I received a very special gift from our middle school, one which serves both as encouragement to “keep on keepin’ on” and as a reminder that I am right where God wants me to be. The gift? A collection of notes and letters, written by my students to me, wishing me a Happy Birthday. I read each one aloud to my wife, editorializing along the way as I described for her each relationship; at times, with a halting voice that gave way to tears and a heart filled to bursting over the sentiment ascribed therein, I would pause and reflect that this was the first time I had been made aware that a student and I had made a connection, or that this teaching ministry had even made a difference in the way they studied and prepared, or viewed the world and their relationship with their Creator. This morning I was reading in the Psalms, and was directed to another affirmation needed to “press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14.) The obviously aging writer said, “But as for me, I will hope continually, and will praise you yet more and more. My mouth shall tell of Your righteousness and of your salvation all day long; for I do not know the sum of them. I will come with the mighty deeds of the Lord God; I will make mention of Your righteousness, Yours alone” (Psalm 71:14-16) Like the psalmist here, I am unable to keep track of the multitude of blessings of God on my life, and certainly “do not know the sum of them,” but I do understand that I am to be a living testimony of His working in my life as I have opportunity. And the opportunity He has given me at WCA is to shepherd 6th through 8th graders in the truth of how He works in the lives of His people. I want to relate to their struggles the best way I know how - by sharing my own. Paul said, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain” (1 Corinthians 15:10a,) and this affirmation was made clear again from the letters of my students. Yet, I know, as some of them astutely observed, that this work in their lives is not because of me, but because of Him who uses me as a vessel to bring light to their lives. Paul finished 15:10 by saying, “Yet not I, but the grace of God with me.” I am not the teacher…I am but a tool for the Teacher’s use. “O God, You have taught me from my youth, and I still declare Your wondrous deeds. And even when I am old and gray, O God, do not forsake me, until I declare Your strength to this generation, Your power to all who are to come” (Psalm 71:17-18.) I will “keep on keepin’ on,” and thanks to these wonderful kiddos and their heartfelt validation of this calling upon my life, I will embrace the days remaining and continue to declare to them, and those to come after them, that “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow” (James 1:17.) Thank you, Jesus. I love my job!
Posted on: Fri, 10 Oct 2014 11:11:13 +0000
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