My son's freshman year was a beautiful transition into high school. I will attribute a majority of the ease of that change to one man. There is a teacher, who technically my son didn't even have that felt it his ministry to see the unseen, to search out the people eating alone and give them a safe place to fit in, to belong. His classroom was open for anyone to come and have a place to eat, to commune, to just be. If there was disrespect you were asked to leave, only people didn't disrespect one another because they didn't want to leave. This man is teaching these young boys mutual respect and kindness in their own language.
This man is under some scrutiny. I am not privy to the ins and outs of the reasons why but currently he does not have a job at my children's school next year and I am completely sick over it. In my mind next years school year will be a loss, we might as well go ahead and change schools now because it had been a hard road prior to this individual stepping in and I don't see the climate continuing to change without this man there, but then I am reminded of a story....
Michael and I had a youth minister who was a wonderfully creative man. A wonderfully creative man who had some out there tendencies and renegade nature. He could get things done but he didn't always make people comfortable doing it. The church decided that something he was doing needed to be changed but he refused to do so so they asked him to leave. My now husband and I fought tooth and nail to get that plan reversed only to fail. We were angry. We were hurt and we did not understand.
Fast forward 25 years. The old youth minister now runs a huge ministry in a larger city and it is flourishing he is doing huge things for the kingdom that he would have never done had he stayed here. I could not see 25 years into the future but God could. God knew exactly where he needed my youth minister and it wasn't where he was.
I will still hold out hope that this teacher will be reinstated and kept for at the very least 4 more years so that I can graduate my two precious treasures under his kind compassionate eye, but I will say this. I am not so pompous to think that God doesn't know exactly what should happen in this situation and he will direct the steps of the powers that be for his greater good.
Go out...Be kind.
