Today was the first day with students. Up until this point, I (and the others new to the school) have been the center of attention as we have been given tours, taken to dinner, and generally focused on and looked after. As of this morning, it's not about us any more.
A sense of reality hits me now. The time devoted solely to adjustment and preparation is complete. When I talk of my teaching here, my verbs are now present tense. I don't know how to convey this turning point in the events and in my mind, but it all seems real now. I have left the home and family I have been blessed with, left my friends with whom I have lived and laughed, left the cornfields that are so deeply rooted in my heart. I have left behind everything I have ever known to follow the road God has laid before my feet. As I write this, I am crying my first tears shed on Korean soil, knowing I am far from the roots formed in the land and people of Illinois.
But there is great joy here too. I have been blessed with amazing people around me, people helping me, encouraging me, praying for me. And I am blessed with the friendships I am forming with these people. I didn't know what I have been missing, working in public school the last two years. To share devotions as a staff in the morning, to pray for one another at department meetings, and to be able to share a common purpose, common faith with those around me is a blessing that cannot be underestimated. I can't wait to see what God is going to do this year as this community of faith speaks and acts into the lives of students of all different backgrounds.
Meeting the students today, I have a vision of potential. These young people could be the leaders of their generation, and we have an opportunity to impact them, to equip them, to teach them and pray for them. I pray that I can be a picture of Christ, showing my students what it means to live a life of faith, and showing them that they can have the same. But it is more than "I" - I am not an isolated missionary. We, the teachers at YISS, have this opportunity, and we walk forward into it together, for as it is written, "...If one falls down, his friend can help him up...a cord of three strands is not quickly broken" (Ecclesiastes 4:10a, 12b).
For all that, the joy and strength I have does not come from seeing my students; it does not come from the people around me, nor does it come from some well within my heart and soul. All that I have comes from the Lord, and my confidence comes from knowing I am in the center of His will; I know, down to the core of my being, that I am precisely where He wants me to be. My sorrow for my home does not take away from that - it deepens and enriches my conviction, because I know that I would never have considered leaving my beloved cornfields if not for the work that the Lord has done in me.
Please pray for me. Pray that I will be faithful in following Christ, living as He would, and that in sorrow and in joy, through rain and sunshine my first instinct would be to turn to the Lord. Pray that I will be a good teacher, a good friend, and, above all, that I will reflect Christ to those around me.
My last thought is of Job, who upon hearing he had lost all his possessions and family said "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised." (Job 1:21). May I give praise to the Lord through all circumstances.
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