Living in the Now

When I was 19, I started working at Curries Door and Frame Manufacturing. One of my jobs was running a sheet metal brake. Working third shift, I spent eight hours pulling sheet after sheet of metal, bending each to spec, tagging it, and stacking it on a pallet for the next stage of production.

It was monotonous work—sometimes painfully boring. If an order took the full eight-hour shift, there was no variation in my task. I quickly learned not to look at the clock. Instead, I set personal goals: How many could I stack? How quickly could I produce? How well could I maintain the required tolerances?

As I challenged myself, I began to enjoy the process. I studied my machine, learned how it worked, and spoke with the maintenance crew about preventing breakdowns. I became fascinated by my work. None of this was required of me—I only had to bend, stack, and check tolerances every ten pieces. But I knew that if I didn’t engage with the work, I risked falling into the trap of watching the clock.

I saw this firsthand with a guy who worked the second shift. He glued a watch to the shear we shared so he could count down the time until his shift ended. I used to cover it with a paper towel so I wouldn’t have to see it. Fortunately, I didn’t have to do that for long—he didn’t last, and when he left, the watch disappeared too.

Embracing the Present

Life is best lived in the present. If we don’t like what we’re doing, it’s easy to count down the days, hours, or minutes until it’s over. But living that way leads to misery and keeps us from seeing the opportunities right in front of us.

In Genesis 15, God tells Abram that his descendants will not inherit the promised land for 400 years. Just a few chapters earlier, Abram received the great promise that he would become a great nation. I imagine he might have felt some whiplash at this new revelation. Did he start counting down the years? I would confidently say, no.

Had Abram focused only on the future, he wouldn’t be the picture of faith we know him to be and that God testifies him to be. Instead, he saw the future and hoped for it, but he lived in the now. This is how we should all live.

HCA: Faithfully Moving Forward

At HCA, we are on a trajectory to change how we approach education—not through novelty, but through innovation. We aren’t there yet, but we are faithfully working in the present.

Next Tuesday, we will be sharing a video update on the school. This will walk through the plans and decisions made at the recent board retreat, including tuition rates, goals, and celebrations of what has been accomplished. Be sure to watch for the email with the video to come out on Tuesday night.

Most importantly, continue to pray for God’s blessing on all that He is doing here. It is an honor to serve Him and you. Let’s take care of what’s next and believe Him for what’s to come!