|
Message From the Board of
Directors
For the past year, the United States economy has moved up and down the scale, affecting everyone. No one is immune from it and it has caused many families and businesses hardship. For the past year, CLEF has been sharing stories of our schools’ and students’ families’ difficulties weathering the storm of this year’s economic woes. We have also shared stories of thanks from families whose lives friends of CLEF have touched and the quotations from educators attesting to the importance of a Christ-centered education in these children’s lives. (Click here to read these families’ letters of thanks and teachers’ comments.)
At this point, you may feel overwhelmed in your personal situation and bombarded by charities’ urgent requests. I would like to encourage you with two thoughts that have been sustaining me. The first is a quotation from a source unknown to me, “There is tremendous happiness in making others happy, despite our own situations.” For the past few months, I have taken my focus off myself and have directed it to God and his church. I have found unquantifiable benefits in my mood and health because I have helped others. The second is another quotation that hit me unexpectedly. Last week, I saw the movie Evan Almighty. It’s amazing how truthful a comedy can be. Morgan Freeman plays God in the movie and simply states, “If someone prays for patience, you think God gives them patience? Or does he give them the opportunity to be patient? If he prayed for courage, does God give him courage, or does he give him opportunities to be courageous? If someone prayed for the family to be closer, do you think God zaps them with warm fuzzy feelings, or does he give them opportunities to love each other?” Since I have pondered this thought, I have pledged to seek the opportunities God provides. I have asked God to open my eyes to his will.
I ask you to prayerfully consider how you can use your time, talent and treasure to take advantage of the opportunities presented to you.
“Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to act.” Proverbs 3:27
“In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'” Acts 20:35
In service to
Christ and His children,
Jeff Blackman, President
and the Board of Directors of the Chicagoland Lutheran Educational
Foundation |
