41-School Is Upon Us!

I’m back! I know that it’s been a couple/few weeks since my last post. My apologies. School is upon us and boy is it real! I say this because I am sitting in a classroom myself today. I am trying out substitute teaching as a part-time gig, to see if I really enjoy teaching academics as much as I do knots, climbing, wilderness ethics and the sort. Fortunately, I am subbing for an algebra/calculus class (that was my major in college for my first two years, until I realized that if I were going to teach, I didn’t want it to be math.) So, here I am, teaching math.

The students filed into the classroom and took their seats. I was really quite nervous, even though there were only around 8 students per class. I felt like I was in school again and all my butterfly nerves came back.   Do I really lack confidence? It didn’t help that I had to use the bathroom accompanied by the quick-witted youth pastor who wasn’t afraid to make some comments in jest, which made me aware that my face-temp rose to uncomfortable. Back in the classroom, I broke the silence. “I’m Mr. Foss; I’ll be sitting in for Ms. Purdy today.” I began to give instructions per the notes that were lying on the desk that I hijacked for the day. “Today is test day. Only use pencil, show all your work (which is key in math to show that you understand concepts, not just crunching numbers), no talking…” I read a few bullet points from the white board with confidence, hoping no one picked up on my nervousness.

All in all, the first two hours flowed quite smoothly and I started to remember how long a day at school was when you did not travel from class to class, hour to hour. Wow. During my extended quiet time at my very purple desk, I noticed an interesting parallel that I read during my devotion time this morning that I want to take a quick minute to share: We are all in a classroom. The earth itself is our classroom. “If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’—which you have not known—‘and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the LORD your God is testing you to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” God gives us instructions and commandments and expects us to follow them. Imagine that. Now, here’s the crazy part. Failure to follow God’s commandment in this particular situation in Deuteronomy 13, yields death for the false prophet. God is so adamant about living life His way, that He calls for false prophets to be eradicated. Old Testament you say? Yes, but what principle has been established within God’s people and doesn’t die with each new covenant?

I think that we have a high calling as God’s people to make sure that we live according to His instructions and commandments, and not be led astray by every new understanding of what the “Bible really means” or “is figuratively saying.” I was on a trip this last weekend and asked the question, “Is the Bible relevant for life today in the United States?” I was quite surprised to find that the majority of the guys sitting around the fire said “no” in one way or another. Crazy. We need to take a stand and walk out the Scriptures before this rising generation. The time is now, and this means in every little detail of our lives…school is in session.

-Matt