Power in Weakness

One of the benefits of being in a different classroom almost every weekday is being exposed to different teaching strategies, classroom atmospheres...and classic books that I don't own!    In an English classroom 4 weeks ago I pressed "play" on Audible.com's And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie in a class full of freshmen in high school. It was soon clear that, while none of the students appeared especially interested, one substitute teacher was raptured into the intriguing storyline so much that he had to finish the book himself over the course of the next 3 days. I don't usually read crime novels, but this book (boldly endorsed as "the world's most beloved mystery novel" on the back cover) was so compelling that I devoured it as fast as possible, bringing it to an eerie conclusion throughout Halloween week.     Fast forward 2 weeks later and once again I found myself flipping through another English teacher's copy of Brave New World...

I understand my blog has been dormant for more than a short while, and I know this is an odd and even uncharacteristic topic for me to broach at all, much less as the subject of my re-inauguration post. But blogging again has been on my mind for awhile, as has this topic, so without overthinking why I would begin again with such a weird and often controversial topic, why not spout off some simplistic and haphazard answers to a deep and complex issue?      But first, since this blog is about 10% autobiography, and knowing where someone is coming from is always helpful when discussing important matters: where have I been for the last two years?      Last time I posted I was recently married and working full time as a 6th grade English teacher at St. Paul's School. My 2.5 years at St. Paul's were so many things: rich, rewarding, challenging, educational...and extremely exhausting. I put in my resignation in Spring of 2018 because I believed God was calling m...

I'm relaunching my blog--hooray! Very unlike the reason I relaunched my blog 3 years ago (I suddenly had tons of free time), I hardly have leisure time enough to breathe or eat, much less start a new project, BUT I also have a dire need to write the things God is teaching me, chronicle this ongoing journey of believing for healing in the midst of often devastating illness, and in the process, encourage myself in the truth. You can come along too if you want. Since the last time I posted: I started dating a hot mama named Jessica Maxson and forgot about my blog and pretty much everything else in life (except for the very understandable primal urge for Mexican food). I somehow convinced this same girl to marry me, and we were happily wed in June of this year. I moved back to Visalia, first to substitute teach, then to teach full time at St. Paul's School. I started as a science teacher, and then it suddenly dawned on everyone involved that I had no background in science o...

Sometimes somebody says something that just makes sense of your life. One word - or one statement - causes all of the disjointed jigsaw pieces to miraculously come together, hover in the air for one breathtaking moment of suspense, and then form a beautifully uniform picture before your very eyes. You don't know what I mean? Okay, let me explain. I'm still studying the book of Romans. Last time I wrote a blog, I was on chapter 1. Well, I haven't gotten very far in the past few weeks. I'm on chapter 5 now. Last night and this morning I listened to a sermon by Billy Humphrey on Romans 5:3-5, which reads: "Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." If you think a whole sermon on such a short passage is a st...

Sometimes if a particular Bible verse sticks out to me in an especially potent way I will write it down on an index card and carry it around with me for a day. I'll refer back to it, sometimes memorize it, and meditate on its meaning, praying different aspects of it. Yesterday I did this with the following verse from the book of Romans: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek." (Romans 1:16) Awesome, right?! Maybe it's because everyone around me lately has been talking about evangelism; maybe it's because I've been listening to Matt Chandler sermons non-stop, and he is quite gospel-obsessed; maybe it's just the Lord - but this verse grabbed me, and it continues to expand and build momentum the more that I think about it. There is one question, specifically, that arises as I reflect on the truth of this Scripture. If Paul is not ashamed of it, and if...

The two travelers made their way along the dusty road away from the hubbub of Jerusalem. Their faces down, their conversations kept circling back to the same thing - the events that had transpired during the week of the Passover. Sometimes hushed, other times droning with a slow and despairing tone, and often rising with a burst of intense frustration, their voices could be heard echoing through the still, middle eastern air. The road was littered with pilgrims returning from the Feast, so a fellow sojourner in proximity to them was not that out of place. But this man had been catching up to the two talkers for the last fifteen minutes, and was now finally overtaking them. Their dialogue ceased as the lone commuter fell into step next to them. He unselfconsciously took a second to study their tense faces - then his face broke into a smile. "What are you discussing together as you walk along?" Cleopas and his companion slowed to a halt, wondering how to answer such a nai...

I have led prayer meetings as long as I have been walking with the Lord, with the exception of a couple years where I simply attended them. I have preached prayer. I have exhorted my friends to pray, and have urged the pastors I know personally to make prayer a central aspect of their ministry. From what I have read in the Bible and in church history, I live with an understanding that no great move of God has ever occurred outside of a group of people set on seeking the Lord in prayer and obeying His voice in humility. Most importantly, God has put a deep hunger inside of me to meet Him in the secret place in prayer for as long as I have been baptized in the Holy Spirit (or "experienced God," for the non-charismatics out there). All the same, God is doing something new inside of me with regard to prayer. And frankly, I feel like a novice. I wonder if I even really know how to pray. I truly believe that a man is as great as his prayer life. It's not something you can m...