A Few Things About Teaching Kids

I’ve really been enjoying teaching the middle school class. I guess because for the last I don’t know how many years I’ve been teaching only adults.

I had it in my mind along with the class material to teach them other things… like how to greet people and how to be sociable.

In our day and time kids are intimidated by adults and don’t interact very well. A big reason for that is parents don’t encourage that concept or even discourage it by letting their kids CARRY CELL PHONES AND OTHER HANDHELD ELECTRONIC DEVICES that discourage interaction.

How fortunate then that we had a visitor in class this morning. I took the time to shake hands, introduce myself ask a few engaging questions, etc. Then I asked my students if they noticed what I had just done. Then we went on to reading a scripture and I commented to my students that they had been rude to our guest because no one had offered him a Bible. Then we read out of the lesson book and I commented… failed again! No one had offered him a lesson book or to share a lesson book. We proceeded on and Weston (on his own) passed the visitor a pencil. Boom!!!

I also told them that frequently I see them pass by me at church and not even look at me or say a word. I told them that makes me feel like I don’t even exist that I am invisible and am meaningless in their sight. One of them said they don’t like being the first one to say hello. Jeremy (my assistant teacher) said… someone has to be first!

When I took over the class no one was bringing their Bibles so I made a rule that everyone had to bring their own Bible. Last week I told them that even though they were not adults yet they were going to start acting like adults in my class and bring their Bibles and have their lessons done.

Today I mentioned that in the scriptures Christians are compared to Roman soldiers and I asked them what the sword represented. They didn’t know but I told them the sword is the Word of God (the Bible) and it was an offensive and defensive weapon. We made the point that our sword was our best friend and we keep our best friend with us all the time… we don’t leave it laying around or losing it. We don’t come to Bible class expecting to use some of the swords that are left scattered lying around the room and we don’t borrow a sword. We have our own swords and we cherish them and become intimately familiar with them. Everyone had their sword today.

Today I gave them four points about rules for interpreting the Bible and told them I was going to test them on it. Then I wrote it on the board to not only exercise their ears but also their eyes. Then I pointed out that even though I said I was going to test them on it… no one had written it down. They wasted no time scribbling them down.

Part of my class is to also to challenge their parents. I asked them what they did on the way home from church. Several said they listened to music. So now they have questions to ask their parents on the way home (no more music) like what does hypocrite mean and what is the Latin derivation of the word and can they (their parents) think of any other words that start with “hypo-“ They are also supposed to quiz their parents about rules for interpreting the Bible.

I also used the young visitor as a foil. I told them he could have asked his parents… Where are we going to church tomorrow? His Dad would respond… Parkway. The student could say… I wonder what they are going to be studying in class because I want to be prepared… Dad can you call and find out?

Any way you can see I like to challenge (mess with) them and get the parents more involved. Thanks for entrusting their care with me. I wish you good luck.

Wild Cattle and Wild Husbands

The peak period for cattle drives from South Texas to the rail heads in Kansas was in the 1870s. The Vaquero/Cowboys of South Texas would chase down and rope wild cattle in the brush to build a herd. Usually they had to tie off those wild cattle to Mesquite trees and then let them choke down a little until they could be managed.

One of their tools was to take domesticated oxen… steers that had been trained to pull wagons, etc. frequently weighing 2500 pounds or so. The vaqueros would hobble their oxen to those wild steers and turn them loose. Eventually the ox would pull the steer home because they were used to being fed grain corn twice a day… and really liked it

That concept reminds me of this verse…

“In the same way you wives must submit yourselves to your husbands, so that if any of them do not believe God's word, your conduct will win them over to believe. It will not be necessary for you to say a word” (1 Peter 3:1).

Now I’m not saying that a wife is an Ox or that a husband is a wild Steer but what I am saying is that sometimes husbands have certain notions that they need to be trained out of and it doesn’t do any good at all for a wife to continually harp on those notions. The text says that a godly woman can change her husband not by words but by behavior.

