Warfare in teaching, and softball

Lots of exciting things going on for me right now. As is my policy on the blog, I won't post anything personal, but I'll tell you about some things you might enjoy reading.

I just finished my second week of student teaching for Pastor as Educator class. I've been teaching seventh grade religion class at Immanuel Lutheran School in Wentzville, Missouri, about a 4o-minute drive from the seminary. Yesterday, my professor came and observed. We had a good lesson. The kids were well behaved. I told them before class that I wanted them to periodically say, "Oh, that's interesting," after I said something intended to be profound. So I said, "Let's begin our class with a prayer." And I hear from the front of the class, "Oh, that's interesting."

I want to post some pictures from today's lesson. It was so much fun. The lesson was on God protecting the prophet Elijah as he was on the run from evil King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. We compared God's protection of Elijah to how He protects us with the "Armor of the Lord." I had the kids cut "armor" out of construction paper and tape the armor on each other. The teacher, Mrs. Neese, and I cut out devil's horns and put them on our heads. Then we attacked the kids with a big gun that shoots smoke. (Mrs. Neese, being the science teacher, has some great props.) The point was that the Armor of the Lord withstands the devil's attacks. God protects His people in spiritual warfare. Mrs. Neese took pictures of us. She said she'd e-mail them to me, so I'll plan to post them. I think they're very funny. We had a great time. My buddy BJ was teaching across the building during the war. He told me afterward that just as he was getting to the dramatic Gospel moment of his lesson, there was loud, disruptive yelling across the building. Whoops. That would be my class. Another class gathered outside our room the see what was going on. I guess they don't have wars all the time in Lutheran schools. (This is not a commentary on violence in public schools.)

Intramurals update: After compiling a 3-1 record in softball, our team lost its last two games to bring our record to 3-3. We needed to win our last game to qualify for the playoffs. And we did, 11-3! We're looking to win the triple crown (football, basketball, and softball). Tuesday is the playoffs. After that, the Geckos play no more. Sad. But it has been a great year for our intramural team.

I have more to say, but I'll save it for another time. This is long enough for today. Thanks for reading. God's blessings.