Of all the things I do I dislike the sub stuff the most. All respect goes out to my mother and all the other educators I know. I am sure being in a class long term is different, but subbing is kind of boring. I struggle with it, but I make some extra cash and I leave the house each day with a vision of the people God wants to bring together to form this church and know I might meet them anywhere. Still it is boring!
Having so many different jobs means my days are never the same, I have never had a job where things were fairly repetitive, but now things are never repetitive. The bad of that is the unknown. It is scary! Somewhat uncertain, etc...The good of that is the unknown. Everyday is an adventure and I believe God has away of using all of it to more completely shape whatever it is He is doing.
the lighter side...some days are heavy. i get discouraged about the potential of the church almost every day. (i also get encouraged.) For the first time in my life I do jobs I don't always enjoy. Somehow I believe I understand other people better through this. Today however was a funny day.
I am not on the Billings Public School substitute calling list, i.e. I don't get a phone call every morning. Instead I basically surf the school website and pick up jobs of teachers who are out with advanced notice. (Conferences, Personal Days, etc...) It is easier for me to coordinate my schedule this way. I also have time to screen jobs I would be less likely to take. (I.E. Grade school classes, high school classes where the teacher might be required to know something about the subject, etc...) With that said I am not stupid and I can fake knowledge about anything. So I try to take High School and Junior High School jobs of any kind, save math related classes.
A week or so ago I accepted a position for Consumer Science. Honestly, I had no idea what that meant. I knew it was for 7th and 8th graders, so I thought how hard could it be to teach a Science class.
This morning I rolled up to Lewis and Clark Junior High and walked into the main office to get the classroom key and info folder. I walked down the hall and found my room for the day and opened the door to find sewing machines in the classroom. Apparently, Consumer Science is a fancy way of saying Home Economics. Yes, I was the Home Ec. teacher for the day.
I wish I had a video of those students class after class as they first entered the room to see me as the substitute. Hmmmm! They were certainly stereotyping me by the way I looked.
With that said I spent the day showing 12, 13 and 14 year old students how to use a seam ripper and walked them through the proper way to mark fabric and cut it into perfect 90 degree angles. I was to say the least a fish out of water, but I faked it pretty good.
Do you think this is what Paul meant when he exclaimed become all things to all people for the sake of the Love of Christ? Just something to think about.
