Stories from the field...

At house church last night we watched part of U2's "Rattle and Hum" for worship. It was a beautiful picture where U2 goes to Harlem and sings "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" with a gospel choir. Two very different worlds colliding and having something worshipful come from that union.

Afterwards we talked about having eyes that are open to seeing Jesus in unlikely places. Sometimes I can get so caught up in looking for a symbol of him-be it a fish or cross-that I don't see Him in the every day.

Here is a way I recently saw Jesus in my building:

There is a student I love dearly who has down syndrome, we go way back and love each other lots. He desperately wanted to play basketball with the big boys at recess during the first week of school. This can be tough on a kid who is small, white, and doesn't really look like anyone else but desires to share in an experience with some of the tough kids from the 'hood. But they let him play. After a few minutes, someone even passed him the ball! And that is when something amazing happened: the rest of the kids backed away and let him shoot the ball. Those boys were Jesus to G and every other person who witnessed the event.



A few other funny stories.

My student I sings his answers to me in class. Isaiah is in Kindergarten.

I had to send a note home with a boy for farting on another student.

When I asked a class how old the world is, one student answered "232." If you ask him how old Jesus is, he answers "2008."

Yesterday I was teaching the students about learning "aurally" and talking to them about hearing something and trying to remember it for later. So we were practicing listening and then waiting a few minutes to play what we heard when I realized there were little pods of boys around the room playing their rhythms on the floor so they wouldn't forget them!

Two of the kindergarten boys with autism were holding hands in my class on Tuesday. I also hear that they really love singing and sing a few of our songs at recess all the time OR one of the boys sings "Allison's Camel" when he starts to get anxious to calm himself down. :)




love. carter.