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Fernando's Prayer During my first year of teaching, I learned many, MANY things. However one that stands out was when I realized that while I loved all my students, certain ones really wormed their way into your heart. Fernando was a special kid. He had a way of lighting up whatever room he was in. Not only was his voice exceptionally louder than the others but also his smiley energy was contagious. He was a natural born leader who mostly used his powers for good and one after noon on the playground, he revealed just how special he truly was.
It was a brisk day in early fall in the suburbs of Chicago and we were at recess. The older kids had been playing a game of soccer until one of the bigmouth six grade boys had kicked the ball up into a tree. Fernando had been enjoying a game of tag with the other K-2nd grade students but this giant commotion of the lost ball had everyone concerned. The older students began throwing other balls at the tree, hoping to knock the original ball just enough to bring it down. Every student wanted to be the hero. However, no one thought of ways to work together to get it down until second grader, Fernando piped up. That morning at worship, I had read an Uncle Arthur’s Bedtime story about two brothers who had lost a ball in a field. They had searched for days for this ball and finally, a week later, decided to pray and ask God to help them find the lost ball. Recalling this story, sweet Fernando started hollering, “We should pray guys, we should pray that the ball comes down.” Unlike many of the students attending North Aurora SDA School, Fernando was not an Adventist. He was my student who came to me with questions such as, “What is the Sabbath?” and “What does "take the Lord's name in vain mean?” But low and behold, he was my student hollering about prayer. Unfortunately, like most middle school students do, they ignored Fernando and his precious idea. As the Christian teacher, I probably should have stepped in and made them listen to him but keep in mind I was a first year teacher in the first few months of teaching. I made lots of mistakes. But what unfolded next showed me that God doesn’t give up on us, He shines through our mistakes. After walking away from the older kids and back to the playground I see Fernando asking Abraham (a kindergartener) to pray with him for the ball. Next thing I know, two of the youngest kiddos at our school are on their knees, praying that God will bring the ball down from the tree. My heart jumped with joy as I watched Fernando lead out in such a beautiful way. He was a natural born leader, making a difference, one kindergartener at a time. Days later, the ball did come out of the tree. Fernando saw that his prayer was answered. Unfortunately, his family left our school shortly after this event and I don’t know if he is continuing to get to know Jesus or not. I pray that the seeds planted in his heart will grow and ultimately help us meet again in Heaven someday. <September 2015> |
The Blustery Day Fall in North Aurora was amazing. The crisp autumn breeze was truly a magical experience. On this particular day in early October, the leaves were just starting to change colors and it was a very blustery day! It was a three-day weekend and somehow, I got inspired to do some cleaning at school. Since I had started teaching in that classroom, there was this one closet that had been mocking me everyday. It’s disorganized chaos was driving me crazy. So, I took it upon my self to organize it the best I could. Unfortunately, once I got started, I soon realized that most of the contents belonged to my other teacher, meaning I probably shouldn’t make all of it “disappear” if you know what I mean. I was able to purge some of it, which was a wonderful feeling. I had two garbage cans full of things to roll out to the dumpster that was clear on the opposite side of the parking lot. Recognizing that I would in fact need to take two trips, I set out with the first load. As I opened the door to the elements, I felt the wind push against the trashcan. Thinking that I could withstand the “gentle” breeze I continued. On the top of this first load was an extremely unfortunate item. It was a box full of expired coupons for a lice treatment. Why were we still storing these? No one will ever know. I think God had been storing these coupons to teach me a lesson in patience. As I stepped away from the wind cover of the church building something dreadful happened. A gust of wind caught the bottom of the box of coupons and sent them flying into the air. As I turned around, to my dismay, I saw roughly 300 hundred 5-inch coupons strewn all over the empty parking lot.
And as I began running around the parking lot, frantically stuffing as many expired coupons into my pockets as possible, I smiled to myself because I realized that God is continually providing us with opportunities to grow. In a moment that I was physically alone, exhausted, and frustrated, I realized He was taking care of me. And there in the middle of the chaos I laughed and thanked God for this opportunity to practice patience. <2015> |