For Such a Time as This

My 7th and 8th grade year of school, my parents enrolled me in a private, Christian school. The local public school had a bad reputation and my parents didn’t want me to be poorly influenced by the riff raff they’d heard rumors about. The Christian school was K-8, two classes for each grade. My parents saw it as the perfect opportunity to circumvent the world’s influence at a pivotal time in my life.

Despite the small size, our junior high, as they called it back then, had a theatrical production each year. The first year, they reenacted the biblical account of Esther. I was selected to play the lead role. I don’t recall many details other than repeating the lines, “for such a time as this,” and “if I perish, I perish.” Being the overly dramatic type, I’m sure I hammed both up which is why they are forever etched in my memory.

As Esther, I proclaimed, “for such a time as this.” Esther was called by God for a specific time in history to be a tool in the Master’s hand. She was used by God to save her people as she went before the king, uncalled - a death sentence at the time. In the movie, One Night With the King, based upon the book of Esther, visual and cultural context was added to the selection of Esther as the king’s wife, the size and intimidation of the throne room to which she entered, uncalled, before the king, and the visual softening of the king’s heart in tenderness towards Esther. The role of Mordecai’s influence upon her life was further examined. Further, the viewer is able to see how over time Esther grew into her role as a young girl taken from her small village to a young queen who captivated the heart of an otherwise hard-hearted king.

While these images are not inspired, they assist the imagination to contemplate the awesome calling upon her life. The Lord promises to use the weak to make them strong, use foolish things to confound the wise, and to ultimately use all things for our good and His glory. Such was so in the time of Esther, my time at a small private school, and will be so in the life and hearts of your child.

I certainly didn’t appreciate my education at the time. Like most teenagers, I believed I knew better, that I could’ve withstood the peer pressure from the public school my parents sacrificed for me to avoid. Like most teenagers, I believed a Christian education wouldn’t serve me well in the real world. I believed attending a small school would make me lost and inept at the very large public high school that followed. I believed attending class with only 17 other students would make it impossible to relate to my peers and thus make me socially awkward.

All those teenage beliefs were unfounded. Thankfully, my parents refused to bow to my pleas as I dug my heels into the ground in opposition. They didn’t succumb to the argument, “But all my friends are going to such-and-such school.” They understood what you put in, you get out. Invest in the future, you’ll sow the dividends down the road. They knew the sacrifice of attending a Christian school would yield benefits beyond their imagination and far beyond my protests.

While I don’t believe the Lord has called me to the level of an Esther-type person in history, I do believe it is for such as time as this that our school exists. Culturally, Christianity is under attack. Truth is set aside to believe false philosophies that tickle the ears. Partial truths are embraced in the name of inclusion. Standards are brought down so everyone can win. Selfies are accepted and celebrated with likes of approval on social media. Pastors are having to stand before their congregants to declare boldly the truths of the Lord, risking prison; or they will capitulate to the pressure and lead the flocks astray. For those who are bold, they declare, “if I perish, I perish.” The question remains, will you stand and answer the call? Will you partner with us as we seek to train the hearts and minds of the students to rise “for such a time as this” to go out into battle, fighting for truth, bold and unwavering?