Thursday, August 15, 2013

"Lubrication......................"

First day back to school was the usual bit of confusion: teachers’ schedules adjusted to allow for their own jump into the hodgepodge of initial odds and ends; that, in turn, causing our unit to go with the flow, finding format to it all a matter of being patient, knowing it all will come together eventually. Administration has taken away our room’s other assistant while leaving us with our same number of students; but somehow problems were minimal, the old man finding it fun to be back in the saddle, another journey begun. The worst of the mix was loading kids for their return trip home, so many parents there to pick up their children that the two-lane road out front jammed bumper to bumper, buses unable to access the loop, us trying to contain our group, their minds knowing only that it’s time to go… Evening Bible class would be the big disappointment, the teacher merely revisiting a theme wherein he has been anchored for a while, the topic rooted and grounded in the Word, but certainly not the one and only truth that Scripture sets before us. I recognize the passion, one’s eyes having been opened to an element of the Gospel previously not considered, the experience much like Christ announcing to that crowd gathered on the Mount, “You have heard it said…. But I say unto you”. It’s a lesson I’ve had to learn, myself, people not usually receptive to your individual enlightenment, it taking the Holy Ghost on both ends of any sermon delivered, the message needing divine connection, not just your own emphatic pounding of the point you wish to bring. As it was, we finished twenty minutes early with little in the way of accomplishing any real discussion within the group… Whether we are on the job or seated in the sanctuary, if it doesn’t stay “fresh”, humanity occurs. I say that knowing well that some days are better than others; but also assured in the fact that He, alone, is the bottomless well, the river that never shall run dry.

4 comments:

  1. Funny how some sermons/talks/discussions just fall flat and you can almost hear those crickets chirping. I've often found that the best classes were the ones where I've completely run out of my own resources and out of the mess that's left, something completely unexpected happens.

    Reading a book written by a nephew of a friend. The guy's a great person with definite passion who knows his stuff but apologetics can get pretty technical. Maybe it's the paint fumes but I can only read about a page before my head starts drop and zzzzzzzz. This is my second attempt and I'm gonna plow through cause I wanna know how it ends. ;-) Maybe not reading it just before bed might help...

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  2. PS. Btw, started to watch The Hunt for Red October. Seen it? Submarines are scary! Can't believe you lived in one of those things. Just thinking about it makes me feel like hunting down my inhaler!

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    1. I've got a couple of books here that take my mind into that "zzzzz" zone, one in particular owned for three decades and still only devoured in part. Not all of it is a matter of the author being dull, but more like my brain incapable of absorbing such depth without time to chew on it. As far as submarines, I have seen that movie and can tell you that it, as well as most other submarine flicks, do not give clear image of how cramped such space actually is. I worked on one in a room not much more than three feet wide and maybe eight feet long, three of us seated at typewriters and if the fellow shoved to the rear had to leave the area, it was a matter of crawling over the other two to achieve it. The whole boat is like living in a hamster tunnel, a great experience if you ever get to go aboard one.

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  3. Yeah, that ain't gonna happen... Your description is having me reach for my puffer once again. ;-)

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