I have had an opportunity to teach Bible again at one of the largest Christian schools in the country. Heritage Christian is your typical prep school that has all of the cool stuff. A million dollar football field, I mean the kind of field that the pros use, you know the rubber field that when you make the great Harrison catch near the out of bounds line you drag your foot to stay in side and the black beads fly up out of the rubber grass. Semi pro teams rent the field to play on it. Heritage is a classic Christian school that still has not separated the idea that just because it is a ministry to teach there, I mean isn't every place a ministry field?, they still pay pretty poorly. So I did not sign up for the money obviously. I signed up for the kids. These kids are rich too, well there parents are rich anyway. I pull into school in my 01 Jetta and these punk 9th grader are driving Lexus, and Rovers. You know the old song, Novas to Hondas to Lexus to Rovas', well these kids skipped the novas and Hondas part and went right to Rovers.
I am finding myself sad to see this class go. They are tenth graders, and I remember when I was in 10th grade, and I really did not care about how to do a geometry proof, let alone Bible class. It was social life and the "Ladies". As I have gotten to know all 150 of these sophomores I have realized that I am still a sophomore at heart. Those of you, you three, that read this and know me might even say that is pushing it. But aren't we all just sophomores who have for whatever reason decided to grow up by acting mature. Yet we all still laugh when someone farts. We would never claim to be sophomores anymore. Maybe we should claim to be sophomores again. Have we forgotten what it is like to have our hearts broken or to be rejected by that hot chick that you liked for so long, or raging hormones that almost seem uncontrollable? Am I really that different now? Or does culture tell me to be different? All grown up so to speak?
Obviously we need to be mature, but really what is the difference? I think I like these kids so much because they are real, or at least struggling to be real. Maybe they have experienced divorce or abuse or illness or death, these kids will be those same kids 15 years from now.
Do you ever see an older guy or girl and think about how they probably were as teenagers? You probably might not be that much off. I mean I am basically the same guy, just hopefully a little smarter, a lot more cynical, and a whole heck of a lot heavier(fatter that is). Most parents have forgotten what it was like to be 16. I pray I never forget what it was like to be 16. It is only high school right, Can I say that as a teacher? It is only high school...
So the year went on trying to get to know 150 kids every day, they learned my weird idiosyncrasies and I learned theirs. Now the year is over and I feel like I have just gotten to know them. They are moving on. My prayer for the year was to show them that Jesus loves them and that He wants to give them a life more abundant right now. There is so much pressure out there today pressure I did not have. I just found out one of my girls, 10th grade girls, was sexually harassed yesterday at the park trying to study with her friend for my freakin final, I mean come on the park? I guess he exposed himself to her. I was furious. I thought of my girls(wife and kids) and I realized how much I care again for these kids. I say this again because I have not taught in a school setting for many years, and being back I realized why did I leave?
Thank you Sophomores for your honesty, your emotions, your mood swings, your compassion, your teasing, your respect, your hope. Maybe that is why Jesus became so annoyed with the disciples when they told the children to stop coming and "bothering" him. I believe that it probably was the most relaxing time of the day for Jesus, maybe. He had a chance to let the politics go, to have a real conversation, an honest conversation, a transparent conversation. He got to be a sophomore again. He got to have a little fun. I have heard some teachers say the kids drive them crazy, I find them intoxicating, almost like it brings me back to what is real and important, so the question is when I leave the classroom and get in to the "real world", what is so real and genuine about being an adult?
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