Teach Me to Love Them Like You...

Everyday, at 9:30am, I teach a class of 8 theory students. Each morning, I teach them about rhythms and notes and why they all come together to form what we know as music. Now, I am not a genius when it comes to theory, and as much as I know it is necessary, I hate teaching it. I find it incredibly boring, and I cannot for the life of me figure out a creative way to teach it. My kids are from this current generation, where death metal, screamo, and hip-hop abound. How am I supposed to reach these kids? How in the world am I supposed to teach this stuff to them, in such a way that they can apply it to their world???

One thing I know for sure is this: I need to learn how to love these kids with the love of God. They honestly rattle my nerves on a daily basis, and make me want to scream; yet, I know in my heart that God loves them so intensely, and that He so desperately wants to have a close relationship with them. I know that how I feel about these kids means nothing in comparison with what God thinks about them; but I am "God's ambassador", as Mike McNeil used to say, and so I want God's love to come through me into their world. I don't want to distract God's love from coming through, no matter how much I drag myself into that classroom everyday.

And so, I realize my need for God to show me how I can love these kids with His love. I am praying, and I will be praying daily, for God to help me see, in these kids, what He sees, so that I can look past the irritating things that they do, and see the precious children that God so desperately wants to draw to himself.

Oh Lord, help me...show me...change me on the inside...

Signing off for now,
Chels

Needing to Breathe...

It has been a very challenging couple of days. And I am feeling the pressures of the responsibilities before me at camp. I feel at times as though I am being pulled in several different directions, and just when I seem to get one step ahead, something falls into my lap, and I get knocked a few steps back.

It's only the fourth day of camp, and already I am feeling stress. So what can I do? I know that there is only One whom I can cling to, and I know that He has never left my side through this. And so, though I am feeling the pressures of camp life, and I am feeling sleep-deprived, cranky and irritable, I have to keep reminding myself that my source of strength lies in Jesus Christ. Cups of coffee and double-shots of cola are only going to take me so far; I need Him to sustain me, really, to survive.

This week, Psalm 121 has been going through my head, and even now as I write this entry, the words "I lift my eyes to the hills; where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth."

Well, the dinner line calleth. Signing off for now,
Chels