Another Graduation

This is a post about one of my schools and their graduation. Its been a good, but long and emotionally exhausting, day and I pieced it together as best I could. So I apologize if it doesn't make sense.

Today I went to a graduation for the 6^th graders at my Thursday school, Dong Guang elementary school. This is my favorite school to teach at. It is over an hour away and is up in the mountains. I have become very good friends with the teachers and the principle from this school. I have a weekly bible study with some of the teachers. All the people from this school are a fun loving, sarcastic and a joking bunch. So I fit in great! =D I especially love this school because it’s so much different than the other schools I teach at. All of the teachers and other workers at this school care nothing about politics in the workplace; instead they care for each other. It’s like one big family at this school. The principle refers to everyone as family. I really was blessed to be able to teach here.

I have especially bonded with the kids from this school too. There are a lot of aboriginal kids that go to this school. So the kids at the school love to play sports and to do activities that require lots of movement and physical contact (hitting or tackling). So I always have a blast outside of the classroom with these kids!

Ok so back to the graduation… I almost didn’t get to go, but the Lord worked out the circumstances. =D He is always so awesome about doing that! =D The graduation was awesome! I loved every minute of it! I love seeing my students perform their various talents! I also loved seeing the 6^th graders as they moved on to the next stage of life.

It was a day full of random emotions. I felt so proud of all my students; they did awesome in their performances!!! I felt so happy to be there and to be able to be a part of these kid’s lives. It was also a day of sadness though. As I sat through the ceremony I couldn’t help but think that I might not ever see these wonderful people again. Halfway through the performances and speeches, the principle called me up on stage. He then told the people in the audience some things about me, he also told them that I would be returning to the States and would not be coming back next year. He then gave me a going away gift and told me that he would miss “his good friend” and that he “would always wait for me to come back to the school.” It was a very moving gesture of the love that I have received from all the people at this school.

There was also a different kind of sadness (not entirely sure what the emotion is but sadness is close) I felt toward many of the students at this school; and toward a few in particular. In the classroom, a lot of the boys are a lot of trouble; they don’t want to learn and they have attitude problems. During the 1^st part of the year I struggled with bonding with these boys; they were so bad and so crude that I just didn’t know how to relate. But then one day it clicked… and clicked hard. I realized exactly why they acted that way. Many, if not most, of these kids come from very bad homes. I know that some of the boys in my classes come from very violent homes. It is not rare to see the children come to school with bruises. Two of the 4^th grade boys come from especially bad homes, as well as half of the 3^rd grade boys. These are 10-11 year old boys whose family is in shambles. The pain and rejection that these boys must feel breaks my heart.

Ive always wondered what God hoped to accomplish by allowing my dad to abandon my family. Here and now I realize that God wanted me to feel just a smidge of the pain that these boys are going through. God allowed the painful experiences I went through as a child so that I could understand and be able to really and truly relate to these kids. God wanted me to come to this school not to teach… but to show these kids the Love that only can come from Christ. This has been my mission for the past few months. I tell them no matter how bad they are or how much they act out I will always love them. I have taken to having wrestling matches with my little 3^rd graders. Now every time I walk past the classroom I am greeted by a line of 3^rd grade boys at the windows growling and making barking noises. Every time I go into the class room I am immediately attacked by all the boys in the class. The kids love to practice all their wrestling moves and judo moves on me. They know that I will never hurt them. I know that they need this weekly “outlet of steam and stress;” they carry so much pain and hurt around with them. They just need to hit something every now and then; they need someone safe to release this steam on. I am so thankful that God allowed me to be that person.

Leaving Taiwan, and especially this school, is going to be very hard! It’s so hard to let go. I feel that these kids will be lost without me. But I know that God is in control. He will watch over and protect these precious little children. I just pray and hope that a seed has been planted in these children’s hearts and that one day they will know the awesome healing power of Christ!

Well its Mothers Day and I decided that I should write a post dedicated to my mommy…

What makes a mom so special?

She is the one that brought you into this life; she nurtured and watched over you when you were too small to do things yourself.
She is the one who wipes the blood off your skinned knee, gives you a Band-Aid and sends you off again to fight off the imaginary bad guys.

She’s always there, putting in more than a 40 hour week, to make your life one that counts. She never ceases to invest time and energy to teach you what is right and give you directions for life.

She makes endless sacrifices for her own personal comforts to meet the needs of her children.

But that’s not even the half of what makes a mom so special. A mother is influential in shaping a child’s life, a child’s being, and who they are in life… The bible likens children to an arrow.  A mother is very important in shaping and molding that arrow. The motherly ‘mark’ will be left on their children, and even, on their children’s children.

“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”
Pro 22:6

So on this mother’s day… I just want to say thank you to my mother! Mom, you are the best mother anyone could ask for! I thank God that you’re my mom! You truly have trained your children up in the way of the Lord. Even through the difficulties of not having the father around to guide the family; you relied on God to lead our family. You really have shown us how to trust in God, how to rely on His strength, and how to seek after His will. By allowing God to be our father, you have allowed God to become even more involved in shaping our lives. I can honestly say that I would not be serving the Lord as best I know how if it wasn’t for you. I see the wisdom in your teaching and training more and more as I grow up day by day.

Thank you mom, I love and miss you so much!!! 

Jerry

Decisions....

Well I have started and deleted this post 3 times now. I don’t normally like to put personal stuff online very much but for some reason I think that God wants me to share whats been going on in my life over the past few months.

Ever felt like the Lord was about to take you on a roller coaster ride? But you didn’t know where it would take you? Many of you have felt this, if you’re not going through it right now. The past months have been full of decisions and the coming days are still full of decisions to be made. 

