Betrayed by Sleep

There's more betrayal during the Passion Week than just that of Judas and Peter. How about the disciples in the garden of Gethsemane? Remember that one? Jesus took some of his disciples to a secluded spot in the garden. He was sorrowful and troubled and asked them to keep watch with Him. They fell asleep. He woke them up and asked them to pray, specifically telling them to be alert and pray so that they would not fall into temptation. Their response? They fell asleep again. They only woke up when Jesus called out, but by then it was too late to sit with Jesus in the garden. Judas and the soldiers had arrived. Jesus was on his way to the cross.

I suspect many of the times we betray Christ we are more like the group of disciples than we are like Judas or Peter. We don't usually sell Jesus out for money or outright deny that we even know Him. We just fall asleep. We fail to sit with Him. We fail to listen to His specific command to pray. We're just too tired, too distracted, or too lazy.

I've just finished reading Judges. It's so depressing. By the end of the book you read one bizarre story after another--God's people are just wallowing in depravity. But where did it all start? How did God's people go from fording the Jordan and marching on Jericho in the book of Joshua to anarchy, immorality, civil war and rampant idolatry just one book later?

I imagine that it started with laziness, failing to keep alert as the surrounding culture suggested various options for worship and sex, failing to listen to God's specific commands so that eventually doing things like making a silver object to help in your worship of God sounded like a good idea, taking various concubines sounded like an option, etc. From there it was just a short step to worshipping other gods and their silver idols, demanding that visitors to your city be brought out to the village square for gang rape, and advising your countrymen to steal wives for themselves by carrying off unsuspecting young girls from the fields.

There's an interesting story in Judges 17-18 about a man who apparently stole thousands of dollars worth of silver from his mother. When he hears her cursing about the theft he returns it to her and she consecrates a portion to God. This then somehow translates in her mind into making the silver into an idol for his family so they can better worship God. The son takes the idol and installs his own son as a priest in the house. Later he runs into a wandering Levite--actually a grandson of Moses--and makes him into the household priest. Not only is an idol now involved in their worship of God, but also a totally illegal priest since only Aaron's descendants were supposed to be priests and they were supposed to minister in the tabernacle not private houses. Finally, a wandering tribe of Israelites comes along looking for a place to settle since they have failed to claim the area God set out for them in the Promised Land. They ask the pseudo-priest if they should steal a particular piece of land although it is quite obviously not the land they have been given by God. They steal the idol, convince the priest to betray the man he works for and come along with them as a kind of good luck charm, and go off to kill a peaceful and unsuspecting group of people who happen to have some good land.

Now what does all this have to do with us? Well, when I look closely at the story I see a mother who failed to be alert to what God expects vs. what the surrounding culture suggested was appropriate, and thereby actually bought an idol for her son thinking it was a good thing. I see a man who didn't recognize idolatry when he saw it and in turn taught it to his own son. I see a grandson of Moses who should have known better and could have stopped the whole thing but who instead took advantage of it in order to secure himself a job and a place to live. And I see a whole tribe who failed to step up and take hold of the specific area that God had given to them and so found it necessary to steal other people's land and things. I see a lot of aimlessness and confusion in areas where there was complete clarity from God. God clearly said "No idols;" "Only Aaron's descendants as priests;" and "This is your particular piece of land." But the people were not alert. The downward slide had begun. They were, in fact, asleep.

During the Passion Week, I am trying to wake up. Where are the areas that I buy into the culture and give my children things that actually lead them into sin? What are the specific areas that God has given me (in terms of both responsibility and blessing) that I have failed to claim? Am I trying to worship in a way that is off-base or perhaps even a bit idolatrous? How do my actions measure up to the clear command to pray so as not to fall into temptation?

"So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled." 1 Thessalonians 5:6

Faith and Perseverance #2

There’s another thing about the story of Rahab that’s encouraging to me. Rahab gathered her family, told them about the way of salvation and then somehow kept them all there in the safety of her home—or in the safety of the faith since being in her house with red cord displayed was the way they were going to be saved. She had to deal with feeding them and finding places for them to sleep. She had to deal with the inevitable squabbles of family cooped up together. She had to quell their doubts, especially when the Israeli army spent six days marching around outside the city walls only to go silently back to their camp.

