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Hello Friends,
At SHA, it seems the Autumn leaves have clung to their branches a little longer this year, as warm and dry weather has given them the opportunity. Recently, however, a few cool rains have persuaded those colors to decorate and fertilize the earth below. Btw, please forgive me for getting this newsletter to you so late in November, as I have failed to meet my print deadline. So, we’ll have to consider this newsletter one for both October and November.
Trash Talk
It’s been a very busy month. In fact, my original newsletter draft started out by reminding everyone how important it was for us, as Christians, to put actions to our faith by getting out to vote in our “upcoming” election. So, I never dreamed I would be talking presidential election “results” with you. Voting has always been a great topic of discussion with our SHA kids. It gives us a chance to discuss the issues they never realized as being so important— and even relevant to their daily lives. But, once they do come to realize it, they become very interested—even deeply engaged—in things like the fine lines between ethics and morality; and, the social issues that influence their minds, hearts, attitudes, perspectives, values, priorities, and presuppositions in life. One of the common presuppositions we’ve all been indoctrinated with, in today’s information age, is the idea that judging is on par with being a category-5 hypocrite, bigot, racist, Nazi, Fascist, or even garbage! But, when these kids get a chance to experience a digital-indoctrination emancipation at SHA, the lightbulb of objective truth comes on. This is often when they blossom with independent thinking skills, instead of being slaves to the group-think that helped get them here in the first place. But, it’s also where these kids are forced to deal with the obvious reality that voting actually requires a judgement! We all judge whenever we choose anything—whether it be friends, a spouse, a church, or whatever. These aren’t self-righteous or hypocritical judgements, but ones based on honest assessments. In this most recent presidential election, some folks were called garbage by political, social, and media, “elites”. But, evidently, our nation’s majority came to realize a thing or three: That being called garbage is still better than being called sewage; or, that nobody should be generalized as being either one; or, that all humans—despite what multitudes of others think about them—have been created in the image of God, yet flawed by the one thing that has caused all of us to see objective truth so very subjectively and, therefore, so very differently—SIN! If that makes a person garbage, then thank God garbage can be re-cycled—redeemed by the blood of the Lamb! But, humans aren’t garbage; because, as the saying goes, “God don’t make no junk!” Thank you, Jesus, for your redeeming work on the cross that empowers anyone, who chooses You, to love and not hate—even as so many are so grossly and unjustly slandered and persecuted for it. Amen!
Romans 8:28
By now, I’m sure most of you are aware that SHA gets hit with the craziest spiritual attacks, and/or unexplainable circumstances, the week before virtually all of our bi-annual Parent Weekend Conferences. This has been the case for over two decades now! This Fall’s Parent Weekend was no exception. I’ll only mention a couple. The wrath of Hurricane Helene certainly set us on our heals a bit. And, if you remember, I also reported that a surprise inspection visit, from state officials in Atlanta, just happened to occur as I was writing last month’s newsletter. This was just 24 hours before Parent Weekend was to begin. Going through the files of our students, checking our financial records, checking to be sure we are following codes and policies, campsite checks, and interviewing students, are just some of what takes place in these all-day ordeals. It isn’t the first time this has happened; and, they don’t care that their timing hinders us from preparing for one of the two biggest events we offer our kids and families every year. To be fair, the folks from the state are always friendly. In addition, we always pass with flying colors. It’s just a hassle. And, this year SHA proved, again, to be above reproach, by getting a perfect score of 100! Not too shabby—especially for a surprise visit! Btw, we also received a 100 on our county food-service inspection! These are testimonies to the proficiency of our team and the organization and management of Allison and Joshua! But, ultimately, it’s a testimony to the veracity of God and His Word; because, by the end of the Parent Conference—as always—it was every bit the blessing to our families as it was expected to be! Romans 8:28 never fails, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, who are called according to His purpose”!
The More of the Spirit World
I’m an easy target for those who think I spiritualize things too much. Yet, the more I experience life, the more I think that it’s likely I don’t spiritualize things enough. The more we see the spiritual genesis in every circumstance we enjoy or endure in life—no matter how big or small it seems—the more we will come to understand and appreciate the veracity of God and His Word and the supernatural power of prayer. Some may write off what I’m about to share as being just another over-spiritualization of what they believe to be mere coincidence. There was a time, in my earlier walk with the Lord, when I probably would’ve done the same thing. As a matter of fact, over the years, I’ve even shielded my newsletter readers from countless incidents I believed to be products and manifestations of the spirit world. But, I did it only out of my selfish concern of being thought of as a kook.
Since my last writing, here are just two expedient examples, which many of us, here at SHA, have attributed to spiritual influence—again, stuff others may consider mere coincidence: If you remember our 18-year ordeal with the Georgia Department of Transportation, it was a fight to keep us from having to close our doors—all because of the 4-lane highway that now runs through the center of us. Prior to this highway, there were many incidences—deeply spiritual in nature—that took place near a path in the woods where this stretch of highway now exists instead of our woods. Since the highway was finished, back in 2016, a strange frequency of different activities keeps taking place—right on this same 1000-foot stretch of highway. It’s usually in the form of suspicious individuals on foot, vehicle break-downs, traffic accidents, people running out of gas, and even a couple of random vehicle fires—fires that have burnt these vehicles to the ground as we watched from our campus above. I even broke down there not long ago. Beth and I were discussing this phenomenon recently with some out-of-town guests of ours. Just days after our guests left us, Beth and I were driving to town and encountered a truck fully engulfed in flames as it rolled into our lane! If you knew the full history of this piece of property, you might better grasp where we are all coming from. Our book, The Miracles of Shepherd’s Hill, touches on a bit more of it.
On the flip side of the spirit world, fervent prayers at a recent SHA board meeting produced a move in Beth’s spirit that caused her to run—not walk—to the SHA mailbox, right in the middle of our meeting. Not being a board member, I suppose she had that luxury. She discovered a card among all the bills and junk mail that she brought back to the meeting. She didn’t open it, but handed it to Allison to open. To our amazement, it was a sorely needed donation to help SHA in our current time of need. Then, as we dispersed for lunch, Allison received a call from someone who told her that a person—influenced by the likes of Paris Hilton—-had felt led to recant and repent from such slanderous hocus-pocus! Please lend us your prayers, and/or financial support, to help us win our current monster battle! It will build the faith of us all to know God is still moving mightily through the work at SHA!