, despite our limitations and disabilities (we’ll talk about those in the next blog). 

So what’s keeping us in Lo-Debar? Is it fear? Are we too comfortable where we are? Maybe it’s anxiety, depression, addiction, or any number of hindrances. Whatever it is, God is bigger! The King of kings and Lord of lords has power and authority over everything keeping us hidden in a state of nothingness and despair. Will you call upon King Jesus today?  Will you sit at His table? 
 

References
Logan, P. (1991). Lo-Debar. In T. C. Butler (Ed.), Holman Bible dictionary. Holman Bible    
Publishers.
The Holy Bible, New International Version. (2011). Zondervan. (Original work published 1978)
 

Lessons Learned from Middle Schoolers
By Dr. Kerri Miner, Head of School

Any parent or teacher will tell you that middle schoolers are simultaneously difficult and wonderful. I experienced this firsthand not only when my own four children were middle school-aged, but also when I taught sixth grade at CCAC.
One class was particularly cranky one day and seemed to grumble and complain about every activity. Finally, I’d had enough. I said to the students, “Look, kids. I work hard to try to make learning fun for you all. But I get paid the same if I just make you read the textbook and take notes all day. Which would you prefer?”
The most notable response was from a student who said, “Wait, you get PAID?”
I was taken aback. Of course educators get paid. Not much, but we get paid. The point was, there was no stipulation in my contract stating I had to work extra hours to make the activities fun and enjoyable for students. But that wasn’t the lesson they learned that day.
Isn’t it just like a middle schooler to assume a teacher is there as a volunteer, working with students out of the goodness of her heart, but for the middle schooler to grumble and complain anyway?
For that matter, doesn’t this sound an awful lot like all of us? We tend to forget that behind many of life’s greatest blessings is a person who is doing more than is required of him or her. The Bible addresses this type of attitude directly:
“Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation. Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky” (Philippians 2:14–15).
Grumbling is easy. Gratitude requires effort and intention.
That day in my classroom, I could have shifted to textbook reading and note-taking. But the real lesson wasn’t about instructional methods. It was about attitudes.
What if, instead of asking, “Why can’t this be easier?” or “Why can’t I have my way?” we began asking, “What can I find to be grateful for today?”
Middle schoolers often reveal something that holds true for the rest of us. Maybe that’s the gift in teaching them: not just shaping their hearts, but allowing the Lord to refine our own hearts through them.
When we trade grumbling for positivity, everything changes; not the circumstances, but the way we perceive them. After all, none of our circumstances compare to those of the blameless Jesus on the cross.
Facing the worst misery any of us could imagine, did He argue or complain? No. Instead, Jesus forgave and saved the thief next to him, asked God to forgive those who were tormenting Him, and affirmed His spirit was committed into God’s hands. What an example to follow.
I am very grateful for the years I got to teach middle schoolers. Those few years were a highlight of my career. I loved my students (and they sometimes loved me back). More than that, though, I learned a lot in those years about my own attitude and how I am perceived by others. I learned that grumbling and arguing reveal more about our own hearts than about our circumstances. Having a positive attitude, on the other hand, can reshape both.
 

A few years ago, when my husband and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary, we took a bucket-list trip to Eleuthera Island in the Bahamas. I have always had a love and fascination with turtles and tortoises but had never seen a live sea turtle in the wild. I prayed this would be my chance.

And sure enough, we were informed by neighbors of the VRBO home in which we stayed that there was a sea turtle living at the nearby reef. My husband and I decided to swim to the reef that afternoon. The Caribbean waters of the bay on which our VRBO was located were crystal clear and calm like a swimming pool. The water is very salty, making for easy swimming and snorkeling. Even though the reef was a few hundred yards away, near enough for us to swim there and back, we decided, at the last minute, to take kayaks instead.

As we kayaked to the reef, what should we stumble upon but the sea turtle we sought. I was amazed and excited. I was so excited, in fact, that I thought I would jump out of my kayak into the water to swim with the turtle, but the water was over 20 feet deep at that point, and I was unsure how I would get back into the kayak without the ability to stand on firm ground and steady the wobbly boat. So again, at the last minute, I decided staying in the kayak was a wiser decision.

Just then, still following the turtle, I almost ran the tip of my kayak into two large reef sharks! Their silvery-gray skin and pointed fins were very visible as they broke the surface of the water, clearly feeding on small fish around the reef.

I was terrified! Although they were reef sharks, which are reasonably safe compared to something like a great white shark, my heart was pounding. I yelled, “Sharks!” and began paddling backward. In my haste, the kayak became very wobbly, so I had to steady myself and the boat, or I would have tumbled into the deep, clear water in the midst of the feeding sharks.

Never in my life have I been so grateful for last-minute changes. If we had swum to the reef as we originally planned, I would have been face to face with the large sharks. If I had jumped out of the kayak as originally planned, I would have been face to face with the large sharks. The kayak was small and wobbly, but boy, was I glad it stood between the sharks and me.

That afternoon, I was reminded that even our smallest decisions can matter more than we realize. My husband and I had our plans: swimming to the reef, jumping in the water, snorkeling with a sea turtle. But, thanks be to God, the day unfolded differently. Decision by decision, moment by moment, those little changes may have protected us from a very different encounter.

Scripture reminds us, “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps” (Proverbs 16:9). Sometimes the Lord guides our lives not through dramatic interventions, but through what Scripture calls a “still small voice” (1 Kings 19:12): a quiet sense that perhaps we should take the kayak instead of swimming or stay in the boat instead of jumping into the calm water.

That day, God graciously allowed me to cross something off my bucket list. I finally saw a sea turtle in the wild, and it was as amazing as I’d imagined. But He also reminded me that even when we are chasing something beautiful, it is still wise to trust the Creator, who knows the waters ahead. In many ways, this is what we hope to teach our students at Christ Classical Academy of Charlotte. Life will take them into deep waters: places that are both scary and beautiful. Our prayer is that they learn to listen for the Lord’s guidance and trust that He is directing their steps (or their paddle strokes as the case may be) along the way. Because the Lord knows what lies ahead long before we do, and He can help us experience what is beautiful without swimming among the sharks.