Teachers

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Psalm 119:99 I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes. (NIV)

There’s an old joke from Scotland about a wee boy who comes back from his first day of school. His mom asks him how it went and he answers: “It was okay, but I don’t need to go back. The teacher told me she can’t teach me anything.”

Our teachers went back to school this week hoping that the young hearts and minds in their classes will be open to instruction and lessons. My wife is the best teacher that I know. She prepares hours of work for the classroom each day. Throughout the summer, she was poring over new textbooks and writing out exercises for the children. Every weekend, she brings home a whole bunch of papers to grade and new textbooks to read.

Like most other teachers, she’s devoted to the well-being and education of the children under her care. She teaches in public school which has many pressures attached to the job. Her life is invested in the future success of her students. Some of them don’t realize this, of course; but many of them are truly thankful to her when she meets them years later. It always amazes and pleases me when former students come up to her to thank Evelyn for the one year of fifth grade that she taught them. For most of them, it’s a turning point in their lives.

I’ve always been thankful for my teachers. I wouldn’t be where I am today without their gifts of instruction. I’m also thankful that the greatest teacher in my life is also the Son of God. His words and ways influence the challenges and choices that I face each day. His lessons of life confront my selfish and foolish deeds. His teaching is a turning point in my life each day. I may not be perfect and holy. I still say and do stupid things, but Christ’s patient and forgiving nature teaches me a lot about faith and helps me through each day.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are the Great Teacher of life, the universe, and everything. We thank You for Your words and stories, Your parables and lessons that show us what life is all about. We also pray for the teachers in our schools whose devotion to their profession changes young lives. Bless them for their gifts and skills, their patience and hard work. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

The School Bully

John 12:27 "Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. (NIV)

I was bullied at elementary school by an ugly looking kid who just loved to terrorize me. I hated going to school because I knew that at some point in the day, he was going to get in my face and scare the living daylights out of me. What made matters worse was that he was in a grade below me and his friends really got a kick out of watching me squirm.

It got so bad that I came up with different ways of going to school. I volunteered to help put milk in crates early in the morning, so that I could come in by the teachers’ entrance and avoid the playground bully. I stayed late in school helping my teacher clear up the classroom, so that I could avoid meeting the bully at the school gates. I even started to remain in class during breaks to get away from any confrontation or trouble. I was isolating myself because of my fear. I was making myself ill with worry, too.

One day my teacher noticed that I was in the classroom during a break when the sun was shining outside. She told me to get out and play with the other kids. I reluctantly headed to the playground, but before I could meet up with my friends, I bumped into the bully. He started his usual name calling and pushing, and his friends were laughing all around me. And then something flipped inside of me and I shouted out those dreaded words of challenge, “Your fight’s on at four!” Everyone was silent and then the bully sniggered as he walked away.

I was sick for the rest of the day. I knew that at 4.00pm my life was over as I knew it. Hardly anyone in the class would talk to me and I felt a bit like Gary Cooper in High Noon. When the final bell rang, I headed out to the playground, feeling as though I was doomed for my execution. And then something wonderful happened.

The bully was nowhere to be seen. He was gone. Someone said that he had run out of school as fast as he could when the four o’clock bell rang. No one had ever challenged him before, so I guess I had called him out and discovered he was a coward, just like me. After that day, he never bothered me again. I had faced my fear and overcame my trouble.

When Jesus faces His troubles, He has all the power in the universe at His disposal. He could easily have defeated His enemies and overcome His troubles with His almighty strength. But instead, He chooses to confront His affliction by remaining obedient to God. It was not the easy way out. It was the hardest test of His character that He had experienced up till that point.

We all have different ways of dealing with our troubles. If we avoid them, then we will probably undergo more misery. However, if we confront those hard issues and events in our lives by relying upon our faith in Jesus, He will give us the ability to endure all things and the strength to overcome our fears.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, our lives are complicated by the troubles we experience and the hardships we endure. We are hurt by other people and we fear confrontation. Grant us the will to be assertive without being aggressive, and the power to be righteous without becoming self-righteous. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.