Unless Something Weird Happens

Laura Godard is one of my favorite colleagues ever. On top of being a wonderful instructor- she was just named "WCS Upper School Teacher Of The The Year"- she, along with her husband, are the parents of two of the  very best students I've ever taught, Rebecca and Caleb. Several months ago, she told me an amazing story. I asked if she would put it into blog form when she was ready. Today was that day. You might need some Kleenex!

“Unless something weird happens.”  That was my answer to a student in my seventh period Algebra class who asked me if I would have his test graded by later in the day.  I like to keep up with my grading, and my students know that they can usually expect to check their test grades online later in the day if they take a test.  So my answer was basically “yes” with what I suppose was my slightly unspiritual take on, “if it is the Lord’s will.”

Perhaps the Lord was chuckling as I said that, because something really weird was about to happen.  Later that evening, my sister phoned and insisted on talking to me right away, even though I was in the middle of a treadmill run.  I knew from the moment I said hello that something was up. She had news for me that (as I was soon to discover) there is no easy way to introduce:  the two of us have a long-lost, full-blooded brother! A brother! A full brother! I have never experienced a flood of emotions like I did that moment on the phone. Shock. Confusion. Questions. I honestly felt like the room was spinning…I literally could not think…as evidenced by the fact that this math teacher needed help from her sister to add five to my age to calculate our brother’s age!

But after a moment of shock, confusion, and questions, something amazing happened.  I experienced the truth of Romans 8:28, that, “we know in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”  In an instant, I loved my brother.  Someone whose name I did not know, whom I had not even known existed until a moment ago.  I was overwhelmed with thankfulness for such an unexpected gift from God.

It has now been a few months since this discovery, and Daniel and I are forging a wonderful sibling relationship that is richer because of its unusual and late start.  They say you cannot choose your family, but Daniel is exactly the brother I would choose.  As I look back over these extraordinary events, I am thankful for so many things.  I am thankful for the courage of my parents to choose what was best for Daniel at the time of his birth, even though it must have been so difficult for them.  I am thankful for all of the people who cared for my mother when she needed it the most. I am thankful for Daniel’s adoptive parents, who lived out James 1:27, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this:  to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” I am thankful for the love, support, and kindness of my husband and children as they patiently walked with me through a time of great upheaval.  Most of all I thank God for watching over my brother during all of the years of our separation. I keep thinking back that when God was watching over my sister and me in our home, he was also watching over our brother, far away in a different home. He cared for Daniel and watched over him and loved him.  What a wonderful reminder that I can trust God to watch over everything.  He is all-seeing, all-knowing, and all-powerful.

When I got to my seventh period Algebra class the next day, my emotions were still too raw to tell my students about what had happened.  But a few weeks later, I asked them if they remembered the day when I said I would have their tests graded that night, “unless something weird happens”?  I told them the story and reminded them, and even more so myself, that sometimes weird things happen, but we can trust God to work for good in all things. God bless, Steve Luke 18:1
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