The Amazing Race

 

I've been in school every semester of every year since I was five. You get to  where you think you've seen it all but something reminds you that it isn't the case. This COVID scholastic year, which now really is two, has helped create some different kinds of insights and groupings which we couldn't see coming. There are real challenges, some extremely frustrating, but some wonderful byproducts as well. The story I'm going to tell you fits into the latter category. It's very silly but then again, it's not. It makes no sense, but then again, maybe it does. Maybe it falls into the category of you would have had to be there. I'm just glad I was....... and am.

Back in August, I found out I would have a new class added to my teaching load. Due to COVID and having to space students, our class sizes necessarily became smaller so there was a need to have more sections of classes which meant additional instructors. The class I picked up is a tenth grade survey course simply entitled New Testament. Unlike my other two responsibilities, Bible 8 and Gospels which is offered to juniors, this class uses a laid out curriculum instead of using only the Word of God as a text. Fortunately, I'm blessed to be teamed with James Reid who teaches two  periods and who has taught this material in the past. These sophomores, many of whom I taught in eighth grade, have been a wonderful blessing to me this very strange year. Three of them are pictured above; Luke, Faith in the blazer, and Katelyn in the pink dress for spring picture day. All of them currently have 100% averages as we finish the nine weeks. I've taught four of their collective siblings and the young ladies both played middle school basketball for me. But those details are irrelevant to what I'm going to tell you next.

I teach this New Testament offering sixth period which is right after lunch. I'm not sure when I became aware but they began having a contest seeing which of them could arrive to my classroom first. My room is the furthest from the cafeteria on my end of the hallway- still I think I can walk it comfortably in about ninety seconds. They began keeping score- Faith hasn't won since February- and have come up with some unwritten rules. There seems to be strategy involved, like sneaking out of the gym/cafeteria without being detected and taking different routes to Room 258. (As you might also have surmised, lunch is also socially distanced!) Teachers and students have noticed and find it fascinating why this is a thing. The three of them have slightly different recollections of its origins but all are in agreement it started with Katelyn and Faith and then Luke jumped in. Katelyn recalls sitting at lunch one day and getting a SNAPCHAT of Luke sitting in front of my door, twenty minutes before class was scheduled. From that moment on, it was GO TIME!

On most days, I find them outside my room in a group roughly fifteen minutes before the bell, enjoying talking as friends. I let them in and they perform the new rituals of cleaning the desks, spraying hands of their classmates as they enter, and Luke is in charge of turning on my overhead projector. (My remote has issues.) And as the others, who I am equally fond of, filter in, we begin class with me in a good mood which means WE are in a good mood. I told the trio yesterday that what I like about this racing business is that no student ever rushed to get to a class they hate. They delay,find excuses, need to vacation to visit the bathroom or the nurse or their locker. I also mentioned that I likened them to David's oft quoted opening verse of Psalm 122:
I rejoiced with those who said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the Lord.”
Let me be honest here. There are many kids at schools like ours who are not enamored with the Bible class requirement. They realize it's part of the deal and that it counts in class rank but they would rather be elsewhere. That's what I love about this competition, silly as it may seem. Faith, Katelyn, and Luke are glad, as the KJV says in Psalm 122, to be there. My room is not the house of the Lord.... but we talk about it within its confines. This week, we've covered the crucifixion and the Resurrection. And these youngsters arrive early to learn more about the turning point in history, a turning point they already know well. Who is favored as we come down the homestretch of the year? I hope they all win equally. If they buy t-shirts, the way everything now is celebrated in schools, I already have the theme verse for the back:
Hebrews 12:1
And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.....
A three way tie would make me happy.

Applicable quote of the day:
It's not really about the competition. Your biggest challenge in a race is yourself. You're often racing against time. You're frequently running everything through your mind. You're always competing against preconceived ideas. It's not really the person next to you that you worry about.
Summer Sanders

God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1
Email me at shawley@westburychristian.org