"Well how much was the ticket?"
"I don't know, I just gave it to my Mom"  

"I was going to, but it was hard"

"It was kindness week at my school...And I didn't"

"What if a mute person has no hands"


Thursday, May 29

I don't wanna

Name: Chad
Scripture: II Samuel 3; I Chron 12; I Corinthians 12
Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. 28 And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? 31 But earnestly desire the higher gifts.

OAP: So I have to teach. Apparently I need an intro, something to bring in the audience and give them something to remember. I am also not supposed to tell them that I don't want to do an intro at all. I mostly ignore visuals, or at least any less than outstanding intro. The best teaching I have heard was given to a captive audience, with the teacher having no reservations about the interest of students, but rather about the quality of material. Not that an intro weakens the material in anyway, I just find it unnecessary. Mostly because I can't do one, at least not a real one in all seriousness, I think it is ridiculous. I know they are helpful to highschool students and necessary, but personally I don't like them, nor do I relate to them.

God, humble me in what I cannot do. Grow me in my strengths and let me be content in what you have for me and not covet any other types of ability. If parts or the whole needs to fail then so be it, for your greater glory.

2 comments:

Old_Guy said...

Youngster--

The good news is that a) others expectations aren't necessarily critical... consider that when you're teaching that it isn't you... it's the Spirit: you're supposed to be a good, solid clay jar... so get ouit of the way with your "I don't wanna." The fact is, you don't gotta! And 2... if your material (OK, not YOUR material) is good, folks will be engaged regardless of how you "introduce" it...

I, for one, am really looking forward to seeing how you're used.
-The Old Guy

Ryan said...

Welcome to teaching friend.

The scriptures say that we will be held to a higher standard as a teacher. This means you have the blessing of wrestling through all that is involved with teaching... content, presentation, you, and mostly Jesus!

I am proud of seeing you wrestle through this with God and not just in your own mind. I really delight in reading the rawness of your posts... though sometimes they cause me pain, frustration, etc. It reminds me of the grace God so freely offers us in the midst of our mixed up existence. Thank you for having been a vessel of grace to me through your posts.

- - - - - - - - - - -

Without thinking I wrote what follows. I had not intended to try to persuade you to have a great intro, since I valued what you were wrestling through. So I don't think this next part comes as a persuasion to any conclusion, but hopefully as more to wrestle with with Jesus. (I usually do not clarify things like this, but the medium of blog/typing does not always clearly convey intent.)

- - - - - - - - - - -

Just remember, Jesus had "hooks." His hook was often a story (parable), a radical claim (the beatitudes), a demonstration (healing/forgiveness/miracle), or a question (his "answer" to most questions was a question). These certainly captivated the Jews. In summary, Jesus' "hook" was a demonstration of the Kingdom, then followed by his proclamation of its presence and availability.