Back in the summer, during a mission trip to Uganda, the Lord revealed to us what the mascot should be for the Amy For Africa Christian School.
It is a rhinoceros, commonly referred to as the rhino.
So why the rhino? I’m glad you asked.
On one of my brother Tim’s fourteen messages on the trip in June, he did some teaching and preaching, and it directly led us to selecting the mascot. Let me explain.
Pastor Tim spoke from Matthew 16:18 when Jesus was talking to Peter about himself.
“He is the rock and on Him the church has been built. If you believe that He died for our sins and rose from the dead on the third day, the gates of Hell will not prevail against you too.”
Jesus said we are to CRASH the gates of Hell, knock down strongholds and bring people to Jesus. Our battle is not with people though, even those who violently oppose Jesus. Our battle is a spiritual one and we win that by loving God.
We are not to sit in our comfortable buildings but go into battle because “Hell will not prevail” against us. We have that promise.
Pastor Tim moved from that to an illustration about the rhinoceros, an amazing creature that can weigh as much as three tons. They are mostly gentle and peaceful in their behavior but are easily startled and are quick to charge at the source of their agitation. They also have a giant horn growing out of their snout and they know how to use it as a dangerous and damaging battering ram.
Even with their massive size, rhinos are said to be able to run as fast as 34 miles per hour yet cannot see more than 30 meters (100 feet). So, if a rhino is coming at you, do not count on him swerving to miss you. Just move!
Pastor Tim further educated us about what a herd of rhinos is called. He mentioned we have names for other animals. For instance: a flock of birds, a gaggle of geese or a pack of wolves.
But what about a herd of rhinos? What is that called?
His answer: “It’s called a crash.”
Amy Compston, the AFA co-founder, was listening intently. She knew at that moment the AFA Christian School should use Rhinos as the mascot because we want to CRASH! the gates of Hell by bringing the Good News of Jesus that people need. We do that through teaching the Bible to our students from day one, making fearless ambassadors for Christ.
The AFA school continues to build “rhinos” to do some crashing in the name of Jesus. Lostness is the world’s greatest problem. And we have the solution.
Go Rhinos!
MARK MY WORDS 2 