today has been incredibly productive. I wrote a young life talk that I really like, but can't use, since we're not having YL until probably the fall. young life is a great ministry for me, I think, but I'm a little concerned that i'm going to have to forfeit my position on IRC. why do we have to meet on mondays? always mondays. it's just a little worrisome. and I love IRC, but... young life is a bigger deal to me, I think. I don't know.

here's the talk. I want to save it and use it sometime. I think it's a good message--that worrying is frivolous, because god's in control.

So, as most of you probably don’t know, last weekend I took the MCAT. The MCAT is basically the medical school’s version of the SAT; it’s really intense and really hard and people study for it for months—I’ve been studying for it since October. Some people pay $2,000 for a class, or hundreds of dollars an hour for a special tutor, all just to hope that they do a little better on the exam, maybe just one or two points, and therefore get into the med school of their dreams.

This past week, I’ve definitely been worrying a lot about the MCAT. It’s kind of become one of my new favourite words. I took heaps of practice tests, read and reread my review books, and basically stressed out about it. Sure, it seems to make sense to be nervous. I mean, this is like the IB final exams, it’s a big deal, and it seems worth it to panic. But is it really?

In 1 Peter 5:6-7, Peter, one of Jesus’s apostles, tells the friends that he’s writing to that it’s okay to cast all their anxiety onto God, because he cares for them. Earlier in the same letter, Peter tells them again that they will definitely go through hard times, but that they should be happy, because for every hard day or problem they have a chance to rely on God and let him change them. Choosing to rely on God during these struggles refines their faith and makes it stronger.

Imagine that you have a really hard math test at the end of the week. You study and study and maybe even ask the teacher for help, but at the end of the night on Thursday, you’re still panicking. You might flunk, and that would be awful for your grades, not to mention how your mom would react. But Peter tells us that situations like this can be perfect for our relationship with God, because they force us to rely on him!

I think it’s easy to read this and think it sounds nice, but have no idea what that means. What does God actually promise us? Jesus has a great story in Matthew 6 where he tells us not to worry about anything: not food, because God feeds the birds, and not clothes, because God makes beautiful clothes for the flowers, or anything else. He’s pretty explicit that we shouldn’t worry, and that probably includes the MCAT.

I think for me, the easiest part to get tripped up on is whether you actually believe that this is true. Does God lie? That’s a good thing to ask yourself, because it’s a pretty integral part of God’s personality, whether or not he lies. Do you believe that what God says in the bible is true? In Genesis, when he created humans, it says that he stepped back and looked at us and said we were very good. Do you think God thinks you’re very good?

God doesn’t lie. I know this to be true. It says in the book of Hebrews that it is impossible for God to lie, and that because of that, we have hope as an anchor for the souls. We can hope in the truth of his promises; that he will take care of us because he has our best interests at heart, and that things will work out, even the MCAT. Because of this, being the only kid who isn’t flipping out before the toughest math test ever, or not stressing the day before IB exams—that makes you different.

Trusting God makes you stand out sometimes, and this is a great way to stand out, to be the only calm person in a whole roomful because you know that things will be okay, because God wants what’s best for you. Peter always reminds me, though, that when you’re that calm person because of trusting in God’s purposes, you should always be prepared to give an answer for the hope that you have.