Jo Kean, Primary Teacher
When Sesame Street came onto our TV screens in the early 1970’s they played a game called “One of These Things”. It had a catchy song about four items, one of which wasn’t like the others. The game helped children to find similarities and differences in common items.
During the last school holidays, my husband and I visited family in Tasmania. One morning we were out for a drive between Kettering and Cygnet on a winding country road. We were driving through apple orchards in bloom and green country views. As we came around a corner, in the middle of nowhere, I was surprised to see two big roosters walking along the edge of the road. One was jet black and the other was brown. They had their heads held high as they wandered along. We continued driving, puzzled as to where they had come from and what they were doing. It is true that roosters belong in the countryside, but wandering down the side of the road? Not really. The image has stayed with me, and I have been pondering its meaning for me.
Often, I feel comfortable and at home here on earth. However, that is not what my walk with Christ should be. As Christians, we are sent into the world, but we are not of the world. We are to be actively serving Christ. We are to be loving others and being Jesus to those we meet, even if it is uncomfortable, because this place is not our forever home. We are being prepared to be with Jesus in heaven for eternity. Like the unexpected roosters, we are different and our lives are meant to reflect this.
So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
Romans 12:1-2 (The Message)
So let’s take our lives, and not fit in. Let’s change the culture around us by being like the roosters. It may not be comfortable, or safe, but we will be obediently following our Saviour Jesus and being prepared for eternity. K/1 had the privilege of singing at the Year 12 Graduation Assembly. We sang “Be Strong & Courageous” by Colin Buchanan. One student asked me, after the item, if the words were “be strong and outrageous”! Maybe they could be, because we need to be outrageous for Jesus.