Philip and the Ethiopian Acts 8:26-40

“Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road–the desert road– that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza” I have personally never experienced God giving me such direct orders before nor do I know anyone who has, but I think there’s a lot we can learn from this story anyway. The thing to note is Philip’s response to God’s direction. The scripture doesn’t record any hesitation or questioning of what he should do. It merely says “So he started out.”

I have a hard time with this passage because I never just “start out.” I always have to rationalize what I’m doing. When God tells us to do something, the last thing he wants is for us to say “Ok, God. Let me think about that one and get back to you.”

Sometimes it is hard to believe that we are truly hearing from God especially if God does not reveal to us why he wants us to do something. Remember, Philip didn’t know why God wanted him to travel the road to Gaza, but that didn’t stop him from obeying. What happened next? Along the way, he ran into a man traveling from Jerusalem to his home in Ethiopia. The man needed someone to explain a passage of Scripture right at the moment that Philip was passing by. Through the conversation that the two men had, the Ethiopian decided to convert to Christianity. It was a powerful, important, God-orcehstrated experiece.

It would be wrong to miss an opportunity like this because God’s commands didn’t seem logical to us. Sometimes we just have to take a leap of faith and obey, trusting in God’s perfect will. We have to set out on our way and then be ready for whatever God has planned for us.

It may not end the way we expected. After baptizing the Ethiopian, Philip was suddenly borne away to another place. That is exactly the way a Christian’s life should look. We don’t know what God has in store from one day to the next, but we confidently step up to each task God gives us. So whenever you believe that God is telling you to do something, don’t hesitate, don’t rationalize, just do it.

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• Total Surrender by Kyle Thorp

I encourage you to read the first eleven verses of John chapter 12. The passage is about the woman who annoited Jesus with an expensive perfume. Judas was angry at this reckless act the woman had done. He asked why the perfume couldn’t have at least been sold so that the money could be given to the poor. What a waste! But Mary did just the right thing.

I find myself thinking like Judas a lot. I have thought a lot about what I should be studying in college, what to do with my life. I have spent so much time worrying about whether I’m doing the right thing. I was afraid of doing the wrong thing and failing. I prayed that God would use me according to my abilities. I didn’t want to be wasted. Then I realized that my thinking was all wrong.

It is not our business to ensure that the little we have is put to good use. It’s easy to “surrender” ourselves with the condition that God use is us the way we have in mind. But we cannot say to God, “Wouldn’t my talents and abilities be better used in this setting?” We can only say, “God, here am I, all of me. Take me and use me as you please.” It is only when we pour ourselves so recklessly at his feet like this that we begin to be of use. It doesn’t matter if we feel like all our best work goes for naught. Give it to God, obey him, and he will make it something beautiful.

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One of Paul’s central concerns in the Epistle to the Romans is to help his Jewish and Gentile brothers and sisters in Rome get along with each other. Evidently they had been living as if they belonged to two different families — as if they had two different identities.

Paul wants them to see that if the Gospel is true, then they all have a new identity as part of the same family.

This got me thinking about what people do to establish their identities. How many ways are there of declaring who and what you are?

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Some people identify themselves using their clothes. (Maybe everyone does, actually.) They implicitly or explicitly announce their opinions about music, business, politics, religion, art, society, and life in general by dressing in certain ways.

They tell you who they are and what they value by what they decide to put on, how they decide to put it on, and/or what they decide to leave off.

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Other people identify themselves using their bodies. (Maybe everyone does, actually.) They cut their hair a certain way — or don’t cut it at all. They tattoo themselves so that their identity as a fan of this or that, or as loving someone or other is permanently clear to everyone. They work out, or don’t, to show the world who they are, what they stand for, what they value.

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Other people identify themselves through the activities they participate in. They attend certain meetings regularly. They go on certain trips regularly. They eat certain foods or drink certain beverages regularly. They frequent certain stores and restaurants, they read certain books, they watch certain television shows.

Each activity helps them identify themselves as belonging to the group of people who participate in the same activity — and each activity is, in part, their way of announcing to the world that they are the kind of person who participates in that activity.

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Identity-establishing, identity-reinforcing, and identity-announcing things are important for us as humans.

If you’re a human, Heidegger said, then you’re the kind of being whose being is an issue for itself. In other words, to be human is to be the kind of thing that wonders and worries and makes decisions about what kind of thing it is.

That means we have to know who we are — each of us has to understand her or his own identity.

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But Heidegger also said that to be a human means to be with other humans — even when those other humans aren’t actually present.

“Dasein,” he said, is “Mitsein.” “Being-there” is “Being-with,” even when there’s no one else there to be with.

When there’s no one else there, we feel it; when we are alone, we are being-with no one.

