Over My Head

Our days have been filled with meetings both this week and last. There has been time the last few days for us to work in our classrooms. We were finally able to see and work in our classrooms on Friday. As I stepped in my classroom that afternoon, I was hit with this overwhelming feeling of fear and awe. Fear that I wouldn't be a good teacher and awe that it was my responsibility to teach a whole group of children how to read, write, and to do arithmetic. I had to get to work on my room but I wasn't sure where to begin. I started at the only place that seemed logical to me, music to put me at ease. I looked for any CD in the classroom that I could play on the the class CD player. The only one I found was WOW 30 which took me back to the times when I would know all the songs on those CD's. I pressed play on the CD player.

Two hours later, still sitting at my desk, I was still wallowing in that mixture of fear and awe. Almost nothing had been accomplished in that time either. Then out of nowhere I heard the CD still playing. It was playing a song where the singer was telling us that he was in over his head. I could relate to that so I continued to listen. There was something different about this song though. The singer was happy that he was in over his head because at this same time, he had found rest and peace in God.

Two weeks ago this evening Becki and I arrived in Santiago. During those two weeks, it seems that we have been constantly in over our heads. Whether it was in taxis, downtown grocery stores, crowded streets, or cluttered classrooms we continue to feel overwhelmed. All of these experiences have shaken us to some extent and made us more aware of how God is at work in each of these events. I'm beginning to agree with that singer, maybe being in over our heads isn't such a bad thing.