a clanking spoon

My rambunctious class of 7th grade students came into my classroom Wednesday morning to a different tune.  Believe me I wish I had to tell them get started on your morning journal, have a seat, lets get to work, but not this morning.  All I hear is my spoon clanking against my oatmeal cup, and sniffles.  All I see are red, blood shot, wet eyes.  I have a class of 28 7th graders staring at the board life less.  Their emotions and feelings are evident.  They miss their friend.  The boy they went to school with for 5 years in elementary school.  The boy they played basketball with in the street.  The boy that they thought they would see this weekend at a birthday party.  The boy that is no longer around.  Death Sucks.  It Sucks.  There is no way around it.  No sugar coat.  It hurts.  What hurts me is the pain I see in them.  This student was redistricted to a neighboring middle school yet I hurt too.  This kid.  13 years in.  An entire life ahead.  An age where they think, "this won't happen to me" and then it does.  Clank... Clank... Clank... so is my spoon in my oatmeal.  Now... do I teach?  Nope.  I give them paper... let them sit...  Here I am.  Typing away.  Watching.  These kids are hurting.  They are writing.  They are drawing.  They are learning to deal.  They are learning a lesson I could never teach.  Only one that is learned with experience.   Clank... Clank.. Clank.  The worst sound in the world. 

who are you

Have I told ya'll how much I love my job?  Seriously, I love everyday.  I love every challenge.  I love the craziness that comes with each kid.  The good and the bad!  One of the last units I have to plan for health is a Character Unit.  Character? you ask.  Yep.  In a society that has given up on respect, I'm teaching it.  So, I'm pumped.  I have goals.  I have visions.  One kid at a time.  There are 450 lives I touch every nine weeks directly, and the remaining 450 I influence simply by my attitude and the extra circulars.  Don't read to much into these previous statements, I'm not at all trying to seem like some super hero, I'm just saying... I have a huge responsibility and with that a very large need for prayer.  What can you help me pray for?  Well, first off Strength.  I need guidance and wisdom in each word, action, and lesson I teach (purposely or just by being a teacher).  They can't know him unless we show him!  I am not quitting on changing a generation.  I am not quitting on changing what is culturally acceptable.  This is a generation of Possibility and Promise.  Prayer to infuse purpose into each life.  This is my mission field.  This is my prayer!  Pray for me on this mission field!   

good friends

There is nothing better in this world than a good friend.  Let me explain on this.  A good friend is there when you need them, gives advice (good and bad), knows you better than anyone, can read you from the look on your face, and will call you out on things you don't want to hear.  Erin called me out on rejoicing.  I am at the age where it's hard to find single, childless friends.  I am also at the point where I have lost the companionship of rejoicing in what God is doing.  The celebrating.  I was starting to loose the joy of celebrating in the little ways God is working through me into the lives of the kids.  Erin busted me on that.  So... I'm going to bust you.  No matter how crazy the day is, take time to celebrate in the little ways God is working.  It could be the truth you spoke over a kid.  It could have been the way you showed extra kindness to the boy who really got on your nerves today.  It may even be the comment, "your not like most" leading to the response, "it's Jesus."  Celebrate what God is doing.  Big and Small.  Because when you celebrate, you are praising Him for all he is in you and through you!