Followers

Things have been very difficult the last few weeks as you have seen in previous post for our family. I think we have moved passed the "culture shock" to "culture stress".

That has not stopped God from moving. I have had the priveledge of having a front row seat. Sometimes you go through life or hard times and you never get to see God moving. I am especially blessed and glad that this is not one of those times. For weeks now I have seen different students in each of my classes asking really tough questions. Questions that have shown that they have been searching and questioning whether they are going to believe in Jesus or not. Today in the 6th grade Spanish classes they had a special guest that came in to share her testamony. Around 10 students raised their hands saying that they want to follow Jesus. Since I wasn't in the class I have asked for a list of names so I can follow up with them. Also so I can see if these were some of the ones that have been asking the questions.

I have been able to see God working with one of my eighth grade classes as well. This whole week we have been talking about being a fan verses being a follower of Jesus. Fans of Jesus go to church as long as they enjoy it or if they have to. Fans of Jesus are only there when it's convenient for them or as long as God is granting their prayer requests. A follower of Jesus truly understands that they were completely lost with out Jesus sacrifice and punishment on the cross. Followers realizes that because of the bad things they do that they cannot do anything to be good enough to go before a perfect God. A follower truely understands that they deserved a punishment of death for the things they have done, but Jesus took that punishment for them. A followers confesses the wrong things that they do and believe that Jesus was God and was the only one that could be a perfect sacrifice for them. They are so grateful for what has been done for them they will want to live for Jesus and worship Him. A follower is willing to give up things here on Earth because Christ gave it ALL for them. These are just some of the many ideas of a fan verses a follower of Jesus that we have been talking about.

The 8th graders have been talking to me outside of class about being a fan or a follower. Sometimes in a joking way and sometimes questioning what I said in a good way. It's made it obvious that they have really been thinking about it.

Another teacher confronted them today on how they were behaving (especially for the new teachers). One of my eighth grade classes came to me today and apologized for their behavior. Usually this is the worst class that I have all week. Today it's in a different room than this class is normally in and it's towards the end of the day. I was suprised when they quieted themselves because they had to talk to me. Then we continued to talk about the Fan verses Followers and they had some really good questions. I had a couple ask "How can you tell if you are a fan or a follower?" or "how can I become a follower if I am sitting on the edge between a fan and a follower?" I can really see that they are pondering it and are trying to decide what they want to do.