Clara And Krickitt And Carly And Blair

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ux7HgO9QhAc

This is about Clara, one of my favorite kids ever. It's from April 28, 2012.

Clara had a pretty good week by my reckoning! On Wednesday, she earned a 99% on Test # 9 in my eighth grade Bible class. On Thursday, she, along with Catherine, Cory, and Rene, presented their Bible projects based on the Parable of the Talents, in Middle School chapel and did a terrific job! Last night, I was in the audience as she earned rave reviews as Penny in our WCS drama production of Neil Simon's classic, You Can't Take It With You. And tomorrow morning, Clara will join many of our other eighth graders at the airport boarding a jet for a school trip to our nation's capital. What a whirlwind schedule for this barely teenage girl! Talk about packing life into every minute!

But in spite of all those things I just recited, I think my favorite Clara moment came very early this Saturday at about dawn. Yesterday, my eighth graders took two quizzes, one on a DVD called The Last Chance Detectives, made by Focus On The Family, and the other covering the reading of Luke 22:1-38. As I graded both of her papers, I saw Clara added the identical prayer request:
Please pray for my future husband
I have honored her request and I'm pretty sure I know where it originated. Early in the year, I told my eighth graders about a book my father used in marriage counseling called The Vow, which has recently been made into a highly successful, and I have heard, tear jerking movie. Dad had several copies and he gave me one. I told the kids about how Krickitt, the young woman the true story revolved around, would pray daily that God watch over her future husband who she had yet to meet. Clara liked that and I promised I would bring her the book so she could read it. I couldn't find it; I remember loaning it to a student several years ago and it must not have been returned. Clara is an avid reader and would have devoured The Vow but for the time being, it's enough she remembered that reference. Clara's unknown, except to God, young man will be one lucky guy in a few years.

I really like the bunch of girls who are fellow eighth graders with Clara this year. I don't think I've ever seen a group of young ladies who are into romance as much as they are, the love being in love stage. Many of them, as I've mentioned before, had crushes on the actors in Last Chance Detectives and its sort of prequel McGee And Me, a twelve episode set of Christian-based DVDs we also watched. And yet, what is neat about these girls is that they like the concept of love and marriage but they don't seem to be enamored with the boys at our school and I think that's healthy. I would guess the lovely Miss Clara is not the only one who wants the Lord to watch over the anonymous young man who in ten or fifteen years will proclaim publicly he will always be there no matter what. I think that's what their folks have taught them. I've always been haunted by Carly Simon's beautiful ballad, That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be. Marriage isn't easy, especially when you see the marital disasters Simon so plaintively reflects upon. Tom Hanks once said the secret of his marriage was who he married- what a simple thought with the most profound consequence. So whoever you are out there who God is preparing for Clara, you are on notice. You have so much to live up to!

*For the first time in all my 1700 plus blogs, I am dedicating an entry. This one goes out to the awesomely amazing Blair Moon who one day will find the most fortunate guy in the world to be her one and only.*

Applicable quote of the day:
"When I first wrote it I thought it was an unusual thing for people to break up, and now all my friends are divorced."
Carly Simon (on That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be)

God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1
www.hawleybooks.com
E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com