How many times did she have to explain why it was important to stay in the house, to drill into their heads that it was dangerous to leave? How many times did she have to explain that God was with the Israeli army although they probably appeared totally ineffectual? Sure, hiding the spies was a courageous act of faith—but continuing to convey her faith to her family in close quarters, persevering day after day, now that was really something amazing.

Thinking about Rahab gives me heart to continue to tell the story of my faith to my kids, to explain to my teenager once again that “it’s dangerous out there,” that there is one way of salvation even though the actions of God’s people may look odd or ineffective right now.

Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, "Go into the prostitute's house and bring her out and all who belong to her, in accordance with your oath to her." So the young men who had done the spying went in and brought out Rahab, her father and mother and brothers and all who belonged to her. They brought out her entire family and put them in a place outside the camp of Israel. Then they burned the whole city and everything in it.... But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho--and she lives among the Israelites to this day. Joshua 6:22-25

Faith and Perseverance

I’m reading Joshua right now and I find myself wondering about Rahab’s family. Rahab was the woman who helped the Israelite spies when they came to check out Jericho. She hid them from the king and then helped them escape the city in exchange for a promise that Joshua would save her family when the Israelites came to destroy Jericho. The spies promised her salvation on the condition that she hang a scarlet cord from the window of her home so the army would know which one was hers. All who were waiting in her home would be saved. Anyone who went out into the street took his life in his own hands.

As soon as the spies left, Rahab tied the cord in her window. She probably also went out and told her parents, brothers and sisters about the coming destruction and the promised salvation. She urged them to seek refuge in her home.

And then what? And then they all sat around waiting I guess. It was at least a week and probably much more before the Israelites were even heard from again. (The spies hid for three days before returning to the camp and then the Israelites crossed the Jordon, camped in the vicinity for three days, circumcised themselves and waited to heal, all before marching on Jericho).

What did Rahab’s family think during this time? It probably went something like this: We’ve been duped. There is no danger. Or even if there is danger, what good will sitting in the house do? We’re missing so much going on out there in the town. What about my business? I’ve got to get back to it before it runs into the ground. I’ve got to plow, plant, harvest, winnow, store, etc or I won’t have anything to eat. I’ve got to spin and sew or I won’t have anything to wear. And what about my friends? What fun am I missing?

Finally the Israelites appeared, but they spent six days merely marching around the city once per day blowing trumpets. What did Rahab’s family think then? Now I KNOW we’ve been duped. Look at all the silly motions they’re going through. It’s all meaningless.

Did some of the family leave they house? Did they lose focus on why they were waiting (their ultimate salvation from death) and begin to fight with each other about trivial things? Did they doubt Rahab’s sanity, thinking she must have gotten the salvation plan wrong. I mean, afterall, how can this little cord save anyone? Did they begin to invent their own versions of how and where they could survive? Did they start thinking about ways they could save themselves?

Does any of this sound disturbingly familiar? We’re all waiting right now. At some point, we became convinced of hell and the ultimate destruction of this world. We learned there is a way of salvation. But now we wait and things like death and destruction seem far off and even a little crazy. What seems more real are concerns about what to eat and what to wear and how to spend our time and that annoying person sitting next to us as we wait.

Take heart. Keep focused on the unseen realities. Rahab’s family was eventually saved from destruction and so will we be if we remain faithful.

"Let us hold unswervingly to the faith we profess, for He who promised is faithful." Hebrews 10:23

Perseverance Through Trials #2

So I want to persevere through my little daily trials….But what does “persevering” really mean? I mean, I kind of get it if I happen to be thrown into a lion’s den or am told I must renounce my faith or go to prison. But what does it mean when all I am really dealing with is kids who got up on the wrong side of the bed, too much to do at the office, too much to do at home and a checkbook that won’t balance?

I think James gives us a clue in chapter 1 after he talks about the various kinds of trials we may face. James 1:21-22 says, “Therefore get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you….Do what it says.” James puts the same thought in even more practical terms a few verses later in James 1:27: look after widows and orphans and keep yourself from being polluted by the world.

