School is well under way this new year and I have come full circle. In 1981, I entered my first year as a math teacher in junior high. After four years I started teaching high school. This year I have returned to junior high as an algebra and Bible teacher.
Last week I connected with a school visitor during lunch. “Coach Davis, I still remember a math lesson you taught when I was in the seventh grade!” Rob was in one of my pre-algebra classes my first year of teaching. He was also a key member of my first basketball team. I was taller than Rob at first, but by the end of the school year he was several inches taller than me.
“What was the lesson?” I asked. Rob told me it was a lesson about math properties. “No kidding,” I replied, “I am teaching that very lesson in class today. What made it so memorable?” “Well, you were a little frustrated that we were not paying good attention, so you stood on your desk with chalk in one hand and and eraser in the other and loudly proclaimed your properties. At your crescendo, the principal walked in and asked, ‘Mr. Davis, is everything alright?’”
I decided not to re-enact the math properties lesson that afternoon. First, there is no chalk to be found on our campus, and second, I’m not quite as agile as when I was twenty-one.
I watched Rob and his friends grow up and make it to the state championship basketball game their senior year in high school. At 6’8″, Rob went on to play basketball in college, but sadly, he did not major in math.
Do you know what he has majored in for most of his life? With a lovely wife and four beautiful children, Rob leads an organization called YouthReach International that blesses orphans across the world. Most of his work is in Russia and surrounding countries where there are many needs. Rob and his fellow workers train mentors to lead young people throughout the year. The Light of Jesus shines brightly through this ministry.
You never know the plan God has in mind for a junior high kid.
“Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity.” I Timothy 4:11
“Train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” I Timothy 4:7-8