King Solomon wrote, “Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom.  Though it cost all you have, get understanding” (Proverbs 4:7).  In this world, nothing comes easily, especially wisdom.  Ever watched Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe on the Discovery Channel?  The show honors the “unsung American laborers who make their living in the most unthinkable—yet vital—ways.”  From collecting roadkill to removing bones from fish, believe it or not these workers are tougher than nails and do their jobs for the benefits of others.  One of the toughest and dirtiest jobs today is public school teaching.  That’s right!  Trying to exterminate ignorance in the mind of a ten-year-old is a dirty job.  Teaching a sixteen-year-old how to critically reflect through Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is a dirty job.  Remember those history lectures over the Revolutionary War?  Dirty!  Memories of multiple choice tests and writing your spelling words ten times each?  Filthy!  Teaching is tough, but someone’s got to do it.  Good teachers deserve our respect and prayers.
          Mrs. Holland taught me to read in the first grade.  I’m sure I was in the slow reading group, and she must have had the patience of Job.  Mrs. Michaels, my third-grade teacher, taught me multiplication and division.  I thought she was a monster, but she was just doing a dirty job.  Mr. Ferguson, my high school principal taught me how to tie a tie.  It was a dirty job because the ties we wore in the 80s were those dorky ones that looked like crocheted oven mitten cut into bookmarkers.  Ugh!  That’s dirty work.  One of my track coaches, Bill Carter, modeled Christian faith for me on and off the field.  Mrs. Singleton, my senior English teacher, inspired me to express my Christian faith in my writing and work at the school.  Can you believe that dirty work?! I know The Star Spangled Banner, the state song, Oklahoma, and The Lord’s Prayer because my sixth-grade teacher, Mrs. Clement, did the dirty work of putting that stuff in our heads.  It’s a dirty job, but someone’s got to do it, and thank God they did, and teachers today still do!
          Being a public school teacher is dirty work indeed.  Even dirtier work is being a Christian public school teacher in today’s school systems.  Listening to the forces at work in the public arena today, one would think that Christian school teachers are the enemies of our esteemed institutions of learning.  I beg to differ, Thermadore!  If it weren’t for the salty influence of these teachers, then our school systems and kids would be in even more serious trouble.   It is the faithful and diligent labors of Christian teachers in public schools that guard and sustain the moral fabric of the next generation.  These followers of Jesus have to serve in the pressure cooker of political correctness, and put up with the foolish philosophies of Planned Parenthood, NEA, and other twisted, know-it-all organizations that think they know how to raise your kid better than you do.  These teachers are shaking the salt of Christ into the lives of children and teenagers lost in a morally aimless culture.  Thank God they are committed to do the dirty work of the Kingdom.
          So pray for your kid’s teachers, especially if they are believers.  Tell them throughout the year you are praying for them.  Write them prayer letters with Bible verses and mail it to the public school where God has been put in detention.  Pray that they will have the wisdom of Solomon, the patience of Job, the courage of Joshua, the boldness of Daniel, and most of all the unstoppable, powerful love of Jesus Christ.  Pray that they will have the strength to do the dirty work and shine the light on the One who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Category : Tommy Talk