Through It All

          Do you often take time to look back and see how you survived difficult challenges in the past?  This often will give you the courage to face troubling times in the present.  This is especially true if you can see how the Lord brought you through challenges that you thought were impossible.

          Personally, I can recall so many times when it was only the Lord who made away for me through impossible situations which perplexed me.  I was reminded of that recently when I read a devotional, "Through It All" in David Jeremiah's Turning Point devotional booklet for January.  Now I don't normally copy a writing by somebody else, but I thought this was good enough to share.  So, here  goes:

          In 1991, NBA Lakers player Magic Johnson announced that he had AIDS.  In the years since, Magic and his wife, Cookie, have given their lives to Jesus Christ.  In a social media post a couple of years ago, Magic said "Today marks 30 years of living with HIV … Through it all I learned to trust in Jesus and I learned to trust in God!"

          Notice the verb he used: learned.
          Songwriter Andrae Crouch said the same thing: "Through it all, I've learned to trust in Jesus, I've learned to trust in God."  Trusting the Lord is a learning experience as we grow in faith.  When we trust the Lord with today's load, we see His faithfulness and learn to trust Him even more for tomorrow's uncertainties.  Paul told the Thessalonians, "We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly."  (2Thessalonins 1:3)

          Whenever you face a crisis, turn to the Lord and find the needed promises in His Word.  Pray today that God will help you trust Him more and more with every passing day.

I've had many tears and sorrow

I've had questions for tomorrow

There've been times I didn't know right from wrong

But in every situation

God gave me blessed consolation

That my trials come to only make me strong

I've been to a lot of places

And I've seen millions of of faces

But there were times that I felt so all alone

But in my lonely hour

Yet those precious lonely hours

Jesus lets me know that I was His own

That's the reason I say that

Through it all

Through it all

Oh, I've learned to trust in Jesus

I've learned to trust in God

Let me tell ya that

Through it all

Oh, through it all

I've learned to depend upon His word

So I thank God for the mountains

And I thank Him for the valleys

And I thank Him for the storms He's brought me through

For if I'd never had a problem

I'd never know God could solve them

I'd never know what faith in His word could do

That's the reason I say that

Through it all

Oh, through it all

Oh, I've learned to trust in Jesus

I've learned to trust in God

Oh let me tell you

Through it all

Oh, through it all

Oh, I've learned to depend upon His word

Oh, let me tell you right now that

Through it all

Sometimes through the fire

Through it all

My, my, my Lord

Oh, I've learned to trust in Jesus (oh, I've learned)

I've learned to trust in God (and I can trust in God)

That through it all

Let me tell you that

Through it all

Oh, Lord, Lord

I've learned to depend upon His word

Oh, through my sickness and pain

I've learned to depend upon His word

Oh, through sorrow and shame

I've learned to depend upon His word

Teachers

Over the years I have been writing life stories for my grandchildren. I have now completed almost 300 pages for them.  Some of them have appeared in previous blogs and I have decided to share others as I am doing today.   

 

         How much do you owe to your former teachers?  That is an interesting question because teachers have the opportunity to impact your life for good or for bad.  Today you hear so many folks talk about all the bad teachers and that bothers me because I really don't think there are really that many.  But the bad get all the headlines.  For over 30 years I was involved in hiring and evaluating math teachers and during the last 20 or so the folks we hired were very qualified and excellent teachers.  In all of those years I only dealt with three who I thought were poor and we were able to remove them.

         But having said that, as a student I only had a few teachers who were influential in my life.  I did have some poor ones and many average ones.  But in those days salaries were so poor and teaching conditions often so inadequate that good teachers had a difficult time staying in education.  I felt led by the Lord to go into teaching and I managed on a starting salary of $3,500 a year by working many extra jobs.  Others in my graduating class took jobs with much, much higher starting pay. I had four interviews resulting in four offers. When I was first involved in hiring I had to actually go out and recruit folks just to apply for our openings.  Times were much different then.

          Now, as a student, I did have a few good teachers.  When we moved to Lititz my fifth grade teacher, I think her name was Charlotte Mathers, made me feel so much involved and appreciated.  This was my fourth school in five years and I was an outsider, until she welcomed me.  The one thing I really remember learning that year were the names and spellings of the capitals of all the states.  But I know I must have learned much more than that.  it was definitely my best year of any of my elementary years.  She motivated me to do my best.

        The best teacher I ever had K-12 was my seventh and eighth grade English teacher, Miss Marjorie Enck.  She was tough but fair.  We had to record her daily notes off the board and memorize them.  She would call on you to recite and if you failed you would get one of her "pills" which meant your name went on the blackboard, for all classes to see, and you would need to come in after school for make-up work.  I never received any of her pills.  I was always prepared.  And in those two years I learned all the grammar and writing skills I would ever learn from any teacher.  And these skills have carried me through my entire life.  I owe much to her.  Incidentally, later she married and became Mrs. Kauffman, but no relation to me.

