I have always loved Fridays, especially when they come on day 2 of the work week!
Yet I must confess that my expectations for today were a bit tepid. The schedule declared “8:00 donuts and devotions, 9:00 high school faculty meeting, and 10:30 department meeting.” I knew that my only encounter with the donuts must needs be a harsh rebuke of their siren call, so I was left with two meetings.
The diamond in the rough was the devotion by one of my heroes, Coach A. We call him “Coach” because he was a legendary coach of girls high school basketball for years. He has pastored, served as high school principal, taught economics, and along with his wife, started a crisis pregnancy clinic. I have no idea what else he has done, because he never discusses his accomplishments. Now he is the head of our Bible department. Tragically, his wife of thirty-five years died the month I was hired to teach at ELCA twelve years ago.
Coach A spoke about Ephesians 5:15ff, “Redeeming the time.” I won’t share all of my notes, but he delivered an inspired message with both authority and poignancy. In sum, he told us that he read a book titled 50 Great Christians You Have Never Heard Of, and he found four significant ways in which those saints redeemed the time. One memorable point was that those individuals committed to prayer in such a way that they did not pray selfishly. He shared a misty-eyed account of the last night of his wife’s life. All of the family gathered around Mrs. A’s hospice bed. Instead of asking for prayer, she prayed for everyone in the circle.
After our meetings, I encountered Coach in the hall, and we chatted about some of the other people in his book. He told me that he was raised in a nominal Christian home, but that in 1973, he and Cathy went to Fulton County Stadium to hear Billy Graham speak. That night Coach committed his life to Christ.
His story reminds me of another of my heroes, Dr. R.E. Whitaker, who was converted in a Graham crusade in Louisville, KY, in 1956 (I think that date is right). Dr. Whitaker, like Coach A., committed his life to ministry as a preacher, teacher, and administrator. He was my college president for 3 years and my pastor for 10.
Coach A and Doc Whitaker are two of the finest men I have ever met, yet they were disillusioned and discouraged as they drove to those stadiums. In no way could Dr. Graham have predicted the paths of those two lives, had he even known they were present.
Their stories remind me that in education, we spend a lot of time on assessment (at least we better!). We keep track of grades, attendance, spiritual decisions, sports scores, donors, and enrollment. We monitor lesson plans, cell phones, uniforms, parking lot flow, field trips, and differentiated instruction. We count things.
However, at the end of the day, this adage appears to be true: “You can count the apples on the tree, but you cannot count the seeds in the apple.” We simply cannot comprehend the potential that we see sitting in class each day, whether for good or for ill. We can count the students, but we cannot yet measure the impact of their lives.
May God give me eyes of faith that see beyond the obvious, because if I am only teaching toward the AP Exam, I have missed the mark. If my students only ace the SAT, my instructional trajectory is too low. If my students all qualify for Georgia’s HOPE scholarship, yet they have no hope of Heaven, I have squandered golden opportunities.
Paul encapsulates this idea so aptly when he says, “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”
With an explanation of the attached picture, I close. This was my 7th- grade English report card. Only a teacher can appreciate the dilemma of having to conjure something positive to say about a student who is average at best. But hey, I was “consistently” average!! Who would have thought I would someday get a Ph. D. in, of all things, ENGLISH?!?
We can count the apples, but not the seeds.
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