Blessed

Over the last 5 years I have had many people come up to me and ask me what I do for a living. I tell them I am a teacher. Most people smile at me in approval. Then comes that next question what grade do you teach. I reply back with middle school (7^th and 8^th). The replies to this are usually a little funnier I have heard

- God Bless You

- Takes a Special person

Oh my

- What is wrong with you?

Did you get stuck in Middle school and you really wanted elementary?

- My favorite response was there will be more jewels on your crown in heaven some day.

Anyways I love middle school kids. I love my job. This all came to even more of a realization for me today when I was thinking about my stop at the teacher store yesterday.

I stopped at the teacher store to find some things for my classroom. I found a poster that said Be still and know that I am God with a beautiful picture in the background. While I searched around the store I saw others carrying items and things for their classrooms and I did not envy them a bit. I may get paid less, I may have more classes to teach, I may have more hats to wear (counselor, teacher, mom, nurse, doctor, pastor, etc), I may even have more gray hair but I am blessed. I took my poster to the check out and the two ladies checking out both commented on my poster that I was purchasing. All I could say is “it is the blessing of teaching in a Christian school I get to hang that in my room all year.” I am blessed. I get to talk about my best friend Jesus in class. I get to stop in the middle of my Geography class and pray for missionaries or religious persecution of the area we are studying. I can give a student a hug, cry with them, love on them in the name of Jesus and I will not get fired. I get to read faith journals, hear lifesong speeches, and witness the spiritual formation of teenagers everyday for 9 months. I get paid to open the Word of God and read it and discuss it with students. I am blessed. The poster is going in the back of my room so every time I get up to teach my students I will see it and be reminded of the incredible blessing that I have to combine my passion for kids, my gift of teaching with my favorite thing- JESUS! Wow I am blessed- Thank you God.

May my teaching drop as the rain, my speech distill as the dew, like gentle rain upon the tender grass, and like showers upon the herb.- Deuteronomy 32:2

KB Taxi Service

The other night the KB taxi service was on yet another call. There was much in this adventure that reminded me of God.
My friend and I were sitting in the area where the families wait for their loved one to arrive at the airport. The song that the Lord has been giving me came to my head. While I'm waiting I will serve him. While I'm waiting I will worship. So I decided to serve Him while I was waiting. I made conversation with the couple behind me about their son even though I did not know the language they spoke. I saw the people get off the plane that did not have a loved one waiting and I thought how sad. While I am waiting I will serve Him.
On the drive home it was super super foggy. It was dark. This drive got me to thinking about my own life. There are so many days that I drive in the fog and I can not see anything that is front of me. Actually that has been life for most of the last year. All I can see is the thirty feet in front of me. Whenever I try to see more or want to see more the Lord does not allow it. God told me to stay in Pella for one more year. I had my resume sent, place to go, and was ready to put the house on the market and go. God said stay. So in that fog I stayed between the solid white line and the dash line. On that drive the fog caused the window to fog as well. I could not see very well. The only way I could see was if I put the heat up to 90 and blow the window clean. In the meantime I got really really warm and so did my passengers. Sometimes God turns the heat way up on me. Sometimes he gives me pressures, frustrations, or life experiences that cause me discomfort and high heat. When I opened the window and let it flow in the heat was not so bad. I need to allow God to open the window for me and allow his presence to fill me when those heated moments come in my life.
In all the craziness of the waiting and the not being able to see, and the heat we made it home. We dropped off the taxi service customer at home. God is going to do the same thing for me. In my waiting he will will teach me to serve and worship. In the fog he will teach me to trust and just follow between the lines that he has for me. In the heat he will teach me to rely on him and allow himself to fill me. No matter what happens God is going to take me home safely. That is a good feeling!

Why Wait Grab a Snickers....or GOD!

Today God met me. I kind of like this no work thing. I am really been able to listen to God. Also, with this newfound freedom I have time to actually jot life down.
God’s theme for me is Wait and Abide.
Wait like in Psalm 33: 20-22. Abiding like in one of my favorite passages John 15.

So in a few quiet moments I got to thinking about waiting. I got to thinking about all the times in my life when I have had to wait or observed people waiting.