        I never had an outstanding math or science teacher until I entered Susquehanna University.  There I met Dr. Fred Grosse, a physics prof who came there the same year that I did.  As a physics major I had him for every physics course I took.  But what made him special was the interest he took in each of us individually, even going as far as inviting us to his home for dinner.  Incidentally, after over 50 years there, he just retired a few years ago.  In fact he showed up at our 50th Reunion last Fall and spent time with many of us.  A few years ago we decided to visit SU to see the new science building.  Dr. Grosse was there and he remembered me immediately.  I found that amazing.

         Two college math profs had impacts on my life.  At SU, as a math major, I had Dr. Robison for most of my math classes.  He was very elderly and rumors were that he had worked with Einstein.  One day I was assigned to teach a lesson on Kepler's Laws in his Vector Analysis class.  After I was done he commended me and suggested that I should consider going into teaching.  That was very influential in me changing my career focus and path.

         Then, in my graduate work at Bucknell, I encountered Dr. Emil Polack.  He was tough and made us stand and recite, usually in an 8 am class - sometimes even on Saturday mornings.  We all dreaded that we would be called upon and we prepared.  And if you couldn't answer correctly, he would take you back to some point in your math background and, through a series of questions, bring you back to a point where you could answer correctly.  He had an incredible ability to do this and while you "sweated this out", you learned.  He was also a stickler for precise definitions and every test began with "define".  Now I could never put students on the spot like he did, but I learned so much about teaching techniques which I tried to put in place in my 39 years in the classroom.

        Unfortunately, the teachers who stood out to me come down to these five.  The rest were average and a few were poor (maybe I should blog about the poor ones). But I have a feeling that I may have learned much about what not to do from the dozens of others that I have had over the years.  And, as a student, I certainly learned how to deal with a variety of personalities and styles and this has helped me adjust to a variety of bosses over the years.  Sometimes these are the most valuable lessons that you can 

        Now my one regret is that, with the exception of Dr. Grosse, I never took time to share my appreciation with them. I wish that I had. All except him are no longer alive.  As a former teacher you'd love to know if you've had an impact on lives.  Fortunately, I have kept numerous notes and letters that I have received and every once in awhile I hear, usually second or third hand, that somebody appreciated being in my math class.  Now if you've had a teacher who influenced you in a positive way and he/she is still alive, take time to share that with them.  Return the impact - old teachers will appreciate it.

Praise You

           Sometimes there is a chorus that just sticks in your mind and plays over and over and over again.  Often it has a message that means so much to you, one that you wish to share with those that who you come into contact with.
          I have one like that which was written by Elizabeth Goodine and Carol Cymbala. It is a prayer that has been recorded by the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir.  I know nothing about the actual background of its writing, but it may have been based on the prayer of the psalmist found in Psalm 119:175, "Let me live that I may praise you, and may your laws sustain me."  
          Or maybe it was based on Psalm 71, 5 - 8.  "O Lord, you alone are my hope. I've trusted you, O LORD, from childhood. Yes, you have been with me from birth; from my mother's womb you have cared for me. No wonder I am always praising you!  My life is an example to many, because you have been my strength and protection. That is why I can never stop praising you; I declare your glory all day long."  
          The words of this chorus are simple but so powerful and meaningful.  We come to the Lord with a simple prayer, "In everything I do, let my life, O Lord, praise you."   And the chorus repeats our praise to the Lord, "Praise you, paise you, let my life, O lord, praise you."  What a beautiful and simple prayer.  
          Hopefully it is your prayer that your life might bring praise to the Lord.  For that should be our only motivation for our lives.  All other things should be secondary to that desire.  
          May this simple melody and prayer guide all that you do during the coming days, for truly, He alone, who gave us our lives, is worthy to be praised.  Praise you, praise you!

(1)     Lord, I come to you today,

With a simple prayer to pray.

In everything I do,

let my life O Lord praise you.

 

Praise you, praise you, praise you

let my life, praise you

praise you, praise you, praise you

let my life, O lord praise you

 

(2)     Lord, you formed me out of clay,

and for your glory I was made.

Use this vessel as you choose.

Let my life O Lord praise you

Praise you, praise you, praise you

let my life, praise you

praise you, praise you, praise you

let my life, O lord praise you

 

Listen to it being sung by the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir.    LISTEN

 

Fantasy Technology

If you think technology has changed the work world, just take a look at what's happening in never-never land. A recent update reports that today:

Little Bo Peep never loses sheep because of their embedded silicon identity chips.

Cinderella searches for her prince on Match.com and leases her pumpkin-colored SUV at Avis.com.

Hansel and Gretel use the GPS rather than breadcrumbs but have reported problems stuffing the wicked witch into her microwave oven.

To avoid travel stress, Alice now plans her Wonderland vacation with travelocity.com.

A reformed Ebenezer Scrooge sends Bob Cratchett to update his certification for Excel and Quiken.

Jack's making a fortune on his beanstalk bioengineering breakthrough.

Old McDonald uses voice recognition to make ordering easy at his agricultural auction site eieio.com.

Romeo and Juliet avoid tragic problems by keeping in touch through their cell phones.

With her early Web capabilities, Charlotte is now a motivational speaker at tech conferences around the world.

The Pied Piper switched career fields after his tunes were bootlegged online.

King Arthur has replaced that expensive round table with satellite videoconferencing.

Gulliver is on sabbatical using up all his frequent flyer miles.

Jack and Jill order their Evian on peapod.com.