A little (dis)(en)couraged

The week before Fall Retreat was quite discouraging.  Anytime you try something new, there is a honeymoon stage and then it wears off.  I felt like school was that way this week.  Lots of it was my fault because of either inexperience or plain stupidity.

Those who know me know there are times I am serious but, for the most part, I enjoy joking around.  We have fun at school because it is an American one and they have a hard time pronouncing herbs, about, foyer and I found out this week, drama.  We were talking in one class about abilities and giftings and I mentioned the school drama may be something to try.  Well, I said drama and the class asked what that is.  "You know, like acting" "Oh like dr(ah)ma."  Well, I proceeded to let them know the proper way to say drama and I said the only time we use dr(ah)ma is when you are talking about a "queen" and then I looked in the direction of a girl in the class.  I didn't think anything of it until after class.

I have a Thing on Fridays that students can submit questions, any question, and we will discuss them on Monday.  Well, I got a question on Friday "Why do you pick on ________ (the girl I referred to as a drama queen).  Safe to say I felt like an idiot, I was an idiot, and had to humbly ask for forgiveness in front of the whole class.

Then, I had a substitute teacher and learned that you need to explain the class to the teacher as my Grade 8 class is "Wild" and that is an understatement, so, the sub left the room and one of my students put another in a headlock while he was gone.  Again, another apology needed.

So, this was the attitude and mentality I had going into fall Retreat.

Ellianna trying to join in with Ultimate Frisby

It was a little rainy

The turning point for the weekend was an extended worship time.  After having these problems this week, the worship leader stated that if you are having a problem ask a teacher to talk with you.  So, someone from one of my classes came up and asked to talk to me.

"Oh dear" I thought, "What did I do now"

This student actually confessed to me that they cheated on the test we took this week.

My faith and spirit was filled to overflowing.  Here I was down on myself asking God if He really does show up and blatantly He DID!!!

To resolve the situation, I marked everyone's test and no-one got 100%.  I then put, for example, 24/32 = 100% "Not by what you have done but by Grace Alone Ephesians 2:8"

So on this student's test I wrote the same thing 0/32 = 100%.

I was so blessed to be able to tangibly give a life example of what Christ has done in our lives.  None of us is perfect, and yet when we accept Christ, God sees Christ's perfection in us!