WOW! I HAVE A GREAT LIFE!

I am teaching over 200 first-year students this semester at STI. Of that number, 137 of them are online. I worked until 3:30 this morning correcting papers and posting assignments. It just never seems to end when one teaches. This past week I assigned Life Papers for my students. They were to write about their lives (families, parents, siblings, jobs, goals, dreams for their futures, etc.). So far I have been more than impressed with the tremendous efforts those students did in writing their papers. As I told the students last week in class, "Remember, you get to write 1 paper, I get to correct over 200 papers!" It got rather quiet in the classroom!

On my way home tonight from a meeting at church, I got thinking about the papers I had read today when not meeting with students or answering phone or e-mail messages! One student shared about how they never have met their father because he has been in prison and then about how the one parent they had (their mother) had done something terrible enough to place them in prison for the next 20 years! Their parents had disappointed them and they were now alone to deal with raising themselves and facing the world.

My thought in the car was, "God, it just isn't fair that this young student and many others are having to raise themselves because they have parents who have refused to be responsible parents!" Then I thought about the time and effort Evie and I have invested in Carrie and the Andersons in our son-in-law Marc and how the kids are investing in the life of our granddaughter Vera. It brought tears to my eyes as I thought about the challenging world Vera faces. It reminded me of the HUGE role that Evie and I play in being a support to Marc and Carrie and especially Vera.

So I am teaching Vera songs (the Frog Song of course!) and Christian songs like "Rolled Away" which Vera does with the rolled away actions (it is so cute!) and my humor that she seems to appreciate and enjoy. I want to be there for Vera. While I don't respect nor particularly like Hilary Clinton, I do agree with something she once said, "It takes a Village to raise a child!"

Friends, our villages and our children for the most part are sick and we as Christians need to stand in the gap and help raise them. It is a heavy and awesome task but one we have been called to do. I challenge us all in this mission!

Blessings,

Markus