...your old men will dream dreams...

(Joel 2:28)
Courage to Dream
Rachel, an eighth grade history teacher, had a dream. She saw a hand sized rock
in the middle of a very shallow yet powerful swiftly moving stream. The rushing water
was haphazardly pushing the rock downstream. She saw the Lords hand reach down
and draw the rock from the stream. The rock was now moving in a different direction by
a different power. The Lord carried the rock to His garden where He set it down.
The Lord then spoke to the rock saying, Stop doing. Just be. You are to serve
no purpose but mine. Simply be where I have placed you.
The rock soon learned it couldnt move as it once had in the stream. It accepted the fact that it was to be
moved only by the Lord and no other power. Over a long period of time God polished the rock with the rain and wind
of His Spirit and it became more beautiful than it had ever been before. The Lord then reached down and picked up the
rock, cradled it lovingly in His hands, and transformed it into a loaf of bread. He broke the loaf into many small pieces
and fed it to millions of hungry people until it was no more.
Do you ever feel as if you are constantly being tumbled downstream by swiftly flowing currents that are
beyond your control in education, in your personal life, and in the community? Does it ever seem as though your life
as an educator, spouse, parent, and community member is moving at too high of a speed and needs to slow down? Do
you believe many of the currents pushing and tumbling you are not currents of Gods Holy Spirit?
As we educators enter our summer season, the Lord wants to encourage us to stop and simply let Him hold us, carry
us, and move us to where He wants us to be.
I believe the Lord is saying, You cannot hear and obey me until you stop and be still.
For the last two to three years, the Lord has convicted Rachel and instructed her to take a complete twenty-four
hour Sabbath day of rest, which she now usually takes on Saturdays because she is so involved with her church on
Sundays which consists of four to five hours of work within the education and worship teams.
Through this recent rock dream, the Lord has instructed Rachel to stop and rest in the Lords presence three
times a day - morning, noon and night. One cannot imagine what a challenge this directive has been amidst personal,
professional, family, and church commitments and responsibilities. God is testing and challenging Rachel to focus her
life more on her personal love relationship with Him and to allow Him to truly be the highest priority in her life, to
give Him the time they need to grow together.
The Lord has lovingly shown Rachel she has spiritual attention deficit disorder (S.A.D.D.) and she believes
many other educators are similarly afflicted. Many educators are addicted to and habituated to working constantly and
serving others at high speed. Many of us are experiencing continuous non-stop flights through life. We walk, run,
drive, and fly right past Jesus who is holding out his nail pierced hand saying, Stop! Slow down! I want to hold you,
sing to you, and dance with you. I want to take you in a new direction.
We cant obey him any more than the A.D.D. or A.D.H.D. student can obey us when we tell them, Get to
work. Stay on task. Raise your hand. Stay in your seat. Do your homework. Just like this growing number of
students, we hear and know the instructions being given; we just cant stop and focus long enough to do them.
This summer, when you are away from school, stop to rest in Gods presence, read His Word, and pray every
day. We all need to move in God directions, no longer going our own way or the ways others are telling us to go. God
is going to cure us of S.A.D.D. and many other educators as well. This new discipline needs and will continue into the
next school year. If we educators cannot stop to hear and follow our Teachers, Jesus, directions, why should we
expect any child to ever hear, obey, or follow us? As we educators are healed and delivered from S.A.D.D., that same
healing and anointing will be passed to our students.
Prayer: Lord, deliver us from S.A.D.D.. (Spiritual Attention Deficit Disorder) Make us G.L.A.D.. (God Led and
Delivered)
Application: Make plans and commit to daily quiet time with the Lord and start taking a true Sabbath day of rest
each week this summer even if it is not on Sunday. Maintain this discipline when school starts. Next year, start each
new class period by requiring the students, and yourself, to be totally silent and still for one minute before beginning
instruction as a simple reminder to yourself be still and know He is God..
Sharing: What discipline of prayer do you currently follow and do you take a true Sabbath day of rest? Explain.
CLASSROOM LIGHTHOUSE SERIES: TEACHER! TAKE COURAGE! (For inquiries contact ceaihouston@sbcglobal.net.) WEEK 34