In a few weeks, all the students in Georgia will be taking their “end of year” tests. I put that in quote marks, since the tests are taken about two months before school is out. But that is the way it is. It gives the officials time to score the tests and schools an opportunity to remediate for a retest before school is out. Anyway, teachers have been working very hard all year, but especially hard the past few weeks getting kids ready for the tests. While all grade levels take the CRCT’s (as they’re called), they are most important for students in grades 3, 5 and 8. Minimal scores must be achieved by the student in order to be promoted.
A little over a week ago I was talking with one of our third-grade teacher
s. She was telling me of a math quiz she’d given her students. A section on the quiz included a graph summarizing a survey taken among some students as to the most popular color of tennis shoe. The first question asked how many students participated in the survey. One would assume the students would simply tally up the total number of votes to achieve the correct answer. And most did. My colleague shook her head, however, as she related the responses of two students. One wrote “Black”, the other wrote “Purple.” One has to wonder what question they had read. It was obvious which one they hadn’t read.
Unexpected answers. Life can be full of them. Occasionally, when working with adults, if someone says, “I have a question” and follows up with a long pause, I’ll suddenly blurt out something like, “849!” or “457!” That usually helps kick-start the other brain into gear and we can get on with the conversation. With my little kids, I’ll often name a farm animal.
Have you noticed in your religious experience that the Lord often comes up with unexpected answers? Noticeably, however, His are always meaningful; they’re also always the right ones. They are just different than we expected.
“Lord, it is getting late. Shouldn’t we be sending these folks home?”
“No, give them something to eat.”
“Lord, we pay temple taxes, don’t we?”
“Peter, go catch a fish.”
‘Lord, if you had been here, Lazarus wouldn’t have died.”
“Roll away the stone!”
“Jesus of Nazareth, by what authority do you teach these things?”
A little over a week ago I was talking with one of our third-grade teacher
s. She was telling me of a math quiz she’d given her students. A section on the quiz included a graph summarizing a survey taken among some students as to the most popular color of tennis shoe. The first question asked how many students participated in the survey. One would assume the students would simply tally up the total number of votes to achieve the correct answer. And most did. My colleague shook her head, however, as she related the responses of two students. One wrote “Black”, the other wrote “Purple.” One has to wonder what question they had read. It was obvious which one they hadn’t read.Unexpected answers. Life can be full of them. Occasionally, when working with adults, if someone says, “I have a question” and follows up with a long pause, I’ll suddenly blurt out something like, “849!” or “457!” That usually helps kick-start the other brain into gear and we can get on with the conversation. With my little kids, I’ll often name a farm animal.
Have you noticed in your religious experience that the Lord often comes up with unexpected answers? Noticeably, however, His are always meaningful; they’re also always the right ones. They are just different than we expected.
“Lord, it is getting late. Shouldn’t we be sending these folks home?”
“No, give them something to eat.”
“Lord, we pay temple taxes, don’t we?”
“Peter, go catch a fish.”
‘Lord, if you had been here, Lazarus wouldn’t have died.”
“Roll away the stone!”
“Jesus of Nazareth, by what authority do you teach these things?”
"I’ll tell you a parable.”
“Lord, Hezekiah here. The enemy is approaching Jerusalem. What shall we do?”
“Send out the choir and stand still.”
“Lord we’re boxed in between the Egyptians and the water. Have you brought us out here to die?”
“Step into the water.”
How has it been in your life? Have you had any unexpected answers? I sure have. Mostly because I’d already planned out how I wanted the Lord to respond to my requests. The problem is that His vision is so much better than mine. I’m so blind, I rarely see the start of my problems, and certainly can’t see to the end. How silly of me to think that I know what is best. How much better to rely on Him who not only can see everything from the beginning to the end, but also loves me enough to always put my feet on the right path. What a God we serve!
“Lord, Hezekiah here. The enemy is approaching Jerusalem. What shall we do?”
“Send out the choir and stand still.”
“Lord we’re boxed in between the Egyptians and the water. Have you brought us out here to die?”
“Step into the water.”
How has it been in your life? Have you had any unexpected answers? I sure have. Mostly because I’d already planned out how I wanted the Lord to respond to my requests. The problem is that His vision is so much better than mine. I’m so blind, I rarely see the start of my problems, and certainly can’t see to the end. How silly of me to think that I know what is best. How much better to rely on Him who not only can see everything from the beginning to the end, but also loves me enough to always put my feet on the right path. What a God we serve!
Personally, I would have voted for the black-cherry cowboy boots.
Dr. G
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