More Than a Job

Although Akbar Cook has been the principal at West Side High School in Newark, New Jersey, for just a few months, he has already made some big changes.  Cook realized that a number of students at the school were missing classes.  Upon further investigation, he discovered that students were being teased and bullied because of the condition of their clothes and hygiene.  Some students were even taking pictures of the students with stains and dirty clothes and posting them on social media.  One girl, who was homeless, didn’t want to have her bags checked at the school entrance, since she was so embarrassed about her clothing and other items.  Cook said, “They were choosing to stay home rather that coming to school to be bullied or ridiculed.  We didn’t know until we started making calls.”  Principal Cook began giving the students extra school t-shirts and clothes, saying  “I refuse to let a kid come to school smelling or dirty and I’m sitting on a shirt that says ‘West Side’ on it.”  The principal knew that was helping, but would not solve the problem completely for the students.   

Cook applied for and received a $20,000 grant through the PSEG to purchase washers and dryers for the school.  When a UPS store heard about the situation, they stepped in and provided laundry detergent and other cleaning supplies.  The football locker room is now a laundry room with five washing machines and five driers where the students come to clean their clothes.  Because of a few phone calls, listening ears, caring hearts, and a principal willing to take action, students now have needs met and are attending school again with pride intact.

Akbar Cook was motivated and encouraged to give his students clean shirts and other articles of clothing because the school name was printed on them.  How much more should we look for ways to serve and give to others knowing that we have the Spirit of the living God written on our hearts.

You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

2 Corinthians 3:3

Expanding the View

It seems to work best if items have their own home base.  That way they are easier to locate, especially when in a hurry.  Larry recently bought some pint sized cashew milk ice cream. He usually buys two different flavors that the grandchildren enjoy.  When I opened the freezer, I noticed that were several of one kind, but not the other.  Upon asking him if the store was out of the other flavor he responded that no he bought several of both kinds, since they were on sale, and placed the additional kind two shelves above the others in the freezer.  It reminded me of the saying, “If it was a snake, it would have bitten you.”  I just needed to expand my view.

Our grandchildren enjoy playing hide and seek.  The older kids are good about finding different places and varying where they hide.  Della, 22 months old, tends to hide in the same spot each time.  Since her face is hidden, she assumes she is as well.  Whereas you really have to look for the others, the challenge is to make Della think you don’t know where she is hiding.  Most times when Della hears, “Ready or not, here I come,” she begins squealing and giggling and delights in being found, most times running to whomever is “It” and hugging them.

Both instances have caused me to stop and think about the ways I view life. 

* Do I expect God to only work in the same ways I usually experience Him?

* Am I willing to branch out of my comfort zone and expand my view to look for and find ways God is working and join Him in that adventure?

* Do I spend time seeking God or do I expect Him to just find me?

* Do I settle for the good or seek out the best?

* Do I express and live in delight knowing that God is findable?

* Am I willing to persevere, seek, and wait on God’s timing?

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart.

Jeremiah 29:13

But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Deuteronomy 4:29

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

Matthew 7:7-8

“From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’”

Acts 17:26-28

Molded and Formed

God has gifted Ann Knoche with amazing creativity and skills as an artist.  Among her many talents is the ability to shape and form beautiful pieces of pottery.  As the wheel spins, Ann adds a lump of clay and uses her hands to form a beautiful work of art.  After painting the piece, it is fired in the kiln and readied to be appreciated and used.

Lessons to learn from a potter and clay:

* Sometimes we need to be sculpted and formed more than once before the proper outcome occurs

* As modeling clay is not too hard or too watery, we, too, need to be consistent

* We are dependent on the potter for our formation

* Yielding, flexibility, stillness, and willingness are necessary

* No two pieces/people are exactly the same

* Learned techniques help in forming different outcomes

* A work of art takes time, effort and planning

* Each person has a purpose

* Going through the fire brings out our true colors

* It’s important whom one chooses to be their potter

As I am choosing to be molded, may my prayer always be…

“Have Thine own way Lord

Have Thine own way

Thou art the potter I am the clay

Mold me and make me after Thy will

While I am waiting yielded and still”

Jim Reeves

And may I daily choose to willingly fulfill the purpose for which I was created.

Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.

Isaiah 64:8

So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.

Jeremiah 18:3-4

T-H-I-N-K

It seems these days that we are inundated with reports, opinions, and gossip for any number of situations and conflicts.  Sometimes the facts are checked out before one comments while other times people speak out supporting the group they are affiliated with, the people they want to impress, or in retaliation.  Words can devastate, harm, discourage and destroy, but they can also be expressed in ways that are helpful, life giving, encouraging, and beneficial. 

It’s been said that God gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason.  Before speaking it might be worthwhile to consider if something is…

True

Helpful

Inspiring

Necessary

Kind

If the answer is yes, speak out.  If not, it might be wise to pray, wait, listen, and check the facts before offering advice or an opinion.  And may the words we choose to speak or write always be delivered in love.

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

Ephesians 4:29

My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this:  Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.

James 1:19-20

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness.  Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing.  My brothers and sisters, this should not be.

James 3:9-10

Anxiety weighs down the heart,

     But a kind word cheers it up.

Proverbs 12:25

May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.

Psalm 19:14

The mouths of the righteous utter wisdom, and their tongues speak what is just.

Psalm 37:30

The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

Proverbs 12:18

The tongue of the wise adorns knowledge, but the mouth of the fools gushes folly.

Proverbs 15:2

Words from the mouth of the wise are gracious, but fools are consumed by their own lips.

Ecclesiastes 10:12