This is essentially the way a dedicated athlete perseveres, right? He or she gets rid of lazy habits, accepts coaching and keeps on practicing. This is what dieters do too. They stop eating junk food, get on a diet plan and start eating right and exercising. In fact, we really do know what perseverance is all about and most of us have done it many times over in various contexts. As students we turned off the TV, listened to the teacher and hit the books in time for exams. When we became parents, we gave up certain freedoms, read childcare books, asked everyone and anyone for advice and started slogging through the days and nights with our kids. When I discovered I had inherited monstrously high cholesterol I read everything I could and then followed the advice I had read--which of course said to get rid of some old habits and start doing some other better things. I persevered and my cholesterol began to improve.

Perseverance is the same in our spiritual lives as well: to keep on getting rid of junk that we shouldn’t be doing, to absorb all the information we can about what we should be doing, and then to do it. And to keep on doing it no matter what the circumstances that arise that day: whether we feel uncertain about how to face a particular situation (James 1:5), whether we feel rich or poor (James 1:9-10); whether we feel tempted to sin (James 1:13-14), whether we feel angry or annoyed (James 1:19), or any of the other myriad feelings and situations that distract us from the goal of getting rid of the bad stuff in our lives and doing the good stuff.

I can actually move through a typical day in suburbia keeping these two goals in mind: getting rid of the bad stuff and doing the good stuff that I have learned I should do. And I have a feeling it will be good practice for the future and the “larger” trials that also strike typical suburban households: lay-offs and financial set backs, rebellious children, the almost inevitable crises that will come with aging, etc…..

Perseverance Through Trials

This idea of “perseverance” through trials has always sounded sort of scary to me. It congers up images of Job or foreign missionaries or Christians in Buddhist and Muslim countries. Very far from my fairly comfortable life in suburbia where the big concerns are how to get two kids to two different activities on opposite sides of town on Saturday morning and whether or not my son will get placed in an accelerated math class.

But I’ve been reading the first part of James and learning a practical thing or two about perseverance. First of all, James says we will face trials of many kinds. (James 1:2). (Perhaps James had in mind that some of us would face prison and persecution while some of us would just deal with cranky neighbors and broken air conditioners.)

James then goes on to talk about several different sorts of trials and—surprise, surprise—I do deal with these sorts of things in my little life:

• Lack of direction or wisdom (James 1:5-8)
• Feeling poorer than my neighbors (James 1:9-11)
• Temptation (James 1:13-15)
• Things that make me angry (James 1:19-20)

This are the types of things that each day send us spiraling in a different direction than God has in mind for us and these are the things that He wants us to persevere through, promising that perseverance will result in spiritual lives that are mature and complete, not lacking in anything. (James 1:4)

Now that puts a whole new perspective on the little things that go wrong each day in my life. I can actually face them as challenges that will eventually lead to maturity in Christ.

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking in anything." James 1:2-4

Creating Quiet for God #2

Here is Gordon MacDonald in Ordering Your Private World on getting quiet with God:

Silence and solitude have not come easily to me at all. I once equated them with laziness, inaction, and unproductivity. The minute I was alone, my mind exploded with a list of things I should do: phone calls to make, papers I should be filing, books unread, sermons unprepared, and people I ought to see.

The slightest noise outside my study door was a massive intrusion to concentration. It seemed as if my hearing became supersensitive, and I could overhear conversations at the other end of our house….Because my study is near our laundry room, it never seemed to fail that the moment I got into spiritual activity the washing machine would decide the load inside was unbalanced, and its foghorn-like buzzer would go off, insisting that I…should come and readjust the wash.

But concentrating even when there was silence became desperately difficult. I learned that I had to warm up, to accept the fact that for about 15 minutes my mind would do everything it could to resist the solitude. So among the things I did was to start by reading or writing on the subject of my spiritual pursuits.

MacDonald goes on to explain how journaling has been incredibly helpful to him in many ways, one of which was to get over the “hump” and begin to focus.

So don't be discouraged if you're distracted as you try to get quiet with God. Just keep at it every day. Eventually your mind will become trained and will more easily set aside your extraneous and irrelevant thoughts. And, even more importantly, God will honor your attempts to seek Him out and put Him ahead of all your other pressing thoughts and responsibilities. I've mentioned Elisabeth Elliot’s thoughts on this subject before but they continue to help me so I'll mention them again. Elliot also frets about that “wasted” time when you can’t seem to pray or get your mind to stay focused on God. She says she has come to regard them as an offering to God, no matter how imperfect.

