A Good Lesson

Quoted from the Bull Sheet from Larimer County Sheriff's Office:

Martha Cothren is a social studies school teacher in Arkansas and the daughter of a World War II POW. On the first day of school a few years back and with the permission of school personnel, Martha removed all the desks out of her classroom. When the first period kids entered the room they discovered that there were no desks. Looking around, confused, they asked, “Ms. Cothren, where are our desks?” She replied, “You can’t have a desk until you tell me what you have done to earn the right to sit at a desk.” They thought, “Well maybe it’s our grades.” “No,” she said. “Maybe it’s our behavior.” She told them, “No, it’s not even your behavior.” And so they came and went, first period, second period, third period. Still, no desks in the classroom. By early afternoon, television news crews had started gathering in Ms. Cothren’s classroom to report about this crazy teacher who had taken all the desks out of her room.

The final period of the day came and as the puzzled students found seats on the floor of the deskless classroom, Martha Cothren said, “Throughout the day no one has been able to tell me just what he/she has done to earn the right to sit at the desks that are ordinarily found in this classroom. Now I am going to tell you.”

At this point, Martha Cothren went over to the door of her classroom and opened it. Twenty-seven U.S. Veterans, all in uniforms, walked into that classroom, each one carrying a school desk. The Vets began placing the desks in rows, and then they would walk over and stand alongside the wall. By the time the last soldier had set the final desk in place those kids started to understand, perhaps for the first time in their lives, just how the right to sit at those desks had been earned. Martha said, “You didn't earn the right to sit at these desks. These heroes did it for you. They placed the desks here for you. Now, it's up to you to sit in them. It is your responsibility to learn, to be good students, to be good citizens. They paid the price so that you could have the freedom to get an education. Don’t ever forget it.” If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you read it in English, thank a soldier.

Christian School Teaching

I taught Christian school for over 20 years. I would have to say I tried my best to teach the truth of God's Word most of the time. I can't absolutely say always because I'm sure there must have been times when I didn't teach everything correctly...but I tried.

I taught students that we are all sinners and have no hope of Heaven except through the love of Christ as expressed in His death on the cross. We are all equal as sinners and cannot save ourselves. This means we are equal whether we lie, are proud, take God's name in vain, participate in sexual deviation, murder or steal a dime out of a purse. No one has a claim to righteousness on his own account.

I know that some people think that if a person hates a certain sin, then he also must hate the person who is involved in the sin. Now, because we are fallible humans, that may end up being the case for some people. They cannot separate loving a person from hating his sin. And yet parents have to do this very thing all the time. They love their children no matter what, but they they still punish their children for disobedience, lying, backtalk, etc. God tells us to love people but not to love sin...ours or anyone else's.

Through the Scripture that we memorized in class, I taught that we should be humble (not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought), to be submissive to one another (think on the things of others), to be kind and tenderhearted, to put God first (in all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths).

I taught students to have the mind of Christ, to obey the laws, to be happy and joyful in the Lord, to follow God's will, to be involved in Church (the whole New Testament was written to and about churches or church members), to judge not lest we be judged, to respect other people, to witness and be a testimony for Christ.

I taught students that God's word says not to lie, steal, commit adultery, take the Lord's name in vain and to love God with the whole heart and the other commandments. Does these mean that I taught students to live and gain salvation by their works? Never! I taught that Scripture said that all our righteousness was as dirty rags. We are saved by grace and we are to live by grace, following the directions of God's Word for righteous, daily living.

From some of the things I've heard from various students, they claim to have been taught to hate others for their sins, to be judgmental, to live a list with nothing being taught about abiding and living by grace. I say those claims are NOT true at least from my perspective.

I personally do have trouble with pride and being judgmental at times. God still has to work on me all the time. Sometimes I think I would rather live as a hermit. It seems like that would be easier. But God does not have that plan for me. I wouldn't like it anyway.

I know I have been haranguing this morning. Please forgive. Remember God is always good and never makes mistakes. He always loves us in spite of our sin and problems. He is a wonder.

Volunteerism

On Sunday my husband and I went over to the pastor's house for dinner, which was very good--roast, potatoes, etc. While we were talking beforehand, I mentioned to the pastor that I had thought about our church having some five-day neighborhood Bible classes maybe in place of VBS. He didn't say, "That's an idea. Let's pray/think about it." He didn't say, "Tell me more about it." He didn't say, "I wonder what other programs or outreach could we have in the summer." He said, "Okay, when shall we schedule it?" He gave me some dates. I picked out the best time for me--the first full week in August-- and he said I am in charge and how many should we plan. So I'm going to be teaching at least two 5-day Bible clubs in August. I probably will be teaching a couple of training classes before that for others who want to participate.

I am both excited and flummoxed how quickly this was all decided. I kept looking at my husband to see what he thought about me doing all this. He never said anything. I asked him what he thought later when we were in the car. He said maybe I shouldn't teach more than two classes this year, and perhaps wait and see about having others handling the teaching in other neighborhoods just in case they don't know how or need to just help this first year.

I will need to take off half days from work to be able to do this. I think the pastor was excited too, because he wants to have outreach with our little church, and VBS hasn't worked very well in the past.

So again, the dye is cast, although in this case maybe the dye is still in its unopened container and changes could be made if necessary. Maybe God will use me to do something worthwhile.