Proverbs 31

“A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value…he praises her: ‘Many women do noble things but you surpass them all.’ Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.”
I’ve been reflecting on these words recently as I have been watching Mandy over the first few weeks of the school year. Other translations say “a woman of valor.” Valor, noble character, which ever you prefer is fine with me. They describe my wife. I have known her through three Second Grade classes, two in which I knew the kids and with which I actually spent a lot of time. Each year seems to present her with a new challenge, some student or group of students who need some extra…love, let’s say. But I have never seen her work harder, or be more challenged than I have in our first few weeks here in Beit Jala. To say these kids need extra ‘love’ would be the understatement of the year. These kids don’t know the meaning of the word discipline. They don’t understand respect. Last year this class went through three teachers. Read that again slower. Three teachers over a 9 month span! No wonder these kids need extra ‘love.’ It’s kind of a which-came-first scenario. Are they a tough bunch because they’ve had so many teachers come in and out the door or have they had so many teachers come in and out the door because they’re a tough bunch? Who knows? It doesn’t really matter. What matters is that Mandy has been given this task.
I would be lying if told you there haven’t been tears. I would be lying if I told you there haven’t been days where Mandy has wanted to quit. BUT she hasn’t. I have watched as she has poured herself out for these kids day after day. She is a masterful teacher. (And I know that she has a masterful mentor/mother.) I have been amazed with my wife. She is a model of perseverance, of skill, of beauty, of Biblical “Valor.”
The summer I worked for Cedar Lawn doing landscaping I woke up everyday knowing that I was physically unable to do the work that lay ahead of me that day without God’s strength. Without a doubt that was one of the most profound times of growth in my spiritual life. It sounds strange but I think it has something to do with the first Beatitude. “Blessed are the poor in spirit…” In other words, blessed are those who realize they are empty before God and can only accomplish the task in front of them by crying out to him. That’s how our day begins here in Bethlehem: spiritually bankrupt. It is not by our own strength that we are able to succeed but by the Lord’s. We’re working on the Kingdom of Heaven part.
Today has been odd. I came up at my lunch break and turned on the news for a bit. One of the few English channels we get on TV here is CNN. Today they were showing a lot of footage from September 11, 2001. So of course I remember where I was that day, how I first heard etc. as I’m sure most of you were doing today. Then I remembered how that day ended for me. My friend Oliver and I went to this absolute dive of a bar up by Gordon. It was just one of those nights where you wanted a beer. I remember sitting by this guy that was drunk and angry. He was saying things like why don’t we just nuke the entire Middle East, who needs them, bunch of you-know-whats, and yadda yadda yadda. And here I am trying to witness to this guy and explain how everyone over there is not like that. I remember wishing that day that there was something I could do to help. Help that guy with his perception, yes, but more importantly to help these people that I was trying to defend to my inebriated neighbor. Well friends, be careful what you wish for as they say.
But today as I watched the news and thought about fanatics and where they are born and bred I thought to myself, not here, not in this school. Not on my watch. Not in 4th grade. Not on Mandy’s watch.
We thank you all for your prayers. We deeply appreciate each and every one of them. It has been so comforting to know that we are covered by your prayer support; to know that as we cry out to God we are not crying out alone.