It is a good and necessary thing to set aside time for God in each day. The busier the day, the more indispensable is this quiet period for prayer, Bible reading, and silent listening. It often happens, however, that I find my mind so full of earthly matters that it seems I have gotten up early in vain and have wasted three-fourths of the time so dearly bought (I do love my sleep!). But I have come to believe that the act of will required to arrange time for God may be an offering to Him. As such He accepts it, and what would otherwise be "loss" to me I count as "gain" for Christ.

(From Elisabeth Elliot’s A Lamp for My Feet.)

The Life of Faith

A couple weeks ago my husband and I rented the movie, The Lake House, in which a man and a woman discover that somehow they are living two years apart in time but that they can communicate through the medium of a mailbox at the lake house. She is living in 2006. He is still back in 2004. OK, don't try to analyze it too much...it's just a movie. Anyway, at the climax of the movie, Sandra Bullock's character reaches out to Keanu Reeves' character and tells him that he will die on Valentine's Day 2004 if he continues on the course he is heading. (Remember, she knows his future because she is in the future.) She tells him what to do to avoid this premature death and that she loves him and will be waiting for him at the mailbox on Valentine's Day in 2006. And of course, the movie ends with their joyful meeting at the mailbox in 2006.

The final scene is shot pretty much from Sandra Bullock's perspective. She puts her warning message in the mailbox, hopes that the man she loves has acted upon it and then he drives up about 30 seconds later and all ends well. But you have to ask yourself, what was Keanu Reeves doing while Sanda Bullock waited those thirty seconds? For him the waiting lasted two years. Did he begin to doubt that he had ever really received messages from the future? Did his friends tell him he was nuts to be waiting for this unseen and pretty much unknowable woman? Did he get lonely and wish he could date women who he could actually see right now? Did he wonder whether she would really be at the assigned place in 2006 after he had given up two years of his life just waiting around?

Essentially Keanu Reeves had to live a life of faith for two years. He had escaped death only to feel like a stranger throughout 2004 and 2005, waiting for his real life to begin in 2006. How did he get through it? Well, presumably he reread her letters a lot. When he began to doubt, he replayed in his mind all the "coincidences" that had happened which could only be evidence that this woman who loved him was waiting for him in the future. He probably also made any major decisions through the filter of "I want to be in this particular place in 2006" and he probably avoided any entanglements that would hinder his relationship with Sandra Bullock reaching its fruition in 2006.

It's actually a pretty good illustration of the life you and I live waiting for unseen and pretty much indescribable realities to occur in the future. Sometimes people think we are crazy; sometimes we ourselves wonder if we are crazy. We sacrifice certain things today because we believe we have something much better waiting for us in the future. We hang on. Patience. Perseverance toward the unseen goal. Believing that what we will surely have later is better than anything we could possibly have now. The life of faith.

Interruptions, Delays and Inconveniences

Elisabeth Elliot's daily devotional from Back to the Bible today is entitled Interruptions, Delays and Inconveniences. Hmmm...sounds familiar. I think I was trying to write about that topic yesterday. Elliot quotes several missionaries:

--One who learned to regard trivial and annoying chores as daily practice that would eventually qualify her for bigger and better work

--One who trained himself to welcome interruptions as opportunities to present the gospel in true missionary spirit

--One who viewed an upset to her plans as an indication of God's guiding hand securing the accomplishment of His will (rather than her own will).

Check it out in Back to the Bible's Devotions archives and, while you're there, sign up for daily email excerpts from classic devotionals.

Keeping Priorities Straight When Life's Little Disasters Strike

Last Thursday morning I was in the kitchen—the start of a normal day I thought—when I heard an ominous sound. It sounded like water dripping in the family room. Sure enough, water was dripping fast through the first floor family room ceiling from a shower on the floor above.

And so began a home repair odyssey that has not yet ended. I rushed upstairs only to discover that when the previous homeowners had installed shelving in the linen closet they had screwed it into the access panel to the shower. The entire shelving system had to come out of the closet—and ultimately a hole larger than the access panel had to be cut into the closet wall in order to get to the problem. That meant a lot of Thursday was chewed up getting ready for the plumber and triaging to save the family room ceiling. Then I spent five hours on Friday dealing with the plumber. Saturday and Sunday the wall had to be repaired and spackled. While we were at it, we figured we might as well spackle numerous holes in the closet apparently left by homeowners past. Monday I repainted the closet. Now some sort of shelving needs to be reinstalled and the linen closet contents, strewn about the spare bedroom, put away. Basically a week of disruption and unexpected chores, one thing leading to another as always seems to happen.

