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Thoughts on Teaching from Hebrews

First I'll just list some of the notes I made in my study guide while I was reading chapter 4 of Hebrews.

1. High Expectations
2. Teach kids to make connections rather than regurgitate information temporarily...

(I was reading about how we can take on God's yoke but it is actually light and easy to carry. Although we are taking something on, we are giving our stress and our fears and our worries to God, and Hebrews 4: 16 says that we should "draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." I wonder if by having higher expectations and teaching kids to learn and problems solve and think critically rather than to learn information, I would be taking away the heavy burden of memorizing meaningless facts and giving the students a new yoke to carry. One that would bring with it responsibility to be logical thinkers and to do what is right based on critical thinking and analysis. Students would give up ignorance and facts, but would gain understanding and maybe joy in awesome world around them. Maybe I'm stretching...)

3. God wants our students to be in his rest and be able to ask for merciful and graceful help in times of need.
4. Jesus is such a big deal and most people that I encounter on a daily basis may not know him or even have heard of him. I'm not doing enough. How do I show Jesus in the midst of such misery and pain... and expectations that are so meaningless in comparison...?

The problem is bigger than how to grade or how many students are in a classroom or how much to pay teachers or which standards to cover in what order or even *gasp* the common core. The problem is that Jesus is a pretty big deal and education (while pretty important for life in our current society) is broken and cannot be fixed by broken people. I can do my best, but I fear that I will always feel like I'm not doing enough as an educator, as a Christian.

God is able to be a father, son, mind-reader, judge, genius, wise grandfatherly fellow, soldier, friend, protector, comforter, giver of both punishment and forgiveness, and he does it all perfectly... I feel like this list is what I try to be everyday and it is exhausting.

It makes me wonder about God's decision to send the flood to wipe out mankind... I don't think God felt regret for what he had created because he knew what would happen when he gave us the ability to make choices. He loved mankind and gave them his best even when he knew they were going to make terrible choices and completely disrespect and ignore him... And after they had had every chance, there was a natural consequence... I know God knows exactly what I'm going through every day.

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