January 12, 2009- 5:30am
It’s raining again and while I love being in control of the situation, I cannot help but think back to the days eight months ago when the rain stopped everything. On those mornings I had no control. I could not go outside to the toilet or the shower. I could not go out to brush my teeth. My family stayed in bed and did not expect me to go to school. They told me I would not have lectures that day. They told me the rain made it too dangerous to walk down the hill to school. And when I finally convinced them that I would in fact have lectures that day and that I needed to leave if I was going to be on time, I left the house only to find an empty town, for the entirety of life stops when it rains in Uganda. I walked past empty shops and noticed the normal abundance of school children were nowhere to be found. I arrived at school much later than on normal days, and it was all because of the rain. Those days for me are in the past, though, and the rain no longer stops me. I cannot let it stop me. After all, today of all days is a day I cannot be late. Today, January 12, 2009, is the day I start student teaching.
This day is one I have feared for years. Even before I began college, I knew this day would come and I dreaded it. Though being a teacher has been the one job on my mind since fifth grade, the thought of standing in front of a classroom and actually teaching has always somewhat terrified me. I am not one for public speaking, and while teachers played an incredibly influential role in my own life, I have often questioned whether or not I would ever have the same impact on others. The question has constantly been in my mind, “What if I begin student teaching and realize that this is not at all the job for me?”
For years I have lived fearing the unknown, and I will admit, I definitely still do, especially at times like this. Looking back, however, I now find comfort in what I learned throughout my semester in Uganda. It was one year ago today that I left my parents in the airport, walked onto a plane, and began to wonder what on earth I was doing leaving everything and everyone I knew to spend four months in Africa. I constantly questioned my decision, even for weeks after my arrival. “What was I thinking? I am not cut out for this. What if I hate it? What if my family hates me? What if I can’t make any friends? Did God really call me to this or did I make it all up? Am I making a huge mistake?” Now here I am this morning, hours away from showing up at my first day of student teaching, and I am haunted by some of the same questions. It is only by reflecting on the past that I can convince myself that even if I hate it, even if it is not for me, even if at times I feel it is the worst experience of my life, God has a purpose for it and He will undoubtedly lead me through it.
Aside from student teaching, it seems I can relate nearly any situation to something I learned while in Uganda. When I think back to what I learned and the convictions that grew so strong in my heart while I was there, the first thing that comes to mind is simple living. Reading Ronald Sider’s Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger and a small excerpt from Discipline of Simplicity by Richard Foster created a passion for simple living I had never before experienced. That being said, I should clarify that I did not and still do not feel called to sell all I have and give it all to the poor, but I have been called to a simpler lifestyle. Since returning to America I have consistently lived out two of the commitments Brooke challenged us with during CIS class. I have kept the Sabbath and have not purchased any unnecessary clothing. As soon as I read Foster’s comments on clothing, I knew I needed to change. “Consider your clothes,” he says. “Most people have no need for more clothes. They buy more not because they need clothes, but because they want to keep up with the fashions. Buy what you need. Stop trying to impress people with your clothes and impress them with your life” (90). Those very words made me cringe as I thought about my over-stuffed closet at home and how often I buy new clothing on the spot simply because it is the latest fashion or my friends tell me to. Committing to avoid any unnecessary clothing purchases for one year has not only helped me reduce my wardrobe, but it has also forced me to avoid impulsive purchases that were so common to me in years past.
