Health and wellness… our theme for this issue has been the dominant theme of our lives for far too long now. Armed with Google, many of us have become armchair experts on vaccines, mask effectiveness, or aerosol transmission of disease. As a COVID-19 survivor myself, I have been keeping up with studies about natural immunity vs. vaccination.

Still others of us have become weekend constitutional lawyers, pouring over court rulings and the opinions of both scholars and pundits about the reach and the limits of government coercive power over public health. It has been a fascinating learning process.

However, all the focus on health and related public policy creates a powerful temptation to focus too much on these issues and lose focus on our primary mission.

How do we maintain a healthy trust in Jesus while facing concerns for our safety or the diminishing of our rights? Here are a couple of reminders from Scripture:

• All four Gospel writers include a version of this statement of Jesus: “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it” (Mark 8:35, ESV). 
  
• Peter exhorts us, “But even if you suffer for doing what is right, God will reward you for it. So don’t worry or be afraid of their threats. Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life” (1 Peter 3:14–15, NLT). 
  

Following Christ means that we have surrendered our desired outcomes to Jesus, and He can be trusted to lead us and use us even in circumstances we would not choose. 

So how do we keep the focus on our mission? 

1. Remember your original calling to be an educator, and, absent clear direction from the Lord, don’t assume that our current challenges have changed that calling. 
   
2. Surrender control over the outcomes of your life to Him and draw near to Jesus by worshipping Him in the midst of suffering or threats.
   
3. Join me in spending less time Googling in response to fears, and more time on our knees contending for God’s purposes in our lives and those of our students, families, and colleagues.
   
4. Anticipate and watch for the Lord’s work in your circumstances or in your heart... or both!
   

We at CEAI are praying for you and are here to walk with you through the challenges you are facing.