Day 41 - First Day of In-Service

The First Day of In-Service

There was a lot to think about last night that kept me from sleeping as well as normal.  Today was the first day of in-service and I was worried about what would be happening at school.  I also ordered a taxi yesterday to pick me up on a regular basis, Monday through Friday.  Did I do it right? Or would I have to look for a taxi at 7:00 in the morning?  And like most first days of school, I worried if I would get up when my alarm went off or roll back into bed.

As normal, on days like this, I woke up often: 1:00, 2:40, 4:05, 4:50, 5:05, 5:15 – go ahead and get up!  I showered, shaved, and made breakfast, busying myself with the morning and worrying about the day.  So time to stop.  I needed to read my bible and find my rest in God’s Word.  Lately He has been speaking to me a lot about that, stopping and digging deeper into His Word.  My life needs centering.  That is a daily thing.  We never can truly find that place until we are with God.  The worrying proved to be futile.

My taxi is not on time – he’s early!  He also told me he would be my driver every day, so my plan to get a regular taxi driver worked.  My Spanish was good enough for them to understand my request.  Now I don’t have to worry about how I will get to school every day.

I’m not going to talk about setting up my classroom or working on lesson plans and things like that at the moment.  That can wait.  Today I want to share with you the difference working in a Christian school just by describing the first day of in-service.

The director, Jeff, opened us in prayer and that was followed by worship led by the elementary music teacher.  I felt the whole time of worship was helping us center on our calling to make Jesus known in the lives of our students.   We sang three or four songs, but two stood out to me.  One was “We Believe.”  The song tells what we believe as Christians.  For me it was a reminder that this is what we are teaching these kids.  The other was “Holy Spirit,” which is inviting the Holy Spirit to be in our place.  Imagine being at a school in-service and being reminded that what we are doing is for the souls of the children we are teaching and inviting the Holy Spirit to be with us and guide us! 

Then Emily, the high school principal, led us in a devotion that was also introducing us to a simple student evaluation we can do in our classes.  It is called “think, pair, and share.”  I know many teachers do this and might even call it this.  It began with us individually reading Colossians 1 and thinking about what it says about who we are, what is our identity, and what it our purpose.  Then with a partner or two, we discussed our ideas.  Lastly we shared those ideas to the entire group.  You teacher friends know you have done this often.

In Colossians 1, three things stood out to me.  First, God has reconciled us to Himself.  It is nothing we have done or deserve; it is all His doing.  Second, it talks about us bearing fruit.  As Debbie and I talked about that, we saw that it doesn’t always mean bringing others to salvation; it can mean personal growth.  And third, God has qualified us.  Often I feel I am not good enough to do what I am doing or I think I might not have really heard God speak.  But God has said He has qualified me.  It is not what I have done, but what He has done. 

We also had some time we called a prayer walk.  We weren’t given a specific time frame or requirements to accomplish.  Instead we were told to take time to pray in our classes or across the campus (thus the “walk” around campus).  Teaching is an awesome responsibility.  We might be well-equipped to do what we are doing, I can think of a dozen teacher friends as I write this, but we can go much further with God’s guidance.

How amazing to come into an in-service and make God the center of what we are doing!

I’ll share more about the mundane preparation later.  I just wanted you to know this.