Don’t think all
black people are like this, the police officer said. He squeezed me in a rough bear hug. I could feel his bulletproof vest underneath
his starched uniform shirt. It was like
being hugged by a tree. He said these
words to me, I think, because he was a black man, the principal of my school
was black, and almost all the students and teachers were black. He said this to me because I was the only
white person around, and I was the only one with a swollen eye. (pg.13)
Chris Travis was
the much loved and respected pastor of a church. He and his wife decided to move to New York City Harlem .
I used to get
nervous about preaching in a church... I used to actually feel anxious before
standing in front of well-mannered church people who never throw things, never
push you, never threaten to rape your wife.
I didn’t know what it was like to stand up in front of a crowd that
openly hated me, gnashed their teeth at me, and said the foulest things you can
think of to me. I didn’t know how it would
feel to see an entire class lunge out of their seats, energized by the simple,
sadistic joy of watching one kid punch another.
And guess who stood between that classroom of students and the two who
were fighting in the hallway. (pg.13)
Chris worked
two years at this school. The third year
it was closed down. In the two years he
was there he learned a lot. A lot about
what God’s purpose is in our lives. How He
uses everything, including- or especially, the toughest times of trial to make
our lives count. To show us that we’re
significant.
In the nine
chapters of the book Chris discusses discovering what God wants for us, what loving others really means, what it means to be a servant of God where ever you happen
to be in life. He shows how when we
allow God to change our heart, and depend on Him in all circumstances He gives
us spiritual gifts to use and impact others.
He concludes that whatever we do, it is not insignificant.
Interlaced
through out his message, Chris shares his experiences as a first year rookie
teacher who went from crying on the subway home every night to an experienced
no nonsense classroom manager the second year.
Applying the principles he writes about in these chapters, he became an expert teacher who got his kids to perform academically and
improve. He connects the principles he
discusses in each chapter to how he applied these principles to his own daily
life and how they worked.
The end of the
book has discussion questions for each chapter so a church group could use the
book as a Bible study.
What I found
valuable about this book was that I, too, taught at a high minority, high
poverty school for nine years. My school
wasn’t as bad as his but I daily fought high stress and depression and the sense that I wasn’t making
any difference to anybody. This book had
me thinking that when we look at our lives from an eternal perspective, we are
doing things that are making a difference.
I may never have won a “teacher of the year” award, but the love I
showed my students and the work I did with them to make each and every one of
them successful musicians did matter.
After reading this book, I
can appreciate how God used my teaching years as a time of testing and trial to
“complete a good work in me.” I am not
the same self-absorbed, clueless person I was when I first began teaching.
We may never know
in this life time the difference we made in people’s lives, but God knows. He knows and He sees-even if no one else
does.
The only thing I
would have liked to have read about were specific techniques the author used to
manage his class. He only tells us he
was awful the first year and was effective the second year. He doesn’t go into detail about what he did
to become effective. As an educator I
would have found that information useful.
All in all, this
book will be an encouragement to all of us who wonder if we or what we do
really matters. Chris Travis shows that
when we find our place inside God’s will, it all matters.
Chris Travis is the bestselling author or Unnamed and the pastor of Everyday Christian Church in Manhattan. Before that he taught math at eh most dangerous middle school in the New York City public school system, Chris is a former atheist who met Jesus in the pages of Scripture and never looked back. He lives with his wife in New York City.
I received a complimentary copy of this book by Bethany
House Publishers.
Other Links:
2 comments:
You make every book sound intriguing Sharon.
http://www.ManOfLaBook.com
Thanks, Zohar. I try!
Post a Comment