Family Grows

Something Strange

At 4:45 AM I prefer to be fast asleep. So when my alarm clock sounds it is agonizing to actually pull myself up and out of bed. I rarely even open my eyes as I walk across my room in a last ditch effort to stay asleep.  I have to shower, put on a skirt, fix my hair and put on make-up. Then I have to gather all my materials and leave by 5:45.  It is this same routine Monday through Friday. I force myself to get up along with the other forty or so people that are depending on me.  I am a teacher, along with three others, to two classrooms of teenagers wanting to learn about the Old Testament. It is strictly optional for them to be there before their high school day begins. I remind myself that if they can get up to learn, I can get up to teach. I am a volunteer and receive no monetary payment.

Much like the storyline of the movie Breakfast Club, these students are from different cliques and social groups. I have the jocks, the nerds, beauty queens, brainiacs, cheerleaders and band geeks. They meet together and drop their titles, somewhat, to learn how the word of God applies to them today; and it does.

When I taught about the strength of Samson, the jocks saw themselves in his power and then when his integrity caved into the trickery of Delilah they bemoaned his stupidity over a girl.  In the finality of Samson’s life, when his eyes are poked out and he is powerless and alone, we all felt the waste of his life and his God given gifts. The lesson learned from Samson was not to waste your life on false notions of power. Power comes from God and He can take it away.

When Samuel, the prophet, was looking for the next king, he went to the house of Jesse.  David was the youngest and weakest of all his brothers. In fact when Samuel sees Elaib, one of the older brothers, he basically says, “ Ok, this has to be the guy.” But the Lord tells Samuel to keep looking and not to look on the outward appearance. Then when young, unassuming David comes in from caring for his sheep, Samuel anoints him to be the next king. David becomes one of their greatest and most beloved kings. The nerds in my classroom were stoked. As the guys who never have the power in the halls at school, in the lunchroom or with the girls they saw one of their own exel. 

When King Ahasuerus chooses to make Esther his queen we discovered that she wasn’t just another pretty face. Esther, at the risk of her own life, saves her people from destruction. It was inspiring when we saw that one person’s courage can greatly affect the lives of many others. For those in the class that doubted, Esther reminded all of us that we can make a stand. 

One day we all went out into the parking lot and lit sparklers, in the dark, while we read from Isaiah 50:11 the passage,”Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks: walk in light the of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled...”  The instant message was when we have light we don’t bogart the gift. It no longer mattered if the preps hated the emos or the nerds hated the jocks. One person gave the fire to another until all the sparklers were flashing. It was a beautiful sight and it gave new meaning to being “lit”.

We have listed the warnings that Isaiah saw in our day;  pride, trusting in oneself instead of God, greedy desires to have more and more material things, no shame in sin, calling good evil and calling evil good, despising the word of God, failing to honor older people, taking advantage of the poor and failing to take care of them, emphasis on outward physical beauty at the expense of our good character and seeking the pleasures of the world instead of God. Isaiah was pretty clear on our day!

Today, we read the words of Ezekial in chapter 34: 2-3 where the Lord is mad at the shepherds of Israel for feeding themselves and not the flocks. As an object lesson I sat at a table and ate a plate of hot waffles, with strawberries and cool whip. The kids looked on while I stuffed my face. I made my point quickly and heard many sighs of relief when I passed out donuts to eat for the rest of the lesson. 

Getting up so early every day is worth it to be with these amazing kids. Seeing their lives begin to change I know I will never be the same. 

I recently read in a school text book that today’s scholars have decided that the Old Testament is merely the gathering of cute, fictional, anecdotal stories that were written by the sorely limited and unsophisticated of their day. 

I respectfully and passionately reject their theory. 

I simply know otherwise.