Chapel began with a call to worship, led by Isabella Coats (vocalist), Lydia Flegge (back-up vocalist/guitarist), and Grace Maconochie (pianist). Allison Gnagy introduced the speaker, Dave Souers, and encouraged us to engage in the message. Dave Souers grew up in Chicago, and is a BCS alumni. He graduated from Moody Bible Institute, and pastors a church in Rockford Ohio. He lives with his wife and two children. The message is taken from John 17. Souers encourages us to take notes in our Bible, so that in later years, it can be determined what was important to us. At this point in the service, Souers addresses this year’s chapel theme (exiles), and says this: “We are living in a place that is not our home for those living in Jesus Christ, this is not all there is for you.We are living in a world that is not our own.” He comments on the true meaning of being an exile, comparing it to Israel’s captivity in Babylon. There is a struggle in exile, and a feeling of disbelonging, to be an exile is to be misplaced, to be different. But the silver lining to this statement is what Souers describes as this, “God would use this exile for His glory and used the Babylonians to test and better His people.” …show more content…
The opposite of those without deep roots in the faith, were the people who were holding onto hope, the hope that God would deliver and restore them. There is a constant battle to remain true to your faith, while also continuing to be engaged with real life, and the Israelites faced this, enduring a constant pull to fall into idolatry and abandon God. Soures had this to say on the benefits of being an exile in Babylon, “The sweetest effect of Babylon was that it taught people how to put their trust wholly in God