Only in recent weeks, even days, have I started to think about the action heros, or movie athletes that stand on the brink of impossible disaster, what might be going through their heads. Because here I am a mere 36 hours from my debut as an actual teacher, and I have a pit in my stomach. Now over the past two weeks, my wonderful wife has helped me talk through my "career-shock," but there are some moments in the day when my stomach feels like the Smurfs are jumping up and down with soccer cleats on. Why does it happen? Why in those moments of change, newness, or 'first-timedness' do we get that pit?
I think back to the day I asked Stacia to marry me. We were on beautiful Huntington Beach, sun was shining, I had just bought a skim board, and I knew 2 things: there was a ring in my backpack, and that she WOULD say yes. Yet there it was again. That pit. Low and behold she did say yes, and that day the skim board tried to make me into a 6'3" pretzel on the beach, but that is besides the point. I had a huge pit, eventhough I knew what was going to happen.
I think that this is where faith comes in. I am starting a bible study that is covering 52 men of the bible. This week's is about Noah. The author described the scene leading up to the flood. The boat was not made in a day, but rather in years. Imagine years and years of building something larger than a football field, and having the most corrupt, mean, dis-likeable people mocking you every single day. (And a majority of those people are your family!)
Noah was in a moment of faith, where there was nothing else but his wife, his kids, and his God. Now for those of you who are curious, we are not building a boat on our balcony, but we are about to embrace a flood of newness unlike anything we have ever had before. For me this is an opportunity to follow God in his call. The 8th grade team leader asked all of us to share what brought us into teaching. I thought in my mind, it was a means for getting Stacia and me to Hong Kong! But the reality is, this is an act of faith. There is a lot that I am confident in when it comes to TEACHING 8th grade bible, in fact, that's not the part that is feeding my pit. The transformation into a TEACHER feeds my pit. Gradebooks, discipline, Powerteacher, Eclass, and SO MANY MEETINGS! (That unfortunately don't happen at McDonalds, Chipotle, or Fika Coffee).
2 Timothy 3:10-11 says "You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra, (Hong Kong!)-which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me. " Yet in all of my "stuff" that is happening, God is going to guide me, teach me, mold me and rescue me...even if that means rescuing me from myself!
All for now, I'll let you know how it goes this week!
Tdub
