Chip Shots

Among other things, I am a substitute teacher. Most of my time is spent at public schools. I rather like it, to be truthful. I hear all manner of profanity, see all states of dress, encounter every level of interest, and receive every shade of respect. “Whaddup, Dog?” when I call the roll, is my favorite. Recently I was invited to substitute at a Christian school. You might think it would come naturally to a pastor, but I found it a rather other-worldly experience. Bible is a standard subject at the school I visited. It was my first opportunity to teach it outside the church setting. In my week with sixth graders I taught the book of Ruth (a favorite of mine), as well as the rise and demise of King David. I was amazed at how much the students already knew about the Bible. Most of them were familiar the rudiments of Ruth’s adventure with Boaz and David’s misadventure with Bathsheba. Some of them even knew about David’s kindness toward Mephibosheth! In contrast, I was once asked to give ...

After a while she got used to her situation. But she never got used to the stares. In time, she forgot about her misshapen body. But whenever someone’s eyes averted after meeting her own, she remembered. That’s when she realized that her condition was more than a daily nuisance. She was a public eyesore, a person to be avoided. People viewed her with pity or revulsion, or both. She was on the outside looking in. Her crooked back was not just uncomfortable for her; it made others uncomfortable around her. So she learned to cope. She tried not to stick out. She entered late, stayed in the background, and left early. Word spread that a local celebrity was returning to her small town. As anxious to see him as everyone else, she slipped into the meeting unnoticed. He paused for a moment, looking intently at her. Or was it her imagination? “Woman, come here,” he said. Attention was the thing she feared most. Did he really mean for her to stand up in front of all those women and men? Tremblin...