Incredible

          I'm sitting on a concrete veranda surrounded by 2 stray puppies that have taken refuge with us.  As I look up from my notebook, I see a 4-acre field fenced in by palm trees and bushes.  Workers are bustling all around me, carrying concrete to the maistrees (skilled construction workers) who will first build walls to make dormitory rooms using mortar and brick before plastering it the next day using a mixture of water, fine sand, and cement powder.
           I glance down at my notebook and furrow my eyebrows as I try to imagine my elementary classroom.  What furniture did we have?  What supplies did the teacher always keep in her cupboard?  What lined the shelves under the wall-to-wall window?  This is incredible.  I’m making a shopping list for a boarding school.  A boarding school!  I’ve always made lists for myself.  The biggest shopping list I made was for a 5-day camping trip my friends and I went on.  I’ve never even furnished a house before.  But here I am, trying to figure out all the equipment, furniture, utensils, and supplies we need for classrooms, offices, a kitchen, a cafeteria, and dormitory rooms.  You’ve got to be kidding me.   Who am I?

            A day later, I stay at home to spend more time on the computer.  This time, I’m making orientation stuff for teachers and house parents.  I’m drawing up a list of rules and regulations for students & staff.  I’m designing a daily schedule for the boarding students.  You’ve got to be kidding me.  Who am I?

Nobody.  A newbie teacher with only 3 years of experience and absolutely no administrative experience.  God truly doesn’t choose to always use the experienced, strong, and equipped.  He uses the available, the weak, those who will depend on Him for everything.  This reminds me of the verse Rachel gave me in which Jeremiah said, “I am only a child.”  Yes, I am a child and I am weak, but when I am weak, I am strong because of Christ who lives within me.