The Reason for the Season
By: Tim Guinto, Content Intern
When Canadian Christians hear the expression “Jesus is the reason for the season” they know it’s a reference to Christmas. But today I want to use it to talk about how much God impacted my life during this year’s summer season.
I started my summer with a most memorable achievement: university graduation (please excuse the humble brag). After four-and-a-half arduous years, I received my Bachelor of Commerce degree, specializing in accounting, at the University of Calgary. To me, the journey was like a voyage; there were times when it was all smooth sailing and times when I struggled through what felt like raging seas.
To some extent, the voyage took a toll on me, physically, mentally, and emotionally. But throughout all the crests and troughs, and despite the rips in my sails, there was always a sea anchor that kept me pointed into the wind. That anchor was none other than God. Without Him I would have been left with nothing but wreckage and chaos. We all have some storms in our lives, but let me ask you this; when facing those storms, what or who is your anchor?
I was also privileged to be hired this summer as an intern at Faith Beyond Belief, an organization that I have known and admired for about eight years. Getting hired was like a dream come true. In previous years, I had imagined serving God through Faith Beyond Belief. And suddenly, there I was, writing blogs (this is my second), and doing a dozen other things in preparation for FBB’s big summer event, Engage Camp. By God’s grace, imagination had become reality. However, the joy I felt was always tinged with regret by my awareness that an internship does not last eternally. Moreover, at about the halfway point in my internship, a small accounting company hired me to work for them in the fall. Suddenly, interning at FBB felt like a short holiday between two major seasons of life.
The promise of future employment also reminded me that my life is not my own. A great Mind, in correspondence with a great Heart, had made it clear that He was guiding me through all the seasons of life. “But what,” you may ask, “about natural disasters like tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanoes, tornadoes, and disease? Or what about personal disasters, including the sadness we feel when employers turn us down? Why would God allow innocent lives to be taken by disasters, or hearts to be broken by personal disappointments?” Seeing that I was born in the Philippines, where the economy is never anything to boast about, and where devastating typhoons occur frequently, I am no stranger to such “Why?” questions.
One thing I’ve learned, God is truly in charge, and that means nothing happens without purpose—His purpose. And since nothing is without purpose, our first task is to submit to what God is doing. Consider Job. After hearing about the devastating loss of his children and his material wealth, his response was something that only a Biblically informed Christian can understand; “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will leave this life. The LORD gives, and the LORD takes away. Praise the name of Yahweh” (Job 1:21). Don’t fail to see the editorial comment that follows in God’s inspired Word: “Throughout all this Job did not sin or blame God for anything” (Job 1:22).
Now, if you persevere and read on to the last chapter of Job (itself no small accomplishment), you discover that in the end God gave him a new family and doubled his assets. But at the same time you discover that he never received a full explanation for why he had to endure both horrendous loss and painful illness. Here’s the thing, the Bible makes it clear that Job was not wealthy because he was good, nor did he suffer loss because he was sinful. Rather, he was shown to be one who lived in constant hope that everything he experienced would eventually lead him into the presence of the Great, Good God. “For I know that my Redeemer lives,” he says, “and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another” (Job 19:25-27, HCSB).
Ultimately, there are seasons in life full of gloom and despair, but behind the dark clouds shines a great light. That great light is God. In our darkest seasons, we can know that the light is merely veiled behind the clouds, and that someday it will break through, never to be dimmed again! Listen to Paul’s hope as he endured a Job-like experience: “But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.’ Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me” (II Cor. 12:9, HCSB). As we wait for the glorious day when death is swallowed up in victory, I pray that all of us will share His light and power and emit a ray of hope in people’s darkest seasons.
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