Unexpected Mission Field

Last month I went to the eighth grade graduation of my former students in the Bronx. I can't tell you how full my heart was. I've really missed those children over the last year, and I was so excited to be able to see them and congratulate them on moving on to high school.

I also saw some of the best teachers and administrators in the world, and I'm grateful to call them my friends. I have missed these people immensely. They're the people who are ministering to children and their families each and every day without so much as an ounce of the accolades that we as musicians in ministry get. I say this not to minimize this current chapter of my life that the Lord has planned, but I must say something about the lifelong dedication of educators, especially the ones I've witnessed in action at Middle School 331 (NYC Public schools not only name their schools, but they number them, too).

I can truly say that teaching middle school was just as important a training ground for ministry in my life as seminary was. Teaching taught me to be consistent, diligent and more patient than I might want to be in stressful situations.

So, anyway, if you think about it in the next couple of days, please send up a prayer for my friends working at MS 331 who are daily loving on the kids that many people have already deemed unworthy of attention and love. Pray that they'll be rejuvenated this summer in a way that will prepare them for more work in the fall. Pray that they'll have sweet moments with their loved ones, and that all they endeavor to do this summer will be easier than normal, to kind of balance out their year. :-)

And please pray for my sweet kids that don't really get a chance to escape some of the scariest horrors of our country because many of those horrors happen on their own block. Pray that they'll be safe, but not only that. Pray that they'll be enlightened to easier times, in order for them to have hope outside of what they've seen and see regularly.

Thanks so much.