"The Warrior is a Child"

Tomorrow I begin a long-term substitute position (until December 7) at Warner Robins Middle School (the Warriors, hence the very old Twila Paris song title). I'm thankful for the opportunity to give middle school a try before I hang up the language arts thing entirely, but I do feel a bit anxious about it. Unlike substituting for a day or a week in one school, substituting for the next month will mean getting up close and personal with not only my eighth graders, but the faculty and staff of a new place.

I'm just in time to go through training for writing test preparation.

I'm just in time to be the one preparing them for the 8th grade writing test in January.

I'm just in time to hand out progress reports for work someone else assigned and graded.

A little thing called "paying the bills" propels me forward in this venture, but do pray for me, not only that this next month will be productive, but for my career crisis (Blackaby's "crisis of belief that requires faith in action"). Unless the teacher I'm substituting for decides to stay home with her baby, this long-term sub is merely a stop-gap measure. So pray that if God wants me teaching, He'll open the right doors. Pray that if He doesn't, I'll get some clear direction about what kind of options to pursue. And pray that no matter what, I'll keep the main thing the main thing. My life is to be about God's glory, and He can glorify Himself in an eighth-grade language arts classroom just as well as anywhere else. Here am I, Lord. Send me.