9/27/2021 Principal's Note

By -

Have you ever noticed how easy it is to do the wrong thing? If you haven't, just spend some time at your school with 200+ saint-sinners and it won't take long! Overall our students do a wonderful job representing their Savior, but they are by no means perfect. Name-calling, pushing and shoving, shirking responsibilities, and everything in between can be found at Emanuel. Sin is everywhere!

Most of the time when a student makes a poor decision, it doesn't seem like they wrestle with the decision either. In the heat of the moment our sinful natures are very efficient at making the worldly (read: WRONG) choice; apologizing and asking for forgiveness seems to be much more difficult. In the book of Matthew, Jesus explained why we shouldn't be surprised: "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it" (Matthew 7:13-14, NIV). When I read Jesus' words, I picture the first road as a multi-lane superhighway. So many people careen down this road, not even paying attention to where they are headed, kicking their feet up while their self-driving sinful natures guide them on the easy path to hell. The second road sounds to me like a thousand-mile-long balance beam. Most days, I can't even walk from one end of a playground balance beam to the other without wobbling and stepping off. Imagine having to go your whole life walking on one everywhere you go; no wonder we can't achieve perfection! Even the best Olympic athletes would tire and fall off. Unfortunately, because God demands perfection, one slip and we are disqualified from heaven.

Thanks be to God that Jesus had perfect balance and unending endurance! Now he walks with us, and when we start to fall, he reaches out and pulls us back up. It's only by his strength we can walk that narrow path. All of us, including your children, still wander and end up on the easy road, but by the grace of God and through his Son, we can still enter through that narrow gate when we die. Thanks be to him!

Have a blessed week in Jesus.

In Christ,

Principal Bill Fuerstenau