Hills + Valleys | The Widow at Zarepath | 1 Kings 17:7-24 | Week 2

I was in second or third grade and I was in a particular math section.  The teacher was trying to teach us some math concepts, and for some reason, my brain could not get it.  She gave exercise after exercise and she circled the plane ten different ways.  Now when my kids come home and they ask for help with math, there's like 117 different ways to it and they have to know them all, I'm like, "Can't help you, dude, sorry."  I was not getting it.  She gave us this very specific process to follow to explain this particular type of math.  Then she gave us a test.  As teachers often do, she asked us to show our work, which means you've got to show them to do it the way they taught you to do it.  I didn't like that because it seemed real hard, so I came up with my own way to solve the problem.  A new technique, if you will.  On the top right of my paper, I wrote, "Here's a new way to do this the proper way."  I was trying to teach my teacher the right way to do this.  I wrote this formula---here's how you do it---and I was hoping she'd learn from this---it's going to be in a textbook someday.  I showed my work according to my own sort of plan and then I solved the problem.  She was not as excited about this path as I was, which is really, really interesting.  The other thing is.....it was ALL wrong!  Every bit of it!  The process was wrong.  The final answer was wrong.  All of that!  After sort of going I don't want to choose this hard path, I had to go back and choose the hard path, because she made me redo it all.  I still don't understand how to do it!

We're in the series called "Hills and Valleys" and we've been exploring what do we do during uncertain times and how do we navigate through those?  We're looking at the life of Elijah to help us walk that journey.  Last week, Ryan talked about how being in the wilderness is a training ground.  I remember listening to that and going, I don't know about you, but I hate that.  I was like I do not like this --- the wilderness is a training ground.  I think it's because I wish there were a better way to experience growth.  But I've learned, as many of us have, that it seems like those wilderness moments have such power to shape us into who God created us to be...