God in the Classroom

It is often true that in the moment, we cannot see what God is doing.  The perspective of hindsight is a gift which enables us to see what is behind us more clearly.  When I was sitting in Mrs. Evans' English and Literature classes in high school, I could not see that God was using her to prepare me for what was ahead in my life.  And, most likely neither could she as she did what she was in the classroom to do.  But, what she did was to encourage me to write not only by doing class assigments but by giving me opportunities to write essays as a part of regional literary events.  And she took a boy who was one of the least likely to do public speaking and placed him on the high school debate team.    

When I allow my hindsight to see what was happening, I realize that God was using her and those moments to prepare me for a calling to preach that had not yet come.  It was only when I was at the edge of the graduation stage that I heard that call and by then those experiences were a part of who I had become.  What she did as she put me in those situations and insisted those in her classroom learn good language skills prepared me for a life I did not know was going to be mine.     

To think of my calling to preach is to think of those formative years when I was in her classroom being made ready even though I had no idea it was happening.  When I preached my first sermon one Sunday morning, she left the church she attended and made her way to the sanctuary in Alamo to hear me preach.  I still remember her being there and knowing that it was important to me what she had to say.  One of the real regrets from those years is that it took me so long to see what God was doing through her faithfulness in doing what God was calling her to do that she was gone before I could say "thank you."  If it matters and it does to me, I have said many times over the years, "Thank you, Mrs. Evans."