I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know Rodney, and his wife “preggers”, since they started coming to THECITYCHURCH. One Sunday morning, at church, a group of us guys got together to pray over our pastor before the service. I wanted Rodney(tyler) to come pray with us, so I approached him with the idea. When I approached him, I called him “Tanner”. He didn’t laugh, giggle, or even crack a smile. He just looked at me and told me “my name is Tyler”. I knew He either didn’t think I was funny, or him and his wife would not be back to church…..probably both. I eventually learned that he was just nervous and thought I didn’t know his name. Since then we have gotten to know one another, and he thinks I’m “the funniest person he’s ever met”.
On a serious note, this guy has God given talents and creativity to think on another level than most people. He uses these characteristics in his videos, teaching his students, websites, our creative team and our church. He is an asset to every team/organization he is involved in, and I highly recommend getting to know Rodney by checking out these sites.
tylertarver.com
twitter
whatthejazz.com
When Jash first asked me to write something, I said sure, because I planned on just copy/pasting something off the internet. He caught me. So here’s what I rewrote on the rewrite.
Forewarning: I am not much of a wordsmith, an articulate, or a Pokemon player. I am, however, an American and epidermis owner.
Due to the fact that I am getting this in about 4 weeks late, I have had the privilege of reading all of the amazing posts other people have written during the first weeks. All of them were able to express ideas and thoughts much more eloquently than I could ever dream of. So, after much deliberation, I have decided to veer from the spiritual side of things and take a look at some things I have noticed with relation to my past few years experience as a teacher, and maybe see if you can relate spiritually.
In the classroom, you can break down the types of students into a few different categories with regards to effort exhibited in class. Obviously, it gets much more specific, but for the sake of this post, shut your lips and learn.
The Chris Knights- (aka The Good Enough to Get By’s) By unwritten law, we have to say all kids have potential. By straight up fact, God gave some students much more talent and potential than their peers, or if you will, a headstart. Not to say everyone can’t accomplish what they want, I’m a firm believer in that, but it just comes easier to some people. These students will do whatever they have to to keep their parents happy so they don’t get their precious cell phone taken away. They do just enough to skim by; stay right above that imaginary line of mediocrity that determines above average. They don’t ever really reach their full potential, usually for fear that they will actually give it their all and fall short. With relation to our spiritual walk, these are the people who do the minimum. They wouldn’t be considered ‘bad’ people (old school church term), they follow the rules and even sometimes take the initiative, but very seldom are they the ones that go above and beyond. They are not usually the ones who inspire us.
The Frenchies- (The Wait to Drop Outs) These parents don’t care enough to take cell phone. “You don’t need school, your great uncle Henry dropped out in eighth grade and he makes 20 dollars an hour.” If I had a dollar for every time a student told me of someone they know who is rich that dropped out, we could all retire cause I’d buy North America and turn it into a giant Six Flags. This is the exception, not the rule. Sure, if people work real dang hard and start something and work hard some more, they can become financially successful without school. But so many doors are automatically closed to them because they didn’t finish. They don’t care, just want that new truck, to go hunting, to go shopping, to go get some money now. Something is always more important cause they can’t see the big picture. Never really look to the future or consequences, but they can’t be convinced to actually face the truth. These are those people that allow their walk with God to be overrun with other things. Their spiritual walk isn’t as important as everything else they’ve got going on.
“Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.” -C.S. Lewis
The Ferris Buellers- (The Just Wanna Pass)- To these kids, school is just something they get through. They don’t care about learning, improving, or knowledge. They just want a D or better, and to get it by doing as little as possible. I think this kind of Follower is pretty obvious to spot. They usually just might say they follow Jesus, but not one of their actions, personality, goals, or attitude correlates with Christ’s teachings. A great phrase I heard somewhere, “going to church makes you no more a Christian than standing in a garage makes you a car.” It is a complete and total life and attitude change. A continual journey to live and act as Christ desires you to live.
The Buzz Lightyears- (The Above & Beyonds)- These students inspire me. I had a student who liked math last year. I know? I don’t even like math that much and I teach the crap. She would genuinely want to extend her learning. She wanted to solve problems and make herself as good as she possibly could. We call these students “Unicorns,” because some don’t believe they exist. She went on to score the highest score out of any student by about 30 points on the End-of-Course Geometry exam. She was in my regular class and she beat out 90 honor students and 180 regular students. She would study and handle her business every day, without complaint. Never whined about extended assignments. Just joyful to achieve all that she could in the 50 minutes we were in class. I wish I could have that same obedience and desire to learn and grow in my walk. It’s something that I strive to improve every day, but am constantly falling short.
One of the most wonderful things to see as a teacher, is a student breaking these barriers. These are in no way set in stone, and are entirely determined by that individual person’s attitude and dedication to school, Christ, or anything else. I had a student my first year teaching that was borderline F all year, just shooting for the stars, I mean a D. The first 9 weeks of next year, something switched. She saw the benefits of doing well, of genuine effort, and the best thing of all, she loved it. She liked getting A’s & B’s, she had that drive to see how far she could rise. See, that’s the wonderful thing about being human, God’s limitless creation, we are in His likeness, and He has no boundaries. On this Earth, with the effort and motivation, God gave us the undefined potential that lives in
every
single
person.
Josh Inmon 