By definition that means it’s going to be a time consuming process that requires “patience in well doing”.

You can imagine that 2500 pound Ox hobbled to a 1000 pound steer slowly pulling that beast back to the ranch house where the steer finds out that a diet of corn is actually tastier than just eating grass and mesquite beans.

All I’ve got to say to you wives is keep pulling… you have the advantage because God is on your side and that wild untamed husband of yours will thank you one day (unless you ship him to the railheads in Kansas to be slaughtered… lol).

Stormy Seas and Faith

Mark 4, records in just one paragraph a story of Jesus and his disciples in a boat when a storm whips up. The disciples wake Jesus exclaiming “Teacher do you not care that we are about to perish?” at which time Jesus spoke the winds and rough seas into silence.

Jesus didn’t include this story in the Gospel narrative because he was short on miracles or needed to fill a little space.

Jesus had just taught on the shore of this very sea some stories about the coming Kingdom. He taught about sowing seed and the productivity of faith planted in a faithful heart. He also taught about the mystery of how a seed is transformed into a plant and the coming harvest. Lastly he taught that the kingdom was like a planted mustard seed and how such a small seed could turn into a big plant.

And then at the culmination of this teaching about the Kingdom he gets into a boat and crosses the sea and the winds blow, the sea is churned up and the disciples fear that they are going to drown. Like they expected the headlines of the Jerusalem newspaper the next morning would read... "Jesus and Disciples Drown During Freak Storm on the Sea of Galilee".

It’s like they haven’t been listening… nothing can stop the coming of the Kingdom and their role in it… not stormy seas, not earthquakes, nothing can stop the Kingdom!

Jesus included this story at the culmination of his teaching to test their understanding and their faith and they came up a little short in the faith department. But… that’s okay because the building of faith is a process and Jesus was patient with his disciples just as God is patient with us.

There may be some stormy seas ahead of us too but just remember… Jesus can calm the stormiest of seas. Have a little faith in him because he has a plan for us.

David the Shepherd Boy Who Would Become King

From his youth David shepherded his father’s flocks of sheep. In all probability he carried his camping equipment on a cart. He would build his own fire and cook his own meals and clean up after himself. His dad would send him supplies from time to time. Shepherds might spend months to years away from towns and town life.

During the day he watched the sheep graze all day long and cared for all their needs. Undoubtedly he helped the ewes deliver their lambs and helped clean them up and assisted them in learning how to nurse and whatever else they needed.

During his free time he became expert with a sling and could kill (with a stone) an eagle that might prey upon a baby lamb. Those sling propelled stones could also fend off and kill larger predators like wolves, coyotes, lions, etc.

David also in his hours of being alone learned to play musical instruments and composed songs. Those songs were sung to his audience of sheep to calm them down when needed. David also spent a lot of time looking at nature and contemplating God… praying and singing songs of praise to him.

David learned to be Shepherd of Israel by shepherding sheep. He understood about taking care of God’s flock of people and seeing to their needs. He killed the Philistine giant Goliath who was threatening God’s flock Israel with a sling propelled rock to the head just like he had done many times before when predators threatened his sheep.

David sang to his people about God and wrote poetry about the God he had learned about while tending sheep. Nature is a great teacher.

When David was off in those far away pastures grazing sheep he had no idea he would one day be King of Israel (and no one else did either) but God knew. You may think you have the smallest and most insignificant job in the world but set your eyes and the course of your life on God because God can do great things with humble people.

Just Visiting

Larry and I went to visit a young man today who grew up at Parkway but hasn’t attended in a long time. His father has passed away but his mother still attends. I guess I’m writing this to encourage others to go visit.

I’ve kept up with this young man on Facebook and know that to this date he still mourns the passing of his father. After we sat around the kitchen table and shared a few pleasantries I asked him why he wasn’t coming to church. He said that he is engaged in some activities that are not consistent with being a Christian.

