Feb
1
Written by:
Route 365
2/1/2010 5:00 AM
by Jason Knapp
Biography
Hi, my name is Jason Knapp. My wife, Amanda, and I have been attending Browncroft since 2000, and I’ve been involved with leading Community Groups since we came here. We have two children, Emma (8) and Owen (2).
Reflection
Wow! What a way to start the week with an action-packed adventure. There’s the elite team heading off to explore the land, the surprise of recognizing a person in an unexpected place, and the discovery of the perfect place to live. All this leads up to the luring away of the priest and the slaughter of the people in Laish. The aspect of the story that resonates most with me is the plight of the people of Laish. They were alone and far away from their friends and allies in Sidon.
It sounds like my first real foray away from home as I headed off to college. I grew up in Williamson, New York, a small, rural community where everyone knew everyone else. To feel more “at home”, I chose to go to Amherst College, a small, liberal arts school in Massachusetts. With a total population of 1,400 students, it seemed like a reasonable choice. But even that number was overwhelming for me, coming from a high school with only 300 students. To make matters worse, I didn’t know anyone at the school, and I ended up without a roommate. I was alone and far away from my friends and allies. Thankfully, my story doesn’t end like that of the city of Laish. My story is not a cautionary one, but one of hope, for God broke me down during that time and was looking to build me back up. He sent new friends who would prop me up when I was down. His gifts drew me into community with other believers on campus and gave me the support I’d need through the challenging years of college. I emerged from that time a different person.
In our time, it’s easy to be alone. You can live in a tightly-packed neighborhood and not have a relationship with any of your neighbors. At work, you can be crammed into a tiny cube in the midst of a cube farm and not really know any of your co-workers. Or, sadly, you can come to church and sit in full pews and not have a sense of connection with any of your fellow worshipers. I see in this passage a warning about aloneness. When you are alone, there’s no one to help when trials come. My own story is one of hope, illustrating that God can use the people around you to transform your life.
A fellow traveler,
Jason
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