Keeping the Sabbath has been the most difficult challenge for me, though, as schoolwork always seems to pile up and free weekends are the perfect time to catch up. However, while I found it challenging at first, I have more recently been finding that when I purposely choose to set aside time for rest and for God, everything else seems to fall into place as well, and somehow I always manage to find time to complete every item on my to-do list. If nothing else, keeping the Sabbath has helped me stop worrying so much about the future and when I will accomplish all of my tasks. Richard Foster states in Discipline of Simplicity, “Worthy as all other concerns may be, the moment they become the focus of our efforts they become idolatry” (87). Not only did I worry about when I would finish my work if I kept the Sabbath, but I grew hesitant of the smallest petty matters such as what I would wear for student teaching or what my friends would think of me when I told them I could not buy new clothes. I grew even more concerned with financial matters such as how I could possibly afford to go an entire semester during student teaching without having a job. But as Foster pointed out, the simple life is all about trust. “Simplicity means the freedom to trust God for all things…If we truly believe that God is who Jesus says he is, then we do not need to be afraid” (89). Never before have I better understood the verses in Matthew that urge us not to worry. Never before have the words “Therefore do not worry saying ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after these things and your heavenly father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” meant so much to me (Matthew 6:31-34). I am eight months in to the two commitments I made while in Uganda, and while they have been challenging at times, I can say without a doubt I have been incredibly blessed by keeping those commitments.
While it has been eight months since I returned to America, and life seems to be back to normal, I cannot say the transition has not been without challenges. It has been difficult to find a balance between living simply, helping the poor, and simply being an American. I have often found myself questioning how much I should give to the poor or wondering how to best spend my money on the poor. While those are probably legitimate concerns, I find myself growing frustrated because I think back to the examples my host family provided me when it came to helping those in need and it makes me realize how selfish I still am. Jason Carpenter, a man serving with Samaritan’s Purse in
One hour later:
I feel much more confident going in to this day now that I have prayed. I am finding more and more how effective prayer is and how much it really can change my life. Something happens during prayer that allows me to realize it really is possible to hand everything over to God and to trust Him completely. I have grown up hearing about the power of prayer and the importance of trusting God, and have seen both concepts at work in my life, but it was not until my semester in
Only minutes from now I will begin another adventure and I am not entirely sure where it will take me. I do not know whether or not I truly want to be a teacher. I do not know whether or not I will enjoy it or whether it is the right occupation for me. I know nothing other than that trusting God with my life is really my only option. I could spend hours contemplating what I should do with my life or worrying that teaching is not where I should be, but in the end, whether positive or negative, the experience will somehow benefit me, because I have learned that God works both on the mountaintop and in the valley. I really have no concept whatsoever at this moment in time what my future might look like, or where God may lead me, but I know that my goal is to keep Christ in the center of my life and seek to love God and love others and believe that everything else will fall into place. I may not feel the call to sell all I have and give my money to the poor, but as Sider points out in Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger, the point of the rich young ruler story is not necessarily to convince us to sell all of our possessions, but rather that Christ must be the center of our lives and we must not let anything become more important than Him. He is only demanding total submission to himself (191). I know my calling involves living simply and trusting in God’s plan for my life, and whether or not that involves education, well, I guess I will find out how I feel about teaching in a few minutes when I walk out this door and into the classroom for the first time, but whatever happens, I can rest assured knowing that it is happening for a reason and that God has it under control. Now, that’s easier said than done, but whenever a decision comes or I find myself worrying about some issue, I hope to look back at my experiences in Uganda and remind myself that as long as I am striving to live for God, He will guide me in the direction I need to go. And now, just as I wrote one year ago minutes before getting on the airplane to Uganda, I’m about to begin another wild and crazy adventure, but I am ready. Student teaching- here I come
Sources
Carpenter, Jason. Personal interview. 7 Mar. 2008.
Holy Bible. Matthew 6:31-34. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1989.
Nouwen, Henry J.M., Donald P. McNeill, and Douglas A. Morrison. Compassion: A Reflection on the Christian Life. New York: Image-Doubleday, 1982. 102.
Isingoma, Williams. Personal interview. March 2008.
Sider, Ronald J. Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger: Moving from Affluence to Generosity. 4th ed. Dallas: Word, 1997.
1 comment:
This was great! Very well written. You should plan to read this the morning you start your student teaching... it will be a great reminder for you of all you have learned and all God wants to do in and through you during that experience. Congrats!
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