A lesson on jobs?????

I was teaching my 9th grade bilingual group yesterday (I have them 3 times a week) and the topic was "Jobs". However, God had other plans for the lesson that day. I cannot even tell you how we got off on the topic of families and then fathers. Well, by the end of the lesson, there were 3 girls in tears, and the rest of the class was quite sobered by what had transpired during the last 20 minutes of the lesson. I learned much from these kids....one of the teary girls told me how she would be happy never to communicate with her father ever again. Her parents divorced a year and a half ago, and in the fall, she tried calling her father to wish him a happy birthday, and he never even picked up his phone. He never called her at Christmas and has basically cut off all relationship with her. Another girl, through tears, explained how her father had abused her and the rest of her family, and how she wishes she could have a relationship with him, but he only hurts her. The third teary-eyed girl looked at me and said, "You have no idea what kind of father I have. I hope I never have to meet him again!" She then buried her eyes in the palms of her hands and wept for 10 minutes. The lesson on jobs quickly shifted to a lesson where I listened a lot, and tried to share some "hope" with them. A couple of other students opened up and shared about their "interesting" home situations, none of which sound very healthy. Sometimes I'm amazed that any of these kids can get through a day with what they have to deal with at home. I think, though, the most significant thing that came out of all of this for me was a "renewed" sense of my calling....and a possible shift in that calling. Yes, I still like teaching; I love days like this one I just described...much moreso than days where we indeed DO talk about jobs. I was "flying" after that lesson, so much wanting to be there for those kids, wanting to share with them the ONE who will never leave them, who will never abuse them, the One who loves them totally unconditionally. I like teaching, but I realized I'm not passionate about it....I'm passionate about people knowing Jesus. What does all this mean? I have no idea, except that I know I'm in a transition time; that God is changing and growing me; that He is working His perfect direction out in my life....and I am not sure what that means when it comes to being a teacher. If nothing else, this day showed me that these kids are in desperate need of the love of God; Lord annoint me to share that love with them in the next 4 months, and bring each of them into Your Kingdom!!! Amen! www.ceokids.org