Article April 13, 1998 Issue

Order in the middle of chaos

What happened when graduation plans fell through.

By Sabra L. Lowe

It was just a few months from college graduation in June. I paid a visit to my guidance counselor as a formality to confirm that everything was in order. But the counselor told me that the university wasn't going to allow me to count some credits I had earned earlier at a community college. I was twelve credits short!

This was devastating news. Not only would I be unable to graduate on time, but I was also in the middle of planning my August wedding. I would then move with my husband to another city where he was attending college. How could I finish school?

My mother had always taught me to think of what Jesus would do in any given situation. In each and every encounter Jesus had with human systems or networks, he listened to God and abided by God's will only. He was constantly butting heads with established rabbinical doctrines. When he healed a woman's illness of eighteen years on the Sabbath day, the ruler of the synagogue could only see that Jesus had disobeyed the rule about not working on the Sabbath (see Luke 13). At other times, Jesus was pressured either to disobey the law or contradict his own teachings, as in the episode of the woman taken in adultery (see John 8). He was even tried and crucified, although the Roman governor was convinced he was innocent of any wrongdoing (see Matt. 27). But this unfairness didn't affect Jesus' closeness to God. He said, "If I judge, my judgment is true: for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me" (John 8:16).

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