The real story.

The air conditioning unit shuddered and groaned like an old women trying to climb a flight of stairs. I walked across the room towards the window while mentally trying to will it into producing some cool air. I could feel sweat trickling down my back in a steady line as I leaned over and hit the side of the unit. It was 88 degrees out, but the worst part was the 79% humidity that filled the air leaving everything in its path soggy. I questioned why I had even bothered to shower this morning before heading into the city to teach the kids.

As I turned to face the classroom, Cyrus told me that it was too cold in the room and he wanted a sweater. I groaned and tried to push back the hair that was sticking to my forehead. If this was cold, there was no way I was going to survive the summer.

After the previous lesson focusing on the introduction to the 10 commandments, we spent the class taking a closer look at the first and second commandments. I was excited about this unit as I had some fabulous curriculum from my church back home, and I wouldn't have to write the entire thing like I did for my last unit on Creation. I was on my own this week with 13 children, which went better than expected all things considered. I had a few discipline issues, but that has become a norm. Any time you put 13 children ranging from kindergarten to grade 6 in a class there are bound to be some issues that crop up.

To be honest, I was rather disappointed with the children's response to the lesson. Half of them felt the movie was dumb, and the other half wavered between actually wanting to watch it and wanting to be cool like the kids who thought it wasn't worth their time. Craft time turned into a free-for-all as supplies were scattered all over the room. I am quickly learning that a respect for other people's property and stuff is not something that is taught to most of these children, which often leaves me very frustrated as I spend a lot of time putting together the lessons and coming up with ideas that will engage the children.

As I spent 20 minutes after the kids had left on my hands and knees picking up the scattered supplies and grumbling to myself about not being appreciated I realized that I hadn't really spent a lot of time praying about the class this week. In fact, I spent more time relying on the good curriculum and preparing the lesson then bringing each of these children forward in prayer. It seemed pretty ridiculous of me to expect that the lesson I brought forward would touch and change these children's attitudes and lives when my own was rather self-serving.

I had a lot to think about as I drove home, including a prayer for cooler weather.