Some of you may have read my previous post about Stratford HS. I just wanted to give a behind the scenes look at what happened there and what I've learned since I left. The first time I substituted at Stratford was for Mr. Bailey, a Calculus teacher. It was a 3 day job, and I was a little scared about going there. I had substituted at other schools in Metro for a couple of months, but I had always kept my distance with Stratford.
In my junior year at Vanderbilt, I took an intro to counseling course and we had several guest speakers come by. One time, we had four students come by to talk to us about the "International Day of Peace" initiative that they started at their high school. Apparently, there was a lot of gang violence at their high school and this project they started helped to curb the violence on campus. This high school was indeed Stratford High School. And I had no idea we even had gangs in Nashville, let alone all of this violence going on in school. It was very eye-opening to me.
So back to substitute teaching. When I accepted the job online for Stratford, my fiancee was kind of nervous (I had told her about our guest speakers in the counseling class). I was nervous too, and scared enough to drive Tara's car to the high school so I wouldn't be targeted. Tara drives a newer car than mine, a 2002 vs my 1993, but hers is a Chevy Cavalier, and mine is a modded Lexus SC400. Needless to say, I figured the Cavalier would be less of a target for thieves or "gang bangers".
Fast forward to today, I'm reading a very insightful book titled
When the Game is Over, It All Goes Back in The Box by John Ortberg. It talks about how no matter how you play the game of life- acquiring nice toys (cars, houses, etc) it all goes back in the box when you're done (or dead). Is life all about trying to acquire the most stuff? He talks about focusing our hearts and lives on trophies that are truly worth winning because they last forever. The only things we can take with us are the love we have for Christ, the love we have for each other, and our own souls.
In the middle of the book, the author is discussing God calling us to do something to further his kingdom and his will. Here's the reason for all this set-up, and all of the background information I just gave you. This is taken from p.142:
When God calls people to do something, their initial response is almost always fear. If there is a challenge in front of you, a course of action that could cause you to grow and that would be helpful to people around you, but you find yourself scared about it, there's a real good chance that God is in that challenge.
I was definitely called to work with the students at Stratford, and God prepared me for that journey from at least the time of my counseling class, and likely before in ways I couldn't see at the time. In the same manner, this experience with these children is preparing me for a greater journey in the future to handle similar problems and someday I will look back and remember this experience and remember how it prepared me well for the tasks I have yet to do.
Finally, I had a difficult time teaching high school. Everyday was a challenge. There were students ridiculing me (seriously, ones that weren't even my students!), gang members threatening me, students arguing with me, and just a general uneasiness that I would get robbed or my car broken into. God protected me through those months. He heard my prayers at lunchtime at my desk. He kept me safe from those troubles and provided me with a larger view of the situation and of the purpose he had for me at Stratford. He even used me to influence the lives of some of the students I taught.
So, I am thankful for what He has blessed me with, and the ways in which He has revealed himself to me this semester. It's not what I did that's amazing, but what He did that is truly amazing.
God makes us weak so he can show us His strength.
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