Does it really seem like summer should be over?  If you are a student, or even a teacher, you are probably shaking your head right now and asking your computer screen, "Where did the summer go?"  As difficult as it may seem for some to say goodbye to the summer break or start a new school year, it really doesn't have to be treated as a time of mourning.  Each new day brings with it new obstacles as well as new opportunities.
 
What has this day been like for you... more obstacles or more opportunities?  The interesting thing is that obstacles and opportunities are often one in the same.  Take for example exercise.  If your workout routine was easy, how could you gain any cardio benefit or increase your strength?  Those obstacles, or challenges, became opportunities for growth and improved health.  As a student, if your teacher only presented you with information you learned in previous years, what would happen?  You might breeze through the class, but you would be bored senseless and learn absolutely nothing.  The obstacles, challenges, and exams actually become opportunities for growth and improvement.
 
When David was a young man, he was responsible for taking care of the family's livestock.  1 Sam 17:34-37 records a conversation between David and King Saul.  David said: "I have been taking care of my father's sheep and goats,"... "When a lion or a bear comes to steal a lamb from the flock, I go after it with a club and rescue the lamb from its mouth. If the animal turns on me, I catch it by the jaw and club it to death. I have done this to both lions and bears, and I'll do it to [Goliath], too, for he has defied the armies of the living God! The Lord who rescued me from the claws of the lion and the bear will rescue me from this Philistine!"
 
Have you ever wondered what would have happened if David would have ran from those lions and bears that came to steal lambs from his father's flock?  I venture to say that he would have never stood up to fight the giant, and we would not be talking about him today.  David's obstacles, as daunting and dangerous as they were, actually became opportunities for building his faith in the power of his God to save.
 
As individual believers, and collectively as the church, I am convinced we will encounter obstacles as we grow in Jesus Christ.  But I pray that, like David, those struggles, challenges, and obstacles will turn out to be opportunities to see God working mightily in and through each of us and corporately as the body of Christ.