the law of the Lord

my students have discovered my blog.

here's a shout out to my third period girls who stalk me like they're getting paid to do it ;)

i went to columbia this past weekend (so good for me), but that is why there has been no posts and a total lack of communication on my part, sorry! i'm sure you're all desperate to know what's going on here in student teaching land...
i'm over a month in (which means one month left, which is CRAZY), and i love what i'm doing. i'm attached to what i'm doing. i feel like it's a tease... i get to have a real life job and experience what my life could be like post grad school, and in a few short weeks, it's going to be snatched away from me :(
also. i do not want to leave my students. i really love being with them every day. regardless of how hard this whole thing is some days, they make it worth getting up every morning and doing this over and over again. because some of them are getting it. some of them are responding. that makes it worth while. (ok, i'll admit it. i'm attached. it will hurt a lot to say goodbye.)

today i'm talking about josiah. josiah had the worst possible circumstances and odds were incredibly against him. but he rose above, and followed the Lord. it says in chronicles that he did turn to the left or to the right, but followed the Lord of his father david. legit.
when he was restoring the temple he went around beating the junk out of false idols and high places turning them into dust, the proceeded to take the dust of those idols and spread it on the graves of the men who worshiped them. whoa. dang. josiah wasnt messing around. (when i read about that, i couldnt help but picture him in his kingly robes storming all over judah with a baseball bat...)
after he finishes with this, he moves on to restoring the temple. the temple that solomon built. the only place that God's people could go to have community with Him. the temple that was in RUINS. (these people in Judah were not in relationship with their savior. their temple was destroyed) as josiah's men begin to make their repairs, they stumble across this book... they begin to read from it and realize it's the book of the law (what?!? how do you lose something like that? i mean, it's not like you could hop in your car and head to the nearest barnes and noble and buy a new leather bound back then... THERE WAS ONLY ONE!!) when josiah heard the law of the Lord he cried out and tore his clothes. his people were not following the law, they were evil, and broke every law listed... his heart was humbled, and tender and broken. he gathered his people together and read to them from the book of the law and made a covenant right there in front of them to follow and remember the testimonies and statutes of the Lord with all of his heart and soul.

all of this to say that josiah took the word of the Lord seriously. he took his and his peoples infractions against it seriously. i feel like the bible (and especially Bible class for kids that have been in a christian school setting for their entire lives. (like me! oohh, ooh, pick me!)) becomes a check list. it becomes a text book. it becomes a number and letter grade. IT IS THE WORD OF GOD, IT IS HIS COMMUNICATION TO US. IT IS HOW WE KNOW AND LOVE HIM. why do we let it become something so mundane? so minor? why do i let it become those things? i'm supposed to be teaching this? and this is something i'm struggling with? what?

josiah, because of his action, because of his respect of the Lord, his law and his word, saved an entire nation from destruction. during his reign he was promised peace. one man. one heart that was tender and sensitive to the Lord and his words, saved Judah from impending doom.

one of my students in my third period asked me if i was just as "moved" by my lesson by the time i got to seventh bell... i wanted so badly to be able to say "yes, of course... it's the Bible." but if would have answered in that way, it would have been a lie. sometimes getting through seventh bell is a serious battle. sometimes i'm exhausted. sometimes i'm sick of saying the same things over and over again. (i do teach five times a day...) but i should be just as moved, inspired, excited... about what i have to say in seventh bell as i am in third... i should...