Education vs. School

I recall the words of a pastor friend from my college days; he could frequently be heard saying to students when they would complain about their schedules:

"Don't Let School Get In The Way of Your Education"

I remember thinking he was just trying to be silly, or get a laugh. But the more I think about that the more I really believe he was on to something.

We say the word 'education' and we immediately think about classrooms, books, computers, professors and research papers. But my pastor friend, Josh Hunt, was really trying to educate us by reminding us that we can use just about anything as an excuse to get out of what really matters.

Church is an interesting place. It is where we can come together as the corporate body of Christ and worship, fellowship with other believers, become discipled, and share our burdens with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

It is also a place that can become a burden in and of itself. We can get so busy 'doing' stuff. Good stuff, but just stuff.

We can become a committee-aholic, in no time at all. We can allow ourselves to become codependent on performance in front of others in the Church. We can use it as our 'platform' or stage as we show everyone how good we are. We can become driven by the simplicity of our focus.

All the while missing what God intends for us to see, hear and experience, thus skipping our education altogether.

So, I say all that to say this: Yesterday, God, was trying to educate me while I was in the midst of my education. Let me explain.

Every Tuesday morning is the day I usually devote to prep for my online Greek course I have been taking through Golden Gate Seminary. From 12:00 to 2:00pm I am in class via the internet. I log on to a live chat session with my professor and classmates from throught the US and spend two hours going through excercises in Greek grammer.

Normally I have the freedom to multi-task as needed depending my schedule and what the professor is saying. However, yesterday I was in my office at the church and I came to crossroads in my committment to the members of our church.

During that 12:00 - 2:00 time slot I had four Church members come into my office and sit down while I was online. Each time I came back to my lap top another person would walk through the door.

Finally when I cam back to the chat, I tried to catch up by reading the 'history' and noticed that my professor had personally asked me several questions during that time. Finally his last entry was 'Well I guess John M. isn't There.

I made a formal apology and begged his forgiveness. I told him that I had several unexpected visitors from Church members. He of course gave me and encouraging response of understanding, and thats when I told him what Josh told me. "Never Let School Get In The Way Of Your Education". my professors response was, "Cool".... now John M. try answering excersice # 4....

Praise God for Church members who feel comfortable coming into see me. Praise God that He has blessed me with a church office and with the Greek Online Class that can be interrupted.

Blessings,

John