Here are some of the things that the Lord has shown me during this time.

Psalm 78:40-41

“How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him the desert! Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.” 

How do I limit God?

-Have I turned from my lusts? In verse 30 is says that even in the midst of God’s blessing and provision the children were still following their lusts. “So they did eat, and were well filled: for he gave them their own desire; they were not estranged from their lusts, while their meat was yet in their mouths,…” How many times have I experienced a blessing from the Lord and yet my heart stays the same? These blessings and answers to prayer should encourage and excite my heart!! My faith should be strengthened. My love for the Lord and my relationship with Him should be deepened!!!!

Verses 31-37 talk about how God punished Israel because their hearts were not right. How long does God have to punish us? When do we stop running from God and surrender our hearts? How many of the trials and temptations we endure are a result of our own sin? How long will it take for us to believe and trust Him enough to surrender our whole heart, everything we are, and everything we PLAN to be? 

Even through our disobedience and lack of faith God is patient. He has compassion on us and forgives our iniquity.

Why do I continually disregard all the wonderful things the Lord has done? Why do I forget about all His miracles in my life? Look around!!! Look at everything He has done in your life!!! There is nothing God cant do! And He wants to do it through us!!! How awesome is that?! At what point do I fall on my face in humbleness with a broken heart and just let God be God in my life?!

God is willing and WILL work through us when we let Him. “But it is written, what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him.” I Cor. 2:9. I cant even imagine what all God has prepared for my life! This is an awesome thought. But what happens if I miss out on that plan? How do I miss out on that plan? Many times by planning my life and being in control of my future, I am missing out on what God has planned. God wants to do Great and Wonderful things through us. But He cant if we are trying to go in a different direction.

In order to really trust God and let go of everything we hold on to; we must first trust God enough to lay aside our fears and doubts and just step back. Its only after we put everything aside and disregard our fears and doubts that God can fully indwell in us the power He wants us to have.

Col 3: 1-4

If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.”

Now Im not saying that I have mastered these areas that I have talked about. This is something that I am still working on everyday. We are commanded to take up our cross daily and follow Christ. I think that this is where its starts: with a humble and broken heart. We have to lay down our cross before we can lift His. All the goals and dreams that I have are Gods. They must be in God’s hands in order for His will to be fully carried out in my life. I don’t know where God is going to take me in the future to come. I just know that I want only what God has planned.

I’m sorry that this post was so long. Its been to long since the last one. But ill try to post the news about everything thats happened in Taiwan next time.

Jer

It has been such a blessing these past couple months to hear of all the things that the Lord is doing back home. Stories of God working in the lives of friends and family back home have trickled in over the past couple months. Seeing, or hearing, the Lord work in the life of a friend or family is one of the greatest joys of my life.

Watching the Lord work in Taiwan has also been encouraging. It has been great to see the Lord work in the lives of my fellow team members. The blessings this year have been amazing. It has been awesome to be able to see it all.

 When I see this it reminds me that this is what it is all about: serving God. We were created to glorify and worship God. The whole universe revolves around this truth.

 Our purpose in this life, as Christians, is to reach out to those around us who don’t know God. This is what we live for; to let the world see the light and the hope that we have through Christ.

 We do this through the first commandment: the commandment of Love. The gospel of Christ is much more than just going to heaven and escaping hell. Witnessing is not just about getting people into heaven and out of Hell; you witness so that people can fully experience the Love of Christ in their own life. The greatest joy in life does not come from knowing that you are going to heaven; the greatest joy in life is having a personal relationship with the Savior. This is what life is all about. Its not about getting a nice car (or truck), a nice house, a family, a good job, lots of money, vacations, or any of the things of this world.

 It is so easy to fall into the habit of only showing love to those who treat us nicely or fairly. But what about those people who just irritate us to no end, what about the people who don’t show love to us but rather treat us unkindly? How do we go about showing the love of Christ to them?

 I don’t rightly know the answers to all these questions, but I do know that it has to start at ground zero.

 In order to show love to everyone regardless of how they treat us we must first examine our own heart. What is keeping us from loving these people? It is not the individual that is keeping us from showing love. It is us. What is standing in the way of this love? Sometimes our rights can stand in the way. Our right to be treated with respect, our right to be treated fairly, our right to have a say in things, our right to trade insult for insult, to defend ourselves from attack, to fight back. Our right to do what we want, our right to have things the way we want. Our rights are in essence the boundaries to our heart. Our rights can keep others out of the areas we don’t want them. A right to “privacy” can be an excuse to shut others out from knowing our hearts true condition.

 In order to show the full love of Christ we have to lay down our rights. Our rights are our boundaries for our heart. Our rights protect our heart. When we lay these rights down we leave our hearts wide open; vulnerable in one sense, yet in another sense it allows God to show his love all the more brighter. Our heart is like a diamond. In order for the maximum amount of light to shine through the diamond, all the rough edges must be chiseled away. Only after all the rough edges, or “boundaries”, are cut away from the diamond, does it show its full radiance. Our heart is the same. Only after we have laid down our rights to protect our heart are we fully able to show the Love of Christ.

Once we have given our rights to God we are free to love. We basically become a “diamond,” if you will, for God to shine through. The opportunities to witness will dramatically increase. Everyone will wonder at this person who puts the rights of others before their own. You will be surrounded by people because we all are drawn to someone who has a warm loving nature. They will wonder what it is that is driving this person who loves without expecting a return. God will work in others lives through ours if we can lay down all like Christ did and just let God’s love flow through us to those around us.

 
I don’t mean to sound like I am on a soap box or anything. This is something from my own life that the Lord has been showing me and trying to teach me recently.

 
I think that is enough for one post.
I will do an update next.

Jerry