Do Hard Things by Jonathan Kopecky, Hope Church Youth Minister
A new theme in my life for young people is “Do Hard Things,” inspired by a book by the same title written in 2008 by teen brothers from Portland. It’s about encouraging youth to rebel against low expectations of them. I’m sure you’d agree this pandemic has been hard. But however it’s been hard for you, Jesus says that even faith as small as a mustard seed can get you through it.
When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. “Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.”
“You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.”
Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed at that moment. Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”
He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:14-21)
Many youth might hear this and say, “There’s no way I have more faith than Jesus’ disciples and Jesus just said they lack faith, so that means I must have very little faith—so small that there’s no way I can move a mountain.”
But if faith is believing something that is unseen, then you have a bigger faith than Jesus’ disciples. Jesus’ disciples walked with Jesus and they still lacked faith. That means believers who live after Jesus have a larger faith than Jesus’ disciples.
When you’re faced with doing something hard you can say, “Yes, let me face this! Because I know that Jesus is walking with me and this small faith of mine is actually bigger than a mustard seed. So yes, I can move this mountain!”
Doing hard things doesn’t mean we jump into the deep end when we are two years old. What it means is slowly saying yes to things that are out of our comfort zone, trusting Jesus will lead us. I totally jumped out of my comfort zone in January and did a hard thing. I started a podcast called the One to One Podcast. I interview teens with three questions in mind: (1) Who are you? (2) How’s your faith/Who’s Jesus to you? (3) What is the One Question you want to bring to the podcast? The final question is the meat of the podcast where youth ask me any question they want. I don’t know the question ahead of time, so I need to think on my feet. Some of them have been some great questions. One of our own 8th graders came on the show and asked, “When do I know I’m enough?” That was a GREAT question and a fun podcast.
You can find the podcast by searching “Jonathan Kopecky” on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to tune in. As of this writing, I just published our twenty-first episode with 618 downloads. We are slowly giving voice to teens and letting other teens know they are not alone and we are all doing hard things together! We are slowly moving this mountain!
Keep praying for our youth – it only takes faith as small as a mustard seed, and we know Jesus will keep it growing!
Calendar of Events – Click Here
Wed. 6/2: 8:40 AM Online Chapel led by Pastor Peter Mueller
Thurs. 6/3: 10:00 AM Orcas Preschool Graduation / 11:15 AM Sea Turtles Preschool Graduation
Fri. 6/4: Free Dress Day
Mon. 6/7: 8:40 AM Online Chapel led by Mrs. Okabayashi / 2:15 PM Kindergarten Graduation / LAST DAY OF SCHOOL – Full Day with Normal Dismissal Times
Tues. 6/8: 7:00 PM 8th Grade Graduation (open to immediate family only)
Hope School Food Drive Continues through June 4
You still have time to bring in food items for Hope schools food drive ending Friday, June 4th. Collection boxes will be placed outside of each classroom.
Library to Close June 4
Since the end of the year is quickly approaching, it’s time to get library books returned!
All checked out books will need to be returned by Friday, June 4th.
Open Teacher Positions at Hope School
As we look ahead into the coming school year with two teachers stepping away to different opportunities and one teacher moving up to the assistant principal position, Hope Lutheran School is excited to open up three homeroom teaching positions for the 2021-2022 school year.
Parent and families, please share the following information and job link with any wonderful teacher candidates you may know who could potentially be a good fit for us at Hope. We are actively seeking candidates for two elementary teachers who will teach all core subjects, and one middle school teacher with a language arts focus. Interested teacher candidates should submit an application and resume to Kristen Okabayashi at kokabayashi@hopeseattle.org by Monday, May 31, 2021. Teaching jobs begin August 23, 2021.
More information, job descriptions, and the application form are available on our website here:
https://hls.hopeseattle.org/home/about/job-opportunities/
Church Events – Click Here
Vacation Bible School (VBS): Maker Fun Factory is coming this summer on Sunday mornings, 10:30-11:30 AM on June 27, July 11, 18, 25 & August 1. Watch for more details and plan to join the fun!
