The Substitute Teacher (Part 1.)

I am not a real teacher at all, my real job has nothing to do with education, I am just a substitute teacher. Today I am a substitute teacher at Springhill High School, a local high school in a suburb of Houston, Texas.  At this very moment twenty-six boys and girls are under my supervision in an Advisory period which lasts from 9:40 a.m. till 11:15 a.m. An Advisory period is not a class for learning at all. It is like a study hall period where you park students for awhile ostensibly to give them study time for tests or to do homework. Naturally none of this gang of twenty-six is doing anything like studying. So in essence I am just an Advisory Policeman. Here just to keep order and to prevent them from hurting each other. 

The demographic make up of this school is 90% African American and 10% white or Hispanic. Springhill High it is not an inner city school in a slum or ghetto sometimes known as Soulsville. I have only heard of a ghetto referred to as “Soulsville” one time, and that was on an Isaac Hayes album.  The album was called “Theme from Shaft” and there is a song on the album called “Soulsville” that I like very much.

The kids may talk here in this Advisory Period and so they talk, drum on their desks, rap (sing) and joke around a lot because they have been given an inch of freedom and so they take a yard. The TV is on showing a largely ignored historical program about Malcolm, Martin and Meredith. I glance at it some while my eyes rove up and down the aisles of desks observing my charges. Just before the black history program came on there was a student produced music program on. The student program featured students from this high school singing popular songs. They sounded quite good for lip singers and the class gave them their rapt attention and even required me to turn the volume way up. It is nice to see these sons and daughters of people my age at school albeit at play. They are young, energetic, social, enthusiastic and striving to be fly.  Was I ever like that, fly? Or was I always reserved, serious, studious, pragmatic, stoic and intensely boring all of my life.

So far I have had to speak to three boys and one girl in the classroom about their over social behavior. One girl I had been warned about by another teacher. I was warned to not give her a hall pass under any circumstances and to not let her outside of the classroom without an escort. The other teacher didn’t mention the reason why.

The Patience of Solomon

Alright so your waiting in line at the grocery store and the customer two places ahead of you is holding up the line because of a price check.  You on other hand have just three items to pay for and you are annoyed at the clown holding up the line. Never mind that it’s not their fault the price is missing,  you still think it’s their fault so your impatience remains.

Or you are in a clothing store call it Ross (Dress for Less) and this time there is a lady ahead of you in line just taking her sweet time talking away about her granddaughters with the checkout clerk.  Any minute now you are expecting her to pull out the photos and just destroy the rest of your day.  You feel a seething anger building up inside you but if only you could see your face it would not be pretty.

Both of these situations and others like these or driving situations require you to control yourself right? The following is a simple memory jog to nudge you into the right kind of thinking.  When I am losing my patience, it helps me to lightheartedly tell myself “I shall have the patience of Solomon!”



You know the biblical king, son of King David. Almost instantly afterwards I can be well and patient again and feel kingly for being so patient.

“What are you talking about?” You’ll ask me in a scornful tone that suggests  that I’m an idiot. “Everybody knows that King Solomon was renowned for his wisdom, not for his patience. He may have been a very impatient guy in his day!” To this I shall calmly reply, “I know, right? But perhaps, you have forgotten what the bible  says. Look into it, you’ll see for yourself that patience is wisdom and wisdom is patience.”  

“No!  It doesn't say that." By now you'll be raising your voice and waiving your arms in the air like you just don’t care.  In a patient reply to your rant I’ll say further, "Read 1 Kings 3:1-28 and Proverbs1:1 and what follows. Then, maybe the next time you're inconvenienced to wait you can tell  yourself with a smile that, "I shall have the patience of Solomon!"   Then you will be able to act wisely and feel kingly by doing so." May this be a whole new start for you.

Have a blessed day

People often say to me “have a blessed day” as a nice social Christian thing to say in parting. I completely agree that we are blessed in more ways than we even know of on a daily basis. On some days however we can have an exceptionally blessed day.  I remember a particular blessed day that happened during Mardi Gras, in New Orleans in 1981. This was the day our daughter was conceived.  My wife and I had loose plans for having our first child after law school but our daughter was born during my second year of law school. We jokingly said that she was an accident but that was not true.  It was only our ignorance of the spiritual truths in the bible speaking.  Now we know that God incredibly blessed our day by ordaining our daughter’s birth date; Psalm 139:13-16 and Jeremiah 1:5. We also know that God determined the very time for our daughter to be born and where she would live; Acts17:26. 

We rejoiced and have loved our baby from the very beginning even before she was born. We are such lucky people to have been blessed with our daughter and also with our son who was born a few years later. It is my hope and prayer that people everywhere will be strong enough to handle the blessing of parenthood. But should you lack the strength God will generously provide all the strength you need. Thank you and  have a blessed day.

Overcoming adversity -Part 1

Okay we are born, we have a childhood, go to school, get older and then it becomes time for us to make choices. Could a mistake made in high school keep you from reaching your goals in life? Yes it can. Suppose you were arrested for shoplifting or some other petty criminal offense. The arrest record and the court record can become a black mark against your future. Anyone’s past criminal record can affect their ability to get a job, rent an apartment, gain credit, obtain student loans and prevent them from obtaining a professional license.  Not all types of criminal records are eligible so you should talk to a lawyer to see if you qualify for what we call in Texas an expungement (your record is erased) or  a non-disclosure (your record is sealed). It is a wise thing to do and it will feel great to finally get your record cleared.

