Humor

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We were ecstatic. Our school was less than five years old and was bursting at the seams.

We were getting great feedback from the parents and the entire church.
We had nurtured our KK-6th graders and had a well behaved, smart group of about 500 students.

Why not grow a little? Why not go on to 7th grade? What a great idea!

So we put the word out that for the next school session starting in late August, we would add the 7th grade to our school.

Well, the 7th Graders came in with a bang.
Literally. They were loud, raucus, boisterous and some strode in calling us by our first names.
Cell phones and earphones dangled from their pockets and they were constantly munching on hard candy. You couldn't see it, but you could smell it. The smell of artificial grape, cherry, watermelon, orange and lime candy wafted across every classroom they were in.
And they behaved worse than children half their age.

In Chapel or at any kind of meeting where they attended, the other students usually were turned completely around in their seats to stare at the 7th grader's loud, rude conduct.

Soon some church members began to complain and some even began to invent names for the unruly teens.

It was a trying year, an experiment gone bad, and most of the teachers could not wait until it ended. We were going to think very carefully about keeping this grade at our school for another year.

Then that Spring the Principal approached me with some startling news- that she had registered our 7th graders to compete in the City Wide History Competition!

I searched her face to see if she was kidding. She wasn't.

She dropped a big document of about a thousand questions and answers on my desk, that she wanted us to drill the students on to prepare for the competition.
She said, with all of the energy her 99 lb frame could muster, "I am counting on all of you!"
Then she marched out of the room.

Those who liked to make jokes about the kids had new fodder, now. They started saying "Here comes the Air Guitar Gang!"

Air Guitar. You see one of the 7th Graders , Louie, had a strange habit of jumping out of his seat during class and vigorously playing Air Guitar, for some reason only known to him and God.

The Air Guitar is an imaginary instrument. You just pretend like you are playing...It is a little strange...

My sincere hope was that we'd make it through the competition without embarassing the church and that hopefully Louie would not jump up and play his imaginary instrument.

As the weeks passed we studied and studied. We drilled and we drilled.
For six weeks we prepared and encouraged and pushed the reluctant and indifferent group of 7th graders.
The principal dropped by frequently and told them how very smart and great and wonderful they were.
Those of us in the trenches with them daily looked at each other silently.
Yeah, they were wonderful alright.

We did make some progress. Louie had to be reprimanded only a few times during the whole six weeks to sit down and put his Air Guitar away. He seemed... focused, if there is such a thing.

The day before the competition, I broke out in hives.
Whether it was the pressure, the stress, or some candy that I had taken from a student, I had to stay home on medication.

The next day I worried and prayed all morning. The competition was to begin at 10:00 AM ,to be ended about two hours later.

A little after 12:00 Noon, my phone began ringing off the hook. In the backgroud was noise and shouting.

We won! We won!

Who?

We? I thought we had won an honorary award like Good Sportmanship or something.

NO!
Our 7th Graders had won the History Competition!

How did that happen?

"They answered more questions than all of the other teams, thats how!", somebody replied.
And Louie did not jump up and play Air Guitar once!

How did that motley group of kids with all kinds of problems- emotional, spiritual, mental and every other kind, defeat some of the smartest "normal" students in the city?

By hard work and faith, thats how. The Principal believed that it was possible, and made the children believe it was possible.

The next day I asked her why she was so confident in our troubled teens.

"The Pastor", she said.

The Pastor, her husband, had been a troubled child.
As a matter of fact, he would not speak until he was around 13 years old.
His Mother never gave up on him and continued to pray for him and to tell him daily that God was going to use him to his glory one day.
He did and became a great leader despite his learning and emotional problems.

And that is what the Gospel is all about. Overcoming the world.

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