And the scary part is, this is just one example of how time dissolves. My life is filled with similar examples. A couple months ago the IRS told us we owed them more taxes. We spent two full days unearthing three-year-old papers to explain why we did not. When the IRS later wrote us a sunny letter telling us that, oh yes, we were right after all, I felt like asking for a refund of my two days.

I know your life is the same as mine. We all deal with these unexpected, time sucking problems and, if we are not careful, we move from crisis to crisis until we wake up one day and realize weeks and months have gone by and we haven’t done anything we really wanted or set out to do. It’s a sobering thought--especially today, November 1, when we realize the year is fast waning and the next two months will be especially busy with holiday preparations and celebrations.

Keeping our spiritual lives as a priority amidst busy days is not some new problem. The book of Haggai tells us God's people got side-tracked for 14 years by home improvement projects. God told them to carefully consider the way they were spending their days and get their priorities back in line. Hebrews tells us to deal with this problem aggressively by "throwing off" everything that hinders us and running the spiritual race with perseverance lest we kind of just drift off course.

Take some time today to think about how you can keep God at the top of your to-do list when life’s tiny crises hit and the busy-ness of the holidays begins. Personally, I’ve discovered that rock solid habits are the only way I can do it. I actually write a list every single day: “Read Bible. Pray. Exercise. Shower.” Then I add other things to the list like “repaint linen closet” or “look for tax papers.” And I do the reading and praying first so that, hopefully, it will already be done when the family room ceiling caves in. This, plus weaving little layers of God time in throughout the day (like listening to a sermon on tape while I repair the closet!) helps keep my priorities focused and, as the author of Hebrews would say, my eyes fixed on Jesus.

...Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus.... Hebrews 12:1-2

Praying Like a Kid

There’s another characteristic of a child’s conversations with his parent that I think Christ wants us to understand when we pray: persistence. When a child asks Dad for something, he is a broken record. He has a one-track mind. He just keeps on asking day and night.

Right now my son is focused on getting a pumpkin. He began asking in early September back when any pumpkin we bought would have rotted before Halloween. He asked to be taken to get a pumpkin when I was in the middle of cooking dinner on Saturday night. He asked at 7 am on Sunday morning when we were trying to get ready for church. He asked again last night when he was already in pajamas. He asked me to bring the car to his bus stop after school today so we can immediately rush to the farm stand. And this persistence will continue until we get the pumpkin. Then it will switch to “When can we carve my pumpkin? Can we do it right now?”

We don’t usually use that kind of persistence when it comes to talking to God. At least I don’t. For one thing, it seems almost rude. For another, I get distracted and forget what I’m praying about and start making a grocery list or loading the dishwasher. But I think God wants us to be persistent. Right after Christ taught the disciples the Lord’s Prayer, He posed a hypothetical: Suppose you go to your friend at midnight and ask for some food. At first your friend may say, “It’s late, don’t bother me.” But because of your boldness he will get up and give you all that you need. Christ then explained: So what I’m saying is this, ask and keep on asking, knock and keep on knocking ( Luke 11:5-9.) His point really couldn’t be more obvious, could it? But just in case we missed it, Jesus made it again in Luke 18. He told the disciples a parable “to show them that they should always pray and not give up.” (Read the story in Luke 18:1-8.)

Think about Abraham, arguing with God about destroying Sodom. He bargained with God a full six rounds. And this did not anger God. Each time, God granted his request. (I think if I had been in God's shoes I might have said, “You know Abraham, not only am I going to destroy Sodom but I think I’m going to destroy you along with it!”) Think of Jacob wrestling with God: “I will not let you go until you bless me.” Think of Moses constantly going to God and saying, “I can’t deal with these people. You deal with them.” The examples we have in the “Bible greats” are of boldness in approaching God, boldness almost to the point of audacity.

