By Phillip Grothus
As a father of three and a host father to a foreign exchange student, my schedule is packed. With countless school activities and extracurriculars, it’s impossible to list them all. Now, as my oldest daughter and our exchange student approach their final semesters of high school and prepare for graduation, life feels busier than ever. One thing is slipping through my grasp: time.
I feel the anxiety creeping in as I struggle to keep up. I lose sleep over the things I want so desperately for my family. But as I write these words, a humbling truth dawns on me—one I’ve had to relearn time and again. I am not in control. Everything happens on God’s time.
In NF’s song “Time,” he says, “I just need time, I just need time, time, time.” Those words strike a chord, reminding me that we all crave more time—more control—but what we really need is to surrender it to God.
In our age of instant gratification, it’s easy to forget this. We make a call, schedule an appointment, and order something online to arrive the next day. It’s all about us—what we can do, when we want it. This illusion of control is shattered when we return to Jesus’s words in John 15:4: “Abide in me, as I abide in you.” Without Him, we can do nothing.
The phrase “Trust in the Lord, and He will provide” is simple to say but difficult to embrace because we’ve grown accustomed to self-reliance. The challenge—and the invitation—is clear: let go of control, drop everything, and follow Him. Only then will we truly find peace.