This all started because my students said in the last weeks of school I cannot wait until summer vacation. I would ask the students why they couldn’t wait for summer vacation and they listed off a bunch of things that they loved about it. My kids would ask me too if I could not wait until summer vacation and I would be honest and say YES! When they asked me the question why I would tell them. I get to spend time with my family. I get to go fishing and boating at the lake house. I get to go to baseball games. I can stay up late if I want to. I can travel wherever I want. I can get reacquainted with old friends and some new ones. The opportunities are endless.

Another time I remember waiting. It was the fall of 2006. I just got my ticket paid for after saving for years The hotel was booked, the activities planned. But… I had to wait until March to take the trip of a lifetime with four people I love to paradise Hawaii. We had countdowns and we were all full of excitement. I can still remember the day before I left. I packed and repacked. I was so excited. The plane ride from Omaha to Kauai was so long. I had to wait. The entire way we kept saying I couldn’t believe we are doing this. I cannot believe this is happening. We had the time of our life for 10 days. The wait was well worth it.

I remember having family members have tests done at the hospital for cancer and having to wait or the results. Sometimes the wait was painful and sometimes the wait was worth it when you heard the words it came back clear.

I am watching my best friend plan her wedding in September and I am sure the wait is hard. Day after day she waits for that day when she gets to marry her prince charming. But. I know that on that beautiful day in September when I get to stand behind her (probably crying) the wait will be worth it.

I have seen friends have babies. I watch them wait and prepare for 9 months for that baby to come. They have showers, paint rooms, take classes, and more to prepare. At the end of the nine months the proud parents have a cute bundle of joy that I am almost positive all parents would say he or she was worth the wait.

This got me thinking about two things.
1. Why do I not have that same joy and excitement about Jesus coming back? That feeling that I had before I went to Hawaii was one of a kind. The joy I felt as each day got closer. The smile I had as I stepped off that plane into paradise. Yet I do not do that with Jesus. I wake up like it is just another day. Just another day to teach. Just another to run errands, go grocery shopping, mow the lawn. Just another day to coach a game or watch a favorite TV show. Just another day to live. I realize I need to wake up like I did that morning of Hawaii and expect to see, experience and be loved on by Jesus. Maybe just maybe Jesus will return that day.
2. The other thing I realized is at the end of each of the waits I listed above was complete joy and celebration at the end. The joy of a summer vacation, a trip, a baby, a wife or husband, a life saved. So I ask myself why do I worry and doubt in the wait? The wait was a time to prepare me, shape me, mold me, change me, and grow. In the end the wait was worth it. Even when it is hard, painful, or even breaks you to wait it is worth it. So in the words of Snickers… why wait? Wait because in the waiting God does some amazing things and teaches us incredible things so finally at the end of the waiting he can bring us that joy we deserve and always wanted. So for now I will wait for Jesus to come back and wait for God’s plans to unfold.

Grace Like Rain

Last week while I was at Bethel Seminary Tuesday morning some excitement and a lesson on grace. I woke up Tuesday morning in my dorm room to a few sprinkles. By the time I was finished getting ready it was pouring. I had two options. 1. I could get wet walking to my car to drive to class. 2. I could walk to the car and get my umbrella. 3. I could suck it up and walk across campus in the rain. I chose option 3. I put my hood up and walked fast to class. I trampled up and down stairs through trees, and large puddles. By the time I got to class my pants were soaking wet, my sweatshirt drenched, my hair looked like a soggy dog, and my coffee watered down. Most mornings on that walk I prayed. I prayed for a friend in Ghana. I prayed for cohort members who have moved on to new adventures. I prayed for my classmates away from families. I prayed for my classmates’ ministries. I prayed for classmates need for jobs, selling their house, or peace. I prayed for our professor. This wet raining morning I found myself praying through song for myself. The words of Todd Agnew flooded my head like the water was flooding me.

Alleluia Grace like rain falls down on me. Alleluia All my stains are washed away. Washed away. My stains that day were washed away. The sin that has marred my life was washed from me physically that morning. The story got better. I walked in to the bathroom to see the damage the cleansing has done to me and there on the bench in the woman’s bathroom was a water bottle with a piece of paper underneath the bottle. The piece of paper in large letters said GRACE. I do not know why it was there or who put it there. I know it was God reminding once again that morning of the incredible grace that he offers. The rest of the day I could not help but smile at the reminder of grace that God gave me that morning. A reminder we all need sometimes even if it takes feeling like a soggy dog to do so.