Let the School Year Begin!

It's that time of year again, school starts in just a few short days. The students have moved into the dorms and the parents have left. Teachers everywhere are making last minute preparations, hanging borders, making word walls, and expanding their classroom libraries.
I had the pleasure of visiting a "teacher store" with some elementary school teachers of mine. I also had the distinct pleasure of writing "Mrs. Baros" inside the covers of all sorts of exciting titles ranging from "Winnie the Pooh" to "Amelia Bedilia" to "The Boxcar Children."
Just last week "Mrs. Baros" helped me go through my classroom library which incidentally had much more boring titles like "Therapeutic Nursing Interventions" and "The Physicians Desk Reference." I must admit that I would rather be reading Encyclopedia Brown than writing my lecture on fluid and electrolytes.
Last Friday morning I had the distinct pleasure of leading the devotion time during the new student orientation. I was reading the passage in Exodus 17 where the Israelites are fighting the Amalekites in the valley while Moses stood on the hill holding his staff. As an illustration I had one of the students hold a box over her head as I read the scripture. After a few verses I would then add one of their text books to the box. Of course it didn't take long for her arms to get tired (as I can be long winded and each of those darn books weighs at least 6 pounds). Her classmates soon figured out that they could help her by holding her arms up. When I finished reading the chapter I asked a few questions about the application of this passage. They seemed to grasp the theme of encouraging one another in the Lord, baring each other's burdens, and standing firm in truth but when I asked them what was above their heads one of them quite seriously said "our assigned readings." Actually I was going for the whole "The Lord is my Banner" thing but...
Later that afternoon I weighed that box and found out that with all it's contents it was 52 pounds! I'll bet our students were wishing they were reading Amelia Bedelia or Encyclopedia Brown too.