The Night Before

Those blue eyes scanned the brightly lit classroom today, and I couldn't help but choke back the inevitable tears.  Wasn't I just nursing this boy?  Feeding him his first bottle?  Teaching him to walk? Isn't this the boy who just yesterday, could barely pronounce the word, "teacher"?  And now, he's having quite the entertaining conversation with his soon to be teacher about the color of apples.  As they say, "where does the time go"?

Oh, I have wrestled with and prayed over and read and contemplated and discussed and agonized over the "right" way to educate this young man.  And I feel a thousand things all at once...that I'm giving my son over to someone else to raise; that I'm sending him into a system that will do whatever it can to disillusion him and dampen his spirit; that because of the social pressure he'll experience, he'll never be the innocent, sweet boy that he is now.  He'll encounter talk of drugs, sex, disdain for one's parents, long before I ever did....and I was too young.

Yet, I also feel a sadness for the thousands of souls who walk through the doors of public schools every day in America that have never heard the name of Jesus.  They walk through those doors alone, and carry burdens they were never meant to bear.  They are lonely, weak, tired, and broken.  Some attempt to fill the emptiness with accomplishments and dreams of success, others with friendships and acceptance at any cost.  Their parents send them to school to learn the truth; and yet, they wont encounter the fullness of the truth there...unless, of course, they encounter Jesus Christ Himself.

This is where we believe our calling lies.  We have enrolled our son in public school not because it is the "best" way to educate him; not because we think we can keep him from succumbing to all the temptations it offers way too early in life; not because I don't have confidence in my own ability to teach my children; but because our God has called us as a family to form relationships with people within the public school system that desperately need Him, and show them His unfailing love.  I say this weakly and strongly.  My flesh is weak- I'm certainly afraid of my sweet boy being chewed up and spit out by mean kids, uncaring teachers, and high-sounding empty  philosophy.  Yet, I am strong, because:

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths."

I don't know if God will have us stick with public school for 12 months or 12 years.  All I can say is that we are trusting Him, and are very much looking forward to seeing how He directs our paths.  Please come along with us and see how God works in us and our soon-to-be friends in a place that cries out for His love.