In response to a wonderful post...

A dear friend had a post on her blog that was awesome. So as I started to comment on her blog about how beuatiful it was, I was reminded of Teacher in High School that did an amazing thing for me...so my comment turned into a long story...I am reposting it here... Read Jodi's post here http://jodileeg.blogspot.com/2007/02/honesty.html

My response...

I use to have a study hall when I was in High School that was located in one of my mentoring teachers classes. Mr Griffith, was a great teacher for me even though I never had him for a class. He taught Special Education. He had the persona of being a very demanding teacher to us students. So on the first day of school as a Junior and Senior, Mr. Griffith came into the Study Hall class and pointed at me and yelled, "Ford, Why are you not in my class?" I gave the study hall teacher a bewildered look, and said, "I have no..." Then, he yelled, " You have 3 seconds to return there before I make this situation difficult for you." Again, a bewildered look towards Mrs. Higgins. "Mrs. Higgin's, you can expect Mr. Ford to not be present in the study hall the rest of the school year. I would like to know if he ever shows up again trying to hide from me!" Once in the hallway, Mr. Grifffith smiled and said, " You did not really want to be in that class did you? I need your help!" We walked into his classroom where about 20 kids that I would have placed the exact same label on as you described in your post. He said, these kids need your help, your example, your guidence, your friendship. I never was able to do homework in that study hall, I was never able to relax, I was never able just be a student in that study hall. Mr. Griffith taught me such a valuable lesson those two years. I learned that these kids are special not just because of their lack of potential for learning, no because of their bad home lives, behavioral issues or poor life choices. I learned they were special because deep inside they were beautiful kids. The only way I would have ever found that beauty was because I had a teacher who offered me a chance to get close to them, to befriend them, to teach them, to be taught by them, to experience for 48 minutes a day a small part of their lives. Once you are patient enough to get passed all of the troubles, you honestly see who they really are inside. I remember helping them study for spelling tests, math tests, drug tests ;), talking about bad breakups, fights at the bowling alley on Saturday nights, trying to break bad habits, anger issues, pregnancies, fathers that beat them, running away and so many more events that I can't even imagine. I remember how they looked up to me. They would give me high 5's in the hallway between classes, they would eat lunch beside me, and they would cheer me on at soccer games. The funny thing was, I always looked up to them. How they attempted to handle their life struggles, without parents, without popularity and without alot of hope. I never really thought about all of these lessons I learned until I read your post. Mr. Griffith taught me alot, I guess he probably saw something in me that might help these kids and he saw something in those special kids that might help me grow to be the man I am today. In all honesty, that might have been the beginning of my Youth ministry training...