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This means it is important that we be able to identify ourselves to and for each other. It’s not enough that we understand our own identities. We also need other people to be able to identify us too — and to identify us accurately.

There’s nothing worse than being misidentified — than being taken for something or someone you’re not.

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So here’s some questions I’m pondering:

What forms the identity of a homeschooler?

What does a homeschooler need to do in order to identify him- or herself (to him- or herself and to others) as a homeschooler?

What, in fact, do homeschoolers do in order to establish, reinforce, or announce their identities as homeschoolers?

What parts of what homeschoolers do to establish, reinforce, or announce their identities as homeschoolers are helpful and healthy? And are there any parts of what homeschoolers do to establish, reinforce, or announce their identities as homeschoolers that are either superfluous or detrimental?

Finally, what, if anything, should homeschoolers do to help non-homeschoolers understand what it means to be a homeschooler, so that non-homeschoolers don’t misidentify homeschoolers?

(I, for instance, think that “homeschooler” is an identity worth celebrating — and worth not only understanding, but helping other people to understand. But how?)

-Micah Tillman

^{[Micah is a Mt. Sophia graduate who is working on his doctoral dissertation at The Catholic University of America. He also gets to teach philosophy (as a "graduate fellow"), which he loves.]}

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The runner is in place.

Her shoes are double-knotted, her muscles stretched and warm, her body hydrated. She is wearing her favorite color of spandex, and her ponytail feels secure. Every muscle tensed, she waits for the sound of the starter pistol.

But just as that pistol fires, some troublemaking knucklehead tosses a banana peel in front of her feet. If she slips on her way out of the gate, the race is lost. Even if she gets back on her feet and finishes, there’s no chance she will win.

As we get ready to start a new school year, we are mentally running the whole race ahead of time, thinking through the turns in the track and preparing for the spots we know will tax our reserves of energy and diligence.

But don’t forget to notice that some knucklehead is, indeed, tossing a banana peel right in front of the starting line! If the enemy can take us down right at the start of the race, he figures he owns the track.

Whenever I begin a new endeavor, I find that I am hit hard with something yucky right at the starting line. It throws my focus out the window if I let it. If the enemy can distract or discourage me right at the start, he’s wrecked me.

So I’m not letting him. I’ve got my handy-dandy Banana Peel Blower in hand (it’s kind of like a leaf blower, only much more powerful. It’s also purple, but yours can be whatever color you want it to be.). It’s powered by the Word of God and the testimony of my own mouth. When I shout out, “You are God and I am not, and that’s a fabulous thing!” those banana peels blow out of my path, and I am ready to run.

What banana peel has some troublemaking knucklehead thrown into your path at the starting line? Is it insecurity, fear, frustration, illness, financial stress? Don’t allow it to stay in your path. God is in charge; read the proof of that in His Word, and speak it with confidence to yourself and everyone around you. He has called you to run this race, to homeschool another year, and He goes ahead of you to make the crooked places straight and the rough places plane.

On your mark, get set, GO!

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One thing Rick Warren and Purpose Driven Life has given American culture is the buzz phrase “It’s not about you”.

But since we homeschoolers are mathematically minded, let me refine the phrase just a tad. Actually, it is 1/3 about you.

This is Scriptural Math Logic from Matthew 22. (We homeschoolers love to have Scriptural Math.) “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind; and love your neighbor as yourself.”

Written as a three-part equation it looks like this:

Love the Lord your God=love your neighbor=love yourself

Now, all you mathematicians, what happens when you don’t care for your own self? (“I don’t have time to exercise, to relax, to pray. I’m just not worth it anyway.”)

Love the Lord your God=love your neighbor=love yourself

The equation doesn’t balance. You do not pass this week’s test.

What if you think about yourself WAY too much?

Love yourself=love your God=love your neighbor.

The equation doesn’t balance. Ugh. You fail.

So how does the weary homeschooler know when he/she is keeping the equation balanced?

In real life, out-of-balance takes the form of:

-fear-  “What if I don’t get into the awesomest college?” (Bible word- “fear”)

-recalcitrance- “You can’t make me do it.” (Bible word- “stiff-necked”)

-callousness- “I really don’t care about how he/she feels.” Or “I have to think about transcripts, I don’t have time to think about the sick, needy, or hurting people”. (Bible word- “woe unto you…”)

In real life = feels like “rest”, “assurance”, “compassion”, “hard work”, “fun”, “sacrifice”, “worship”, “gratitude”.

Just like we have regular examinations to see if we are keeping in step educationally, it is good to have regular “balance” check ups. Do I have priority on my love for God? Am I changing the world right now? Do I care for myself?

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