I told him that I respected that he didn’t want to be a hypocrite, but I advised him that he should still attend anyway and give Christianity a chance. That he might hear something that would motivate him to clean up some of those behaviors in his life.

I also told him the truth that his dad was a very godly man and that if his dad could send him a message from heaven he would tell him to rebuild his faith. Then I told him he could be very influential to his siblings and nieces and nephews.

Finally I told him that it looked like he had been working out and challenged him to an arm wrestling match if he would attend next Sunday morning. Of course he’s in his thirties and I’m fast approaching 65 so he agreed. That match lasted several minutes and several times I had his arm on the table but never could “break” his wrist. Because we are friends I could say things like “the Devil is really strong in this one” and “looks like he really doesn’t want to go to church”. Finally we were both breathing hard and we both gave up.

He did say he had to work next Sunday but wasn’t sure if it was Sunday morning or Sunday night. I take that as good news.

I told Larry on the way back that he would always remember that we cared enough to come and see him and that well after I’m dead and buried he would remember that he arm wrestled Mr. Perkins who cared about his soul’s salvation.

Managing Anger with Subjection

An old friend of mine told a joke that goes something like this… an older guy tells a younger guy, they’re two theories about how to calm down an angry woman. The younger fellow quickly asks what are they? The older gent replies… it doesn’t matter because neither one of them work (they’re just unproven theories).

That’s pretty funny, especially to men, but the truth is that anger is not gender specific… everybody gets angry… men and women. There may be a lot of “theories” about anger but the truth is that God’s word has “factual” information about anger.

Here’s a fact about controlling anger… subjection. It’s hard to get into a “knock down drag out” if one of the parties is demonstrating subjection… which by the way is commanded of Christians (Eph. 5:21).

So what does subjection look like? Consider Sarah and Abraham…

“For this is how the holy women of the past adorned themselves. They put their hope in God and were subject to their husbands, just as Sarah obeyed Abraham and called him lord. You are her children if you do what is right and refuse to quiver in fear.”

Imagine if you were angry with your wife and had your dander up and were fixing to blow your fuse and she quietly got on her knees and bowed her head and said… I’m sorry please forgive me (Lord).

That will take the wind out of your sails and the good ship Anger will come to a dead stop.

There’s a lot of theories and advice your un-godly friends might give you about how to handle anger, but if anger is a problem in any of your relationships you might want to listen to God.

"What Then is The Law?"

“What then is the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise has been made…” Galations 3:19

Here’s an interesting passage. The referenced Law is the Law given to Moses on Mount Sinai. It was a written Law that regulated almost every aspect of Jewish life.

From Adam to Moses there was no written Law. God communicated to the people either directly or through prophets. From Moses to Jesus there was the written Law of Moses given on Mount Sinai. From Jesus onward there was again no written law (on stone or parchment). All communication from God was given through his son… Jesus Christ.

The Galations passage explains the need for a written Law. It was needed because God was unhappy with the sinful conduct of the people. In addition it was needed to prepare the people for the coming of Jesus Christ and his superior Law. The Law of Moses micro-managed almost every aspect of Jewish life. The Law of Jesus liberated the Jews and gave them freedom (from the Law) in its simplicity.

With the coming of Jesus we no longer have a law written on stone or parchments. Christ’s law is written on our hearts (2 Corinthians 3:3). The Law that specifically is written on our hearts is to love God and to love our fellow man (Matthew 22:34-40 and John 13:34).

So then an important question comes up… what is the New Testament? Is it analogous to the Law of Moses?

The answer is no. Christ’s Law is written on our hearts. The New Testament is the Christ authorized and Holy Spirit inspired writings of the Apostles (primarily) that explains to us the details of how we apply the Law that is written on our hearts.

A Law written on our hearts is a law we carry with us each and every day. What a great joy and blessing!