“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” (Romans 8:28, NLT)
We all face challenges in life. Arnold Toynbee, the famous historian, said that people will react to these in one of four ways:
- Some retreat into the past;
- Others daydream about the future;
- Still others retreat within and wait for someone to come rescue them;
- Or they face the crisis and transform it into something useful.
As God’s children, he promised to help us choose the last option. As Nena O’Neill says: “Out of every crisis comes a chance to be reborn.”
The folks in Enterprise, Alabama can attest to this. In the town square there is the strangest stone monument in America. It is a statue dedicated to the Mexican boll weevil, erected in 1919. Here’s the story. In 1895 the Mexican boll weevil destroyed the county’s major crop of cotton. After the disaster, farmers began to diversify and began planting peanuts. The peanut crop of 1919 exceeded all the value of cotton crops…ever. Here’s what the monument reads: “In profound appreciation of the boll weevil and what it has done as the herald of prosperity…Out of a time of struggle and crisis has come new growth and success. Out of adversity has come blessing.”
You may have some boll weevils in your life at the moment. I’m asking God to help transform your situation for you. And God’s asking you to help other boll weevil sufferers. As we become people of influence, one of the ways we do that is helping people navigate challenges. We’ll be talking about strategies on how to do this in our final sermon of the series this Sunday.
Hope to see you there!
