God's timing

Today I had a pretty profound conversation with one of my students. I teach Special Education students. On top of that, this student has an Emotional Behavior Disorder. What does that mean? He has trouble handling his emotions which then leads to some less than desirable behaviors.

Today it was time to have what I call a "come to Jesus" meeting with the boy. Who says religion is out of schools :) ? I was done with the of the lack of effort, poor me, I am better than this work and you attitude. So I finally sat down with him, Dr. Phil style, to get the low down on what was going on with him.

In words that I can't write on a church blog, he simply told me that he would NOT be doing his homework because he couldn't read or do math and it was a waste of time.

WHOA! STOP THE PRESSES! You mean there are 8th graders that can't read? You bet.

I told him that I could help him. I could help him learn to read and we could work on this work together. His response stopped me in my tracks.

"YOU HELP ME? WHY SHOULD I TRUST YOU?"

Well Lord, why don't you bring Sunday's sermon right on into an 8th grade, physical science, special education classroom please?

Great question he poses! Why should he trust me? Why should he trust me to actually help him instead of yelling at him because he doesn't match up to unrealistic expectations. Why should he trust another adult, just so someone else can let him down? Why should he invest the chance that I am going to be different than all the others?

I don't have the answer to those questions. But I do know that someone has got to help this kid. Someone has got to remove their mask in front of this boy. Someone has to be real in his life so that he can maybe start moving past some of the hard core issues that he has going on within him. Someone has got to start following through on their word and showing him that not all people are the same.

So here I sit. I'm watching him complete a missing assignment and listening to Metallica because that's what he says helps him study. Well buddy...you got it.

Lord help me be someone that he can trust. I will fail him at some point I'm sure, but help that be a lesson in forgiveness and grace that only YOU can teach.

Pray for him and for me and all of the teachers that you know. Kids are trusting us everyday.

Christy Peevy