Opportunity

I hate the SAT.

I also hate its counterpart, the ACT, but the SAT has been my main focus for the last year and a half.

I hated the 5-hour SAT seminar that my mother paid for me to sit through one beautiful Sunday afternoon a year or so ago. My only comforts (as I received none from the chair in which my butt was parked) were the 4 short breaks we took and the two or three friends (who ALSO had mothers that cared far too much) that sat on either side of me.

I hated the SAT books that I bought/borrowed that I had to study the couple of weeks before each test, when I could be enjoying good times with my friends, times that are quickly slipping through my fingers as May approaches. The books were filled with tips, strategies, and practice tests. One of them was written by 6 college undergrads, mostly from Ivy league schools, that had all made a perfect score on their SAT's, a 2400. These writers tried to make the SAT "cool" by throwing little anecdotes and jokes in between things such as vocab words or geometry strategies. The SAT is not "cool," and their humor made me feel as though I was sitting in the middle of a robotics club meeting.

Of course, I hated the actual test as well. I've taken the thing 3 times now, and have lost roughly 150 bucks worth of good Saturday working hours because of it. I didn't enjoy sitting through 10 sections, not being able to eat much more than a small package of crackers, and not knowing what in God's name "circumlocution" meant.

However (yes, there is a "however")...

As I sit here and type all the negativity that swirls about my head at the first mention of the test's name, logic tells me that there must be a method to this madness. There must be SOMEthing good about this test, otherwise there would be no point.

I steer my attention to the system that the SAT represents, a system that strives to give kids that try and kids that work every opportunity to do well in life, regardless of their upbringing or financial situation. I look at the opportunities it has given me personally, such as the scholarships that my scores have qualified me for, which are not available to just anybody. I look at the fact that as my scores increase, so does the monetary value of said potential scholarships, which would increase the value of my education, which would lead to a better career, which would lead to a better quality of life down the road. It's given me new perspective as to why we put ourselves through things like this, why we have to work hard for success, and the sheer amount of windows that we open for ourselves if we do.

I have stopped to smell the Scantron. In retrospect (write that one down kids, its on the test, take my word for it), I'm glad that my mother was here to tell me to get off of Facebook and hit the REAL books, and I regret not a bit of time or energy that I've spent doing so.

I love the SAT.

Privilege

Let me introduce you to a man named Job.

Some of you may know him. He DOES have a self-titled book, after all.

Here's his story, in my own words:

Job is what you could call an all-around good guy. In fact, he's labeled as the "greatest man among all the people in the East." He was a good, blameless, upright man, and he had plenty to show for it. He had a nice big family, 7 sons and 3 daughters. He had a HUGE farm, and financially, he was bankin'. He had the best life anyone could really have in his time.

So one day, God and Satan are talking, and Satan tells God that if Job had everything taken away from him, he would not be near as "upright and blameless." Satan says that Job will crack like and egg when he doesn't have his nice little life to protect him, and that he will curse God's name.

God says, "Alright, Satan, I'll take your bet. Everything Job owns is in your hands, but you can't touch Job himself."

After this comes the single worst day in Job's life. One after another, his servants come to him to tell him that his livestock is getting butchered and stolen, his servants are getting massacred, and EVERY SINGLE ONE of his children were killed instantly when the house they were all in collapsed.

As I said, this is a rough day for Job. So what does he do? Who wins the bet, God or Satan?

"At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: 'Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.'" Job 1:20-21.

Absolutely amazing to me. This guy had it all, and immediately had it all stripped away, and yet he found a way to praise his God anyway.

How many of us can hold attitudes like that? How many of us decide to be fair weather fans of God, only thanking Him when things are grand, and completely placing blame on Him when everything sucks?

There is an argument by a couple of people I know that do not believe in God that "In the Old Testament, God has His people kill everything in some countries, even women, children, and infants! How can you possibly follow a religion like that?"

Yeah, he did. That is a true story. But the point that people miss is that God had a plan for his people. If you read on, you find that every nation that was taken over by the Israelites in the Old Testament was not one that followed God, and every time it happened, God had in mind the best interests of those who DID follow Him.

"The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away..."

The reason that Job could still find the strength and attitude to praise God in a time of great sorrow is that he had an inner peace that told him "God has a plan, and He hasn't left you alone."

By that logic, friends, we should complain a heckuva lot less. I'm not saying that you have to run down the halls shouting "GOD IS AWESOME" every time you end a relationship messily, or jump for joy when a close friend or relative passes away.

But if there is anything we can learn from Job, it's that we should feel peace in the fact that God can help us weather the storms, He is in control of this world, and He has great plans in store for each one of us.

The story of Job and the question raised in the previous paragraph have stirred some serious thoughts in my head, and I've come to this conclusion:

I am NOTHING without my God by my side.

The musical talent I hold, the good grades, the solid family, the great friends, the computer I write this on, the car that I'm going to school in tomorrow, the country in which I live, the oxygen that I breathe, and the very blood that flows through my veins have ALL been provided by God. I deserve not a single one of these privilege, and I am at the complete mercy of He who gave them to me. The good news, friends, is that He is full of mercy, and He delights in making me happy.

There was a comedian on Conan O'Brien's show (which I am going to miss, by the way) who was talking about how "everything is amazing right now, and nobody's happy." (type that phrase into YouTube)

He talks about how great technology is today, and how today's generation takes it completely for granted. In one particular instance, he talks about airplanes, and how he hears people complain about the delays that often come with most airliners. He's baffled by this, saying "You are taking a cross-country trip in 5 hours that used to take 30 YEARS." He goes on to say something to the effect of "You're participating in the miracle of human flight! Everyone on every plane should be constantly going 'WHOA! OH MY GOD! WOW!' You're sitting in a chair in the SKY!"

Thats how I think we should take God more often than we do. We so take for granted everything that He's done for us, what He's STILL doing for us, and we write off all of our blessings as if they're no big deal when we ought to be utterly amazed at the love He constantly pours out to us. We sometimes need to stop and smell the roses, so to speak, and see the beauty around us, and be glad in the fact that the one who provided all this cares about every smallest aspect of our lives.

Job's story along with some other things discussed in this post have given me great peace lately, in a time of scholarship applications, deadlines, due-dates, auditions, and other hectic things that come along with senior year. I leave you with a verse, which is a good one to memorize.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

--Jeremiah 29:11

Goodnight, friends.