Life-Changing

So you know all those cheesy "teacher" sayings...how teaching is a work of heart; and those who care teach...yeah I get tired of all of those little "ditties." Especially teaching in a private school where we work for half of a public school salary and when sometimes we feel like the cons outweigh the pros. But then something like last Monday happens and I remember those silly cheesy sayings and that there indeed is some truth to them.

Last Monday I was teaching a Bible lesson on the first Passover. We had followed Moses' life thus far and I had given the Salvation message several times already this year in my class. We continued talking about the "perfect lamb" and how it was a picture of Jesus to come, and how the lamb's blood covered the door posts just like Jesus' blood covers the sins in our lives if we've asked Him to come live in our heart. One of my kids had several questions. (Sometimes they have harder questions than I can answer and they're only 7 and 8!!) But I kind of wrote him off because he always has questions. Usually not the kind that go with what we're talking about.

To end the lesson, we prayed and I told the kids that I wasn't going to pray the salvation prayer aloud with them today. I told them I wanted them to come talk to me about it if they had questions or if they had never asked Jesus into their hearts. **Please take note that it's not because I don't care, but usually for lack of time that I do this, and also, I was one of those kids that asked Jesus into my heart 50 times -- just as a precaution. I don't want my kids to feel forced into this in any way, or feel peer pressure to do it. We talk lots about it being a personal choice.**

Well, I forgot about our lesson as we dove ahead into math and subtracting two-digit numbers with regrouping. ("Borrowing" for you old-school-ers.) I always seem to have my hands full when I teach this section of our math book! We broke for snack time at 10:15 and I was busy giving a spelling test to one who had missed it the previous Friday, correcting papers, and cleaning out Friday folders. Near the end of snack time, Kyle came up and said "Mrs. Steed I wanna ask Jesus into my heart." I about melted. Here I was, worried about all that I had to do that day, what I was teaching next, and how to help certain ones of my kids, and God was working!!

First you need some background on this kid. He's not one that typically pays a lot of attention. While he's not generally a behavior problem, he rarely focuses for longer than 5 minutes on anything unless it's a TV, or animated. He comes from a rough background and that seems to be the cause of much unrest in his life. He asks off-the-wall questions about the Bible, usually not related to anything we are discussing at the moment. I often find myself lost, wondering: what made him think of that?! So, to have him first of all REMEMBER what we had talked about in Bible, then to have him UNDERSTAND what he wanted to do, and finally to APPROACH me on his own without prompting, was nothing short of a miracle in and of itself.

Back to my story...well, I asked Kyle if he understood what he was about to do; did he believe that Jesus came to earth, lived a perfect life, died on the cross for our sins, and then rose again three days later. He said he understood so I prayed with him and had him repeat after me the "Sinner's Prayer." Honest-to-goodness, folks, I have never seen a kid more excited about anything in my life-- even more than about Santa Clause! I told him how proud I was of him, and for the next two days proceeded to brag on him every chance I had.

I'm not going to lie, I was a bit skeptical if he was just doing it for attention or not. However, as the days wore on last week, I saw little changes in his life that could only come from Jesus. He was more settled, payed better attention, and just seemed genuinely more at peace with his little life. Who, I ask you, could do this?? Only the Great Physician himself! I was in awe. I am in awe.

It's these times that remind me: THIS is why I teach. This is the reason I am on earth. Not just to educate, but to influence lives for the Kingdom. Last summer I was really convicted to live with an "eternal mindset." PEOPLE are what matters. People's SOULS are what really matter. Whether they are adults or kids, people matter. As a teacher in a private Christian school, it is my duty to live with eternal mindset. I am reminded that no case is too far from the hand of Christ. No situation is too hard, no sin is too big. Praise the Lord, one more life has been added to the Lamb's Book of Life!!!