Now this idea of persistence can get me down. It sounds too burdensome. I don’t have enough time to pray and keep on praying, right? But when I begin to feel this way, I’m going to think of Connor and his pumpkin. It is no burden to him to constantly ask me for a pumpkin. He is not sitting in school today thinking, “How can I work in enough time to ask Mom for a pumpkin today? I’ll set aside 20 minutes between play and homework. I’ll vow to do it every day. I’ll sit her down and get real serious. I’ll start a pumpkin journal. I’ll get on my hands and knees and beg for a pumpkin.” No. He’ll just blow in the door this afternoon, taking it for granted that I am glad to see him and ask for a pumpkin. He has every confidence that I will take him to get a pumpkin when I judge the time is right. And you know what? I will.

"Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most High Place...let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith...." Hebrews 10:19-22.

Showing Up to Learn

Several of my blogs lately have reflected something that I have been learning: that we grow not through our own self-effort but through the Holy Spirit’s effort in our lives. Yet as soon as I think I have grasped that truth, I am bombarded with teaching about how we need to work at our spiritual growth. Elisabeth Elliot’s devotional and Keswick’s Victory Call today both hammered home the work-at-it idea. Even the book I am reading, Mike Flynn’s How To Be Good Without Really Trying, despite its title, starts out with a longish discussion about how Christian faith is about doing and not just hearing!

So what am I to think? I come back to the idea that spiritual growth is about putting forth the effort necessary to put ourselves in the place that God can do the work in us (i.e., making sure we remain attached to the vine so the sap can flow and walking through the door into the room where God is working). I looked around for a way to explain this more fully to myself and God brought the following example to mind.

This time last year the school district told us that our daughter could start Algebra I in the fall if we were willing. Saying yes took a scary leap of faith since it would mean Callie would skip a year of math instruction—the Pre-Algebra year—that her soon-to-be classmates had already had. Although she had been a decent math student, she is clearly not a natural whiz at the subject. She could fail miserably. But we went ahead and in the fall I spoke to the Algebra teacher about our concerns that Callie did not have the necessary background to keep up with the class. The teacher told me to relax. “If she comes to class and does the homework, I will fill in any gaps. I am aware of her current level of understanding and I will keep an eye on her. If she has any problems, she can come to me during recess or after school. I am always available to her. I will make sure she gets through this class if she wants to.” At the time I remember feeling surprised that the teacher took on so much of the responsibility for Callie's learning the subject--and that she was so confident Callie would succeed--so long as Callie demonstrated a willing attitude.

And so began a year in which Callie demonstrated her willingness. She did the homework everyday. If she didn’t understand something, she went in during recess. I would estimate that she monopolized the teacher’s lunch hour at least twice a week all year long. She spent many hours over the course of the year alone with the teacher.

Callie not only passed the class, she got an A. Did she teach herself Algebra this year through the strength of her own efforts? No, there is no way she could have learned this material on her own or by natural instinct—she just doesn’t have that level of ability. But she deliberately put herself in the position that the teacher could teach her Algebra. Slowly, she was transformed from a person who didn’t even know Pre-Algebra to a competent Algebra problem solver--all she had to do was put herself into the hands of that teacher.

You get the point right? What God wants for us is to become Christ-like, but we don’t have the ability to achieve this transformation on our own. Our inability is not a problem because He is the one who is going to transform us--but He can only do so if we put ourselves in a position where He can do it. We have to make ourselves available to be taught.

This month, evaluate how fully you are putting yourself in a position to be transformed. Are you showing up to class everyday? Are you doing the assignments? Are you referring to the textbook frequently? Are you asking the teacher for individual help? How often? Use the Algebra example as a guide to asses whether the level of your efforts truly demonstrates a willingness to learn. I can't tell you how much effort is "enough" for you--it really is more a matter of how willing you are and how you translate that willingness into determined action that overcomes natural laziness and your desire to do other stuff like watch TV, etc. If Callie had shown up to class only half the time and opened her book only once or twice a week, what would the teacher have thought of her efforts? Would the teacher have made herself so available to help a student who skipped homework assignments because she was too busy IMing or watching American Idol? Callie probably would have ended the year knowing more about Algebra than when she started but I doubt she would have developed the cooperative and dynamic relationship with the teacher that enabled her to really triumph in the class.

We’ve got an incredibly competent and available teacher, but we have to show up in order to learn.