Principal's Ponderings

From our Principal - Mr Chad Smit

It Is Well With My Soul

At our DCS Dedication Assembly on Friday last week, I shared with the whole school about Caleb’s story in the book of Joshua. Caleb’s story is often remembered as a moment of courage. We picture the bold spy who trusted God when others were afraid.

But Caleb’s story is not really about one brave moment. It is about forty-five long years of steady trust.

When Caleb was forty, he stood before Moses and the people of Israel after exploring the Promised Land. While others focused on the giants and fear, Caleb focused on God. Scripture says, “I followed the Lord my God wholeheartedly.” - Joshua 14:8.

Yet the promise did not come quickly for Caleb.

Instead of entering the land immediately, Caleb spent the next forty-five years wandering in the wilderness with the rest of Israel. Years of dust, uncertainty, disappointment and waiting. Years where the promise seemed distant.

Faith was not just a moment for Caleb. It became a pilgrimage.

He kept walking.

He kept trusting.

He kept lifting his eyes to God.

When we meet him again in Joshua 14, Caleb is eighty-five years old. And remarkably, his faith has not faded. He still believes God’s promise.

That kind of faith is not built in easy seasons. It is formed through the long journey.

In many ways, that same journey of faith and struggle is captured in the story behind the song “Even If” by MercyMe, written by lead singer Bart Millard.

Many people may know Bart’s story through the film ‘I Can Only Imagine’, which tells of the pain and redemption in his relationship with his father. But the recently released sequel (out the past weeks at Reading Devonport), ‘I Can Only Imagine 2’, continues that journey, exploring seasons of grief, suffering, and the deep questions that follow loss.

During one of the hardest seasons of his life, Bart wrote the song ‘Even If’. The song wrestles honestly with grief and faith, holding both sorrow and gratitude at the same time.

The chorus echoes a powerful truth:

“I know You’re able and I know You can

Save through the fire with Your mighty hand

But even if You don’t… my hope is You alone.”

That is Caleb’s faith.

It is the kind of faith that says, God, I trust You even when the road is long. Even when the wilderness stretches for years. Even when life brings grief, struggle, and unanswered questions.

The song echoes the same spirit as the old hymn ‘It Is Well with My Soul’, written by Horatio Stafford after profound personal tragedy. Out of deep loss came the declaration, “It is well with my soul.”

This is not shallow optimism. It is wholehearted trust.

The writer of Hebrews invites us into the same posture:

“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus… Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” - Hebrews 12:1–3

My encouragement in those times and always is to consider Him. Lift your head and look to Him.

Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith.

He endured the cross.

He carried the weight of sin.

He walked through suffering and pain.

He gave everything.

And through it all, He remained faithful to the Father.

When Caleb kept walking through forty-five years of waiting, he was living the same posture of faith, fixing his eyes on God and trusting that His promise was still true.

And the same invitation stands for us today.

At our Dedication Assembly I asked us all to imagine, what our school would look like if we lived like Caleb.

Not perfect.

Not fearless.

But faithful.

Faithful in learning.

Faithful in character.

Faithful in leadership.

Faithful in love.

Caleb trusted God at forty. He trusted God at eighty-five.

And through every wilderness year in between, he kept lifting his eyes to the Lord. My hope is that can be our story too.

So when the days feel long, when faith feels costly, when weariness creeps in, remember this simple call of Scripture: