"Why do bad things happen?" asks David Waters, who is doing great things at the new Faith in Memphis website.
Actually, the question is as follows: Natural disasters like the earthquake and tsunami in Japan last week, the Haiti quake, the Indian Ocean tsunami, Hurricane Katrina and so forth raise so many questions for all of us. Where is God? If God is good, and/or if God is in control, why do unspeakably terrible things happen to so many good people?
Read my response, which probably makes me a bit of a heretic, here. Seriously, church folks may not like it. Consider yourself warned.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Saturday, March 5, 2011
First Responses in the News!
It's good to have friends.
After my last post, about teaching as a vocation, a calling in the religious sense, lots of friends shared the link and it became my most-read piece ever. One friend shared it with David Waters, religion columnist at the Commercial Appeal and editor of FaithInMemphis.com, who then contacted me about writing a story about my sense of calling and vocation. (It's here, in case you can't wait.)
David is a tremendous talent and has won several awards. I read his column religiously religiously for years when I lived in Memphis previously and, upon moving back, I missed his voice. It turns out that he had taken a job with the Washington Post. I was glad to hear of his return this past year.
In short, I am a fan of David Waters. So I was excited to learn that he not only read my piece, but also liked it enough to devote an article on it.
Anyway, after getting everything cleared through the school district, David came out to our school and interviewed me. I enjoyed meeting him and he was a great guy to talk to. At that point, the understanding was that the article would be on how teaching, as well as other "secular" endeavors, could be a religious calling. Before he left, he let me know that he would be sending a photographer out at some point.
Then, the other day, we made arrangements for the photographer to come out. David said he really wanted the photos to come from one of my classes, so I scheduled a time that would allow me to prepare my class prior to his arrival. The class is from 7:30 until 8:25, so I told him to come at 8:00.
It was my understanding that only the photographer would be coming, so imagine my surprise when David shows up at about 7:15, when all but a few of my students were still eating breakfast. I didn't get a chance to prepare my kids, so I was hoping (and praying) that everything would go smoothly.
Fortunately, it did. In fact, the class went so well that I considered asking David to be a permanent fixture in my classroom. It was definitely one of the best classes I have had during my time in the classroom. It must have made an impression, too, because, when the article came out this morning, a large portion of it was devoted to the classroom experience.
And that is just fine with me. Teaching is not about drawing attention to yourself. If I wanted attention, I should have stayed in academia. No, teaching is about placing the focus on the kids, which is why I was glad to see that the photo used for the article included a student at the board with me.
Last night, my wife commented that it was like Christmas Eve, knowing that the article would be published today, but not quite knowing what it would contain.
My daughter woke up at 4:00 this morning and, after getting her back to sleep in our bed, I reached for my phone on the nightstand to read the article.
"It must be good. I can tell because you're smiling," commented my wife.
And it was. It is.
I didn't even realize that a smile had cracked. That's not my style.
But take a look here at the photo, see the face of that student, and try not to smile.
David is a tremendous talent and has won several awards. I read his column religiously religiously for years when I lived in Memphis previously and, upon moving back, I missed his voice. It turns out that he had taken a job with the Washington Post. I was glad to hear of his return this past year.
In short, I am a fan of David Waters. So I was excited to learn that he not only read my piece, but also liked it enough to devote an article on it.
Anyway, after getting everything cleared through the school district, David came out to our school and interviewed me. I enjoyed meeting him and he was a great guy to talk to. At that point, the understanding was that the article would be on how teaching, as well as other "secular" endeavors, could be a religious calling. Before he left, he let me know that he would be sending a photographer out at some point.
Then, the other day, we made arrangements for the photographer to come out. David said he really wanted the photos to come from one of my classes, so I scheduled a time that would allow me to prepare my class prior to his arrival. The class is from 7:30 until 8:25, so I told him to come at 8:00.
It was my understanding that only the photographer would be coming, so imagine my surprise when David shows up at about 7:15, when all but a few of my students were still eating breakfast. I didn't get a chance to prepare my kids, so I was hoping (and praying) that everything would go smoothly.
Fortunately, it did. In fact, the class went so well that I considered asking David to be a permanent fixture in my classroom. It was definitely one of the best classes I have had during my time in the classroom. It must have made an impression, too, because, when the article came out this morning, a large portion of it was devoted to the classroom experience.
And that is just fine with me. Teaching is not about drawing attention to yourself. If I wanted attention, I should have stayed in academia. No, teaching is about placing the focus on the kids, which is why I was glad to see that the photo used for the article included a student at the board with me.
Last night, my wife commented that it was like Christmas Eve, knowing that the article would be published today, but not quite knowing what it would contain.
My daughter woke up at 4:00 this morning and, after getting her back to sleep in our bed, I reached for my phone on the nightstand to read the article.
"It must be good. I can tell because you're smiling," commented my wife.
And it was. It is.
I didn't even realize that a smile had cracked. That's not my style.
But take a look here at the photo, see the face of that student, and try not to smile.
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