Just So That You Know

• Just so that you know we are happy being empty nesters but we’re also glad we have children. 

• JSTYK after you turned twelve we didn’t get any dumber but hopefully you got smarter.
• JSTYK we were always cheesy but in a cool way.
• JSTYK your old rooms are no longer your old rooms, they are ours now.
• JSTYK we cried at your wedding because we were happy to hand you over to someone else’s care.
• JSTYK we want grand children NOW but we will try to be patient.
• JSTYK we have years of experience and will be happy to give advice sometimes without being asked.
• JSTYK we really do want you to stay in touch.
•  JSTYK we want you to visit us often.
• JSTYK bring the kids when you visit; but your pets you can leave at home.
• JSTYK we love you just as much today as when you were little.

The Passion of The Christ

 We trapped the bird Steven and I. A large white bird using bread as bait and a simple snare consisting of a box propped up by a stick on one side with a cord we could pull attached to the stick.  I was surprised and delighted that it worked.  The bird could have been a sea bird because of its size and pure white feathers.  We just did it for fun; we were going from one thing to the next that summer when I was fourteen.  The bird stayed quiet under there but we had it and we weren't going to let it go.  I don’t remember if it was planned or not but we had some gasoline in a glass and some matches.  Looking down at the bird through the box top we could see that it was frightened.  Okay one of us was to poor the gas on it and the other light the match on the count of three.  One two three, splash whoosh!  I can’t recall if it was I or Steven who poured or lit the match we were a very efficient team. 

As soon as the gas ignited we took the box off and the bird flapped around the yard burning and squawking loudly for at least two minutes then lay still. Its feathers black and charred and flesh burned ugly.  I can still remember the smell of its burning feathers an acrid dirty smell.  I was speechless for a while.  We quickly buried the bird to hide our shame because we both felt ashamed I think.  We split up then and each went to our own homes.  It was a horrible sight that poor bird bursting into flames and his suffering while being burned alive. It was the cruelest thing I have ever done and I never spoke of it again not even to Steven. We grew apart after that and never did things together again. Did we stop being friends? I guess so.  Afraid to tell because someone would think there was something wrong with me, ashamed to tell. I once saw on TV a man treated the same way.  It was somewhere in India or Pakistan or somewhere like that.  A mob was jeering a man they claimed was guilty of breaking some law.  Someone threw a bucket of gas on him while someone else lit the flame.  He burst into flame and the crowd seemed fascinated, perhaps I looked that way during my own crime.  I could not believe that I was seeing a man being burned alive. Just before he was burned he seemed so docile so helpless like my bird, then he was made to suffer.  God I hope those men in the crowd understood later the evil that they had done. This video was from a real documentary and not a movie stunt.  I was forty something when I saw this.  I have also both seen and read accounts of tribal genocide in Africa with people getting their hands and feet hacked off and left to die slowly; more inhumanity. Now at fifty years old I saw the movie, The Passion of The Christ.  Jesus suffering at the hands of a mob and soldiers.  The beatings that wouldn't stop, the nails the scorn and the cruelty.  When I killed that bird I was like them.  Sure it wasn't a human being that I killed but what does that excuse?  I am a human being and I should have had compassion even for an animal. Why did God let his son die on a cross at the hands of evil men like me? Sometimes I think it was out of compassion for us that he died; but what about Jesus where was the compassion for him? Why was his cruel death the only way? I cant understand it.  For so long I have never asked God to forgive me for killing that bird so cruelly.  I am asking him now. 

The Most Essential Camping Tool

The most important tool you need for camping is not what you think it is.  It’s a no brainer that you need matches and a can opener.  Some other things that are just as much a given are blankets, mosquito spray and flashlights. As a family we used to go camping in Texas State Parks; we must have camped in fifteen or more different ones around the state. I know what you're thinking, you think its toilet paper right? But no, it’s not even that genius.

Okay here's a hint, I mentioned it was a tool. No, not a hammer or an ax, we didn't build log cabins while camping out in the woods. We stayed in tents and occasionally in cabins that we didn't build. Give up?  Alright, I’ll tell you the secret.  It’s a broom! A simple broom with a long handle and a sweeper at one end; that could be made with plastic bristles or straw ones. It’s just so useful for campers to have a broom.  After you get the tent set up, unload the minivan and get settled in your campsite; you are going to need to sweep off the picnic table and the benches that most state parks provide. Trust me you will need to do that. The next morning after coffee, you will also need to sweep off the outside of your tent due to environmental factors. Following that, you will also want to sweep out the inside of your tent due to people factors, your kids dropping food and candy crumbs all over the inside.

Your broom is also a stick; which makes it a basic weapon.  You've seen people walking around carrying dog sticks right? They're for warding off dogs that bother you; that’s why they call them dog sticks.  In theory, if you should encounter a bear or a mountain lion, you can grab your trusty broom to ward it off. He’ll probably slap that thing right out of your hand and mull you anyway, but it feels good having something in your hand – right up to the time he takes it away from you. What you do in that situation is not the subject of this post; but running away is always an option.