Live What I Believe

Have you ever felt like people looked at you funny or noticed the rolled eyes when you voiced a belief aloud?
This happened to me tonight during the class that I had at a local "Christian" university. For this class, I am required to read an autobiographical novel by a southern writer about his experience as a white guy teaching black kids on a remote island in SC in the 1970s. This would be a fine story, except for the fact that every other word in the novel is some slang term for African Americans or some profane obsenity and that my God's name is taken in vain several times throughout the book.
I explained my disdain for this book to my professor tonight. I told her that this book was highly offensive to me and that I could not see how the university could have her open class with a biblical devotion and then require that the students read a book like this and take a test that counts 20% of our grade on this novel.
She began to demean my intelligence by explaining the premise of the book and its purpose in this class. I had to let her know that I understood well the point of the story, but I felt convicted about reading this novel and then going home to read my Bible. If I heard this language on TV, I would change the channel or more likely turn it off. If I was among people speaking this way, I would remove myself from the situation.
My stance fell upon deaf ears as the students in the corner rolled their eyes at me for voicing my concerns and said that they enjoyed the book and the professor made an attempt to persuade me to look past the language.
I am accountable to God alone and I'm going to stand up for Him regardless of how many rolled eyed frowny faced looks I encounter. I am ready to live out loud for God!! As far as I'm concerned, those rolled eyes are a sign of conviction. So all I got to say is roll on...

Peace!

Here I Am Again

Ok, so the other day when I wrote about following Jesus and laying my burdens down, I felt so much better instantly. I felt (and still feel) like a weight was lifted from my shoulders. My decision has been to follow Christ where ever He leads and in whatever direction He asks me to go, even if it is an unexpected direction.
Of course, I was convinced that this meant that I would be leaving my career in teaching behind and moving on to something else (what i wanted). However, not long after I made this decision, several people approached me at school and talked to me about this, even though they had no idea about what I had contemplated and prayed about.
These women all said basically the same thing. One talked about the importance of Christian teachers being a positive influence in public schools, I beleive she said we are a "light in the darkness." Another spoke to me about the fact that there are always kids coming by my room to say hi, even kids I don't teach, which I have to say is kinda cool. The last teacher talked about the "good kids" in public school and how they make it worth while.
Today, Barry shared something with me that made me feel like what I thought God was leading me to (quitting my job) isn't actually God's plan for me right now. So, it appears that I will remain in education at my current school for a bit longer. Although this is not my desire, I feel like God is not through with me there yet. I will continue to pray that God will guide me and direct my path, but I have realized that this is not about me...It's about God and how my family is going to serve Him in ways that I cannot even begin to know.
For now, I will take satisfaction in knowing that I am following God and that summer vacation is only 22 more days away!!
Love, Peace, and Hair Grease!