If you would have asked me in high school if I could ever see myself as a teacher, I would have said no. Becoming a teacher had never even crossed my mind. Public speaking has always terrified me and probably always will. Teaching a room full of screaming kids is a nightmare rather than a dream come true.
When I signed up for the race, my dream and desire was to see people come to Jesus and see lives changed. I have seen some of those things like in Poipet, when two women discovered Jesus. It was a beautiful moment, one I will treasure forever. I’ve also done some pretty ordinary things like painting a kitchen and talking to women on the streets in Siem Reap. Ordinary things lead to extraordinary things.
Now I’m in Thailand and our ministry is teaching English in the surrounding schools. As you can imagine I was less than thrilled to start ministry. Now a week and a half in, I can say I feel a lot more confident commending the attention of a hundred kids or so for a while. It’s difficult some days. The kids are loud and restless. The language barrier farther separates student and teacher. The same games don’t always work in all the schools. Sometimes we teach kindergartners and sometimes we teach high school students, a VERY different teaching style is required. We do skits, stories, and games until we’re exhausted.
In the back of my mind, I always thought teaching English doesn’t actually farther the kingdom. I was wrong. We are helping to shape the next generation of Thailand. This is no small task. These kids will grow up and become doctors, teachers, business owners, and even leaders. Maybe some of them will remember that time a group of six young american women came to teach English. Maybe they’ll remember the story of Jonah or David and Goliath, and the God that is bigger than they can ever imagine. Maybe they will want to know that God.
I am not a teacher
I am not a painter
I am not a construction worker
I am not a preacher
But for the sake of the gospel, I will be.
I’ll be a teacher, a painter, a construction worker, a church planter, a drama director, or a preacher. I’ll be whatever it takes.
“…I have become all things to all men, so that by all possible means I might save some of them. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.”
1 Corinthians 9:23
What are you willing to do to bring kingdom? Are you willing to stop and talk when you don’t have time? Are you willing to look like a fool? Take every opportunity, because that’s our job. It’s our responsibility to tell people about Jesus, in whatever way they need to hear it. This is the whole purpose of the church, to know Him and make Him known.
