We sang the following song at church this morning…
The words of this song really speak to me…especially because I teach at a school in which all of the students are Muslim (not that it is a requirement to be Muslim to attend, and several non-Muslim children have attended over the years).
When I first accepted the job, I got a lot of funny looks and comments when I told people where I would be working.
I’ll admit that my nerves were on edge. I had no idea what to expect. All I knew was that my principal and the other gal who had interviewed me had seemed very open and accepting of my Christian faith.
Of course, if you’ve been reading my blog during the last few months, you have read about how much I have grown to love my students.
I teach English.
Sometimes we talk about religion. Sometimes we talk about politics.
That’s part of education.
You know what?
These kids are just like my principal.
They accept our differences.
My friend, Jane, has shared the same journey because we teach at the same school. She is a Christian as well, and she has grown to love the students and the staff as much as I have.
Jane is around 60 years old. She is a little spit-fire. Last week, she got a teensy bit miffed at a certain famous person who has a talk show.
Jane wrote a letter to the editor of Podunk, USA’s paper.
One of my students blogged about it, which is how I found out Jane had written it.
I went online to read the letter, and it was good.
It was real good.
But the comments that followed online were bad.
They were very bad.
They were written by people who simply have no clue about what God calls His children to do.
This brings me back to the song up above.
God calls us to follow Him.
God calls us to love others just as He loved us.
Jane and I are doing that.
God calls us all to do different things and to go different places. Who are we to refuse His call if it goes against the political correctness of where we live?
Jane and I are certainly not perfect. Sometimes, we lose our tempers. We apologize. Then, we screw up again. Then we apologize. Then we run to each others’ classrooms and vent and hug.
Then we go back and teach these wonderful children who may seem different on the outside but on the inside are just like the rest of the world’s population.
They have a need to be loved and accepted.
What about you?
Where is God calling you to go?
Who is God calling you to love?
Will you heed His call?
Filed under: Christian, Teaching | Tagged: Christianity, teaching |
AuburnChick's Adventures 
I read Jane’s letter last week too. I found it to be moving, and inspiring. I want to love the way Jesus loves. I want to be Jesus to people of different faiths. I think that means loving them, regardless if they believe the way I do.
Thank you for this reminder, Nathalie.
Love Chris Tomlin.
Too bad some people are too ignorant to be able to accept other’s differences. How boring would it be if we were all the same?
And you should imitate me, just as I imitate Christ.
1 Corinthians 11:1….a scripture that I have been faced with over the last two weeks. I thank God that he has placed you within a school that you can make a difference…to love, support and nurture these children. God bless you!!!
FIrst of all, that is a great song! Secondly, I am in total agreement with you. God calls us to love others as he has loved us. If we all could open our hearts a little more, I think this world would be a much better place to live.
Thanks, Auburnchick! These were much nicer comments than were online for the paper, but it really didn’t bother me that much that people were negative. I always think those kinds of people are ignorant and would rather believe the mainstream media than get to know people for who they are. God certainly has given us a challenge and I am glad He gave us each other to share it with.