By Pierce Drake, Pastor of Students

This has been a week, hasn’t it?

I have talked to many of our students around how this week has felt. We are tired. We long not simply to be on FaceTime with our friends, but just to be with our friends. In the same room, around the same table, or even in the same front yard together would be great.

Some of us still go to school online everyday for almost 7 hours. Some of us barely have any contact with our teachers right now. We got the news this week that schools will not be going back this year. For all of us, but especially our seniors, there is deep grief about this new reality. Even if we all had the worse case of senioritis back in February…this is not what we had in mind for how we would finish.

We are in this new series with Pastor Jacob called, Blessing. That may sound like a strange thing to talk about in this new reality right now. We've seen our school year go away. Our sports season ripped away. Our clubs and plays taken away. Our friends, family, and maybe even the adults in our own homes lose their jobs. All of this stress, worry, and anxiety doesn’t just pass over you because you’re in middle and high school. You carry this weight just like the rest of our community.

And in the midst of this we are going to talk about Blessing?

Exactly!

The series is based around the words spoken by Jesus in what’s called the Sermon on the Mount. What Jesus calls "blessed" in this sermon would commonly be thought of as being opposite, upside down, or strange. Pastor Jacob did an incredible job on Sunday breaking down for us the meaning of Blessing, how we get it mixed up in our southern vernacular, and what Jesus meant by those words. If you haven’t watched the sermon you can find it on our website or YouTube page.

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus says, blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, those who hunger, and those who are thirsty.

How is this so???

Jesus teaches us that we are blessed in the times that we are in desperate need of Him.

I don’t know about you, but this is a time I am in desperate need of Jesus.

Despite all that we are carrying right now, we can be grateful that even in this hard time we are blessed because we have a God who is close to us in these moments.

It doesn’t take away what we are going through, but it does change our posture and perspective as we walk through it, knowing that God is right here with us, guiding, loving, and empowering us.

You are blessed. Yes! Especially in this time.

Blessing isn't a situation, it's a person . . . and that person, Jesus, is with you now.