A Calling

At one time I thought I was called to the foreign mission field. I ended up in California and Seattle. From there I traveled to other countries. I loved that time of my life. I had a passion for the homeless and the street kids. I loved working with those afflicted with AIDS. I could not imagine anything better than learning about other cultures and sharing God's love with them. Then I ended up back home and hoped that God would tell me to go somewhere remote and wonderful, to a place where I could really make a difference. I am thinking that He has.

Everyday I drive about 5 miles to my mission field. Every day I work with the weary, the broken hearted, the unwanted and downcast. I encounter drug dealers and gang members on a daily basis. I work with the elite, the rich, the liberal, the conservative. I am surrounded by the poor and needy. I know the hungry, the abused and the afflicted. I know the affluent and privileged. I watch the abused become the abuser. I have known of the baby that was aborted and the baby that was born. I have heard about the sexual escapades. I work with the marginalized of society. 

I am in a mission field.

Sure, it is not the remote and wonderful place that I imagined. It is sort of foreign soil. It is a place that most people do not want to work. Many have quit in the past. Most christians are underground. Liberalism rules. Most teachers turn blind eyes to what takes place in the hallways. Most do not know of the many gangs that are active at our school or of the amount of illegal substances and weapons that walk through their classroom doors. I do. I have eyes and ears and a caring heart. I can't help but see. I can't help but hear. I can't help but pray.

I am currently struggling with a couple of my students. Every day with them brings some hardship or another, another manner of disrespect against me. I am trying to be the Hands and Feet. I am afraid that sometimes I fail. But I have been reminded that I have been put there for a purpose. If I can help one student learn, one student to believe that they have potential, say a kind word where one hasn't been spoken, acknowledge someone's pain or success, then I pray I have succeeded. 

It is a tough place people. One of my students was arrested today. It has hard been hard to walk the halls this week. It has only been by the grace of God that I have. Thanks for reading. If you want to pray for me and my students, I will gladly accept it.

For now, I am enjoying my cup of tea. I plan on enjoying some nicer weather this weekend and getting in some good reading!  How about you?

P.s...I am reading

1) The Bible-working on reading daily!

2) Educate yourself at www.abort73.com

3) Our new presiden't agenda at www.whitehouse.gov

4) Inkheart-it's good so far