So let me paint this picture for you real quick. Joyfully this is what my week typically looks like:
Sunday-
-Church (9.00 a.m.-2.30 p.m.)
-3.00 p.m.-7.00 p.m. work on lesson plans/hang out with friends
-7.00-8.00 back at the house, eating dinner, making lunches for the next 3 days
-8.00 p.m. in bed reading.
-8.30 p.m. lights are out. (not like at camp, where lights are out and people are still talking. lights are out, and i'm closing my eyes)
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday
1. Wake up (4.00 a.m.) (not exaggerating)
2. [4.00-15 a.m.] taking a shower/getting dressed for school
3. [4.20 a.m.] eating breakfast/drinking coffee and reading
4. [5.00 a.m.] out the door (with or without my lunch, depending whether or not i remember)
5. [5.40 a.m.] get to school
6. [5.40 a.m.-1.40 p.m.] teaching
7. [3.00 p.m.] get home. Change
8. [3.30] head to the library, or a place with internet
-Talk to someone across the pond for an hour or so or meet up with Marc to run over songs.
9. [4.45] or so, get working on lesson plans
10. [7.00] start heading home, eat dinner. set out lunch, set out breakfast, set out coffee
11. [8.00] in bed reading.
12. [8.30] lights out
Thursday
Repeats steps (1-7 above)
8. I have class [4.30-7.30 p.m.]
-Typically we get out at around 5.45 p.m.
9. Band Practice [6.45-8.30 p.m.]
10. Home [9.00 p.m.]
11. Eat dinner, read and in bed [9.35 p.m.]
12. Lights out [9.45 p.m.]
(I know, Thursday nights are crazy... I go to bed a full 1 hour later than normal)
Friday looks the same as Monday-Wednesday except, I don't go to the library every Friday.
It's a full and exciting life. I'll tell you that! People ask me, "How's internship going?" And my typical response is this: "I love it!" Truly. I've been put in this place for a certain and specific reason, to know Him and to make Him known. Well, I've been getting to know Him more and more, and I keep praying that I get to make Him known more and more to my co-workers and to my students.
The school has the potential to be a very dark place. It's actually has the potential to be a very dangerous place. [I'll explain 'dangerous' further on down] Maybe you have forgotten, but let me remind you:
Children [truly]. Rebellious. Looking for identity. Something to identify with. Whether or not that is a friend, a extra curricular activity, etc. They are looking for acceptance. They are looking for guidance. They are also looking for independence. Ultimately they are looking for purpose.
[sound familiar in your life?]
Now as I write these things, I look and I think, "it is so easy for the enemy to step into an environment like this and mislead these kids. Raising confusion, raising doubt, raising insecurities, raising bitterness, raising frustration, raising pride, and so much more." It's honestly scary. Scary because of how crafty the enemy is!
But I believe, that Jesus is greater than the enemy. I believe that Jesus has already conquered sin. I believe that Jesus did not leave me as an orphan. I believe that the Father sent His promised Holy Spirit down, to dwell in me. To teach me. To lead me. To intercede for me. To heal me. To restore me. To seal me. To claim truths in my life. To remind me. To testify about Jesus.
And now I have the opportunity to walk in those truths and be a light in a dark place. To share the gospel of the grace of God. I now have the opportunity to intercede for people by name, , and put their name before the feet of Jesus, maybe for the first time. Asking and petitioning that He not be silent anymore. Not allowing these people to live out in their flesh, but that He would radically change their hearts and minds, to be conformed to the image of Christ.
So I am in a dark place, calling for light [1 John 1.5].
6"Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of wickedness,
to undo the straps of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
7Is it not to share your bread with the hungry
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover him,
and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
8 Then shall [your light break forth like the dawn],
and [your healing shall spring up speedily];
[your righteousness shall go before you];
the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
9 Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer;
you shall cry, and he will say, 'Here I am.'
If you take away the yoke from your midst,
the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
10 if you pour yourself out for the hungry
and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
then shall your light rise in the darkness
and your gloom be as the noonday.
11And the LORD will guide you continually
and satisfy your desire in scorched places
and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water,
whose waters do not fail.
12 And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
the restorer of streets to dwell in.
Isaiah 58.6-12
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