Unexpected Results

        Sometimes you can pour much of your life into a job or a ministry and never know if you really made a difference.  In ministry you may faithfully labor for the Lord for years and receive little or no feedback.  However, the results are eternal and you hope and pray that lives have been affected and that maybe someday, in heaven, you may see fruit of your labor for the Lord.  Teaching is another such situation.  You may work hard but your students move on at the end of a year or a course.  You may later see that they have been successful in their future jobs, but you may never know what impact, if any, that you may have actually had on their lives.  Now some jobs do have feedback and rewards - bonuses and promotions for example.  But that isn't the case in ministry or in teaching.  But every once in awhile the Lord allows something to happen that makes you realize that your years of faithful labor have not been in vain.

        For 32 years we have led an Awana ministry in our church.  Many thousands of boys and girls have come through our program and have been exposed to the Gospel.  An unknown number of verses have been memorized.  But the clubbers move on.  Some go to youth group.  Some continue to attend church.  But most of them just seem to "disappear".  But the Lord has recently provided two rewarding experiences for me.  The first is that my Awana training class this year has four new volunteers who are graduates of our Awana program.  They will join one other who has been serving with us.  I find that so exciting and rewarding.

        The second came a few weeks ago when we were grocery shopping at Stauffers.  As we were checking out, a line suddenly opened, and we were greeted by a young lady who would be our cashier.  We were using our Awana grocery bags and when she saw the bags she became so excited.  She proudly told us that she used to attend an Awana program and that she loved it.  Then she actually quoted the key verse to us.  Upon questioning, we found out that she was one of the city youngsters who actually attended our club, years ago, when our church was in Lancaster.  She then told us that Awana helped her grow close to the Lord and that she is still living close to Him today.  All I could quietly say was, thank you Lord.  Our 32 years has not been in vain.

        Now as far as teaching, I have been aware that many of my former students were very successful in college and that many now have important jobs all around the world.  But once they are gone from your classroom, you seldom if ever hear directly from them again, especially since most are no longer in the area.  And so you can't help but wonder if you had any impact at all on their lives.  Well a few weeks ago my granddaughter was discussing a math problem with a group of students in class.  In defending her answer, which was actually the correct one, she mentioned that she could always check with her grandfather who was a math teacher for 39 years.  Her teacher overheard her comment and asked where I taught and who I was.  When he heard her answer he told the group that the reason he was there today was because of me.  He enjoyed my classes so much that it motivated him to become a math teacher, too.  That made my day, or my week, or my month, or maybe even my year.  It was so encouraging to discover that I had motivated, in a positive way, at least one of my former students.

        The Bible has numerous reminders for us concerning our ministry and our work.  We are reminded to do all that we do, heartily, as to the Lord and not unto men.  And we are told not to grow weary in well doing.  And once in awhile we do get to see the results of our work here on earth.  But a day is coming when we will know all that the Lord has done through our faithful work for Him.