The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. Psalm 34:17, NIV
Mr. Long, a third-grade elementary teacher, faced an academic Goliath one year. His Goliath was a class of 23 students with over half of them being mainstreamed special needs children. Two had severe behavior disorders, half of them were ADD or ADHD, and the students’ reading levels varied from primer to fourth-grade levels. He was given 55 minutes each day to teach reading. He was being held accountable for accelerating their reading. The district had given him no appropriate program or training to meet the challenge—but God did.
Mr. Long cried out to God in prayer and asked for help. One day, while attending an all-day training on ADD and ADHD, the Lord began to give Mr. Long the plan and general outline for the program he was to use to begin meeting his students’ needs. God divinely gave him an original multi-level phonics, vocabulary, and reading fluency program that worked and challenged every student in the room. Mr. Long even shared it with others.
God made a way where there was no way. Jesus truly was the way, the truth, and the life in Mr. Long’s classroom that year.
Are you facing a Goliath right now? Have you cried out to God to ask for help?
Lord, give us the courage to cry out to You and acknowledge that we need Your guidance and help in our professional lives. Amen.
Copyright Don Clark.
Don is a retired elementary special education teacher. He recently retired from his role as the Houston area director for Christian Educators.
