Monday, March 13, 2006

Ups and downs and wild rides

We awakened this morning to about 3 inches of wind blown snow and huge flakes falling, while being blown by strong winds. This continued all day. It's March. This is not very typical of March in Szeged...nevertheless, it was the perfect start to an up and down day! My ninth grade bilingual students are giving oral presentations on topics of their choice. Today, a young lady, who was found sprawled on the bathroom floor at school completely drunk last Tuesday, stood up to give her presentation on her favorite book: The DaVinci Code. "So, why do you like this book?" "I like it because of all the action." A conversation unfolded in the class about how this book and other "things" are "revealing" that the church has been wrong for centuries, "hiding" the truth from people, and finally, people are able to see the truth, specifically that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene. I've never experienced an entire class so anti-Christianity in my 16 years of teaching.

Immediately following that class, I taught 4 senior girls and one of them said, completely unprompted, "Well, there aren't many children in the children's home where I grew up who believe in God, but I am a believer and have faith in Jesus!" This prompted a discussion about what it means to believe, how two of the four of them came to faith in Jesus, and how the other two "believe" but don't go to church. It was a pleasant, loving discussion in which we saw into each others' lives, and while at different places, still "loved" each other.

Stark contrast to the contentious atmosphere in my 9th grade class.

I walked out of school to my snow-covered car, thankful for the blanket of white, remembering that Jesus' blood was shed for every one of those kids, even those currently deceived, and washed them whiter than the snow blanketing the ground around me. It's His work, not mine...may He reveal His Truth to each one of them in His perfect way and perfect time.

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