Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: Bridge (07/31/08)
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TITLE: Staying After School | Previous Challenge Entry
By Clyde Blakely
08/06/08 -
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Unfortunately I heard that often, so often by high school staying after school was routine. But then I wanted to stay after school because it was for sports. To maintain my sports eligibility I had to keep good grades. In the process I actually learned some things.
By the time I went to college I had learned to study but was competing with a more academic group. It became harder to get good grades. One required class was physics. I loved science but struggled, the best I could do the first term was an average grade. I had been an A student in the high school sciences. The professor was a great instructor but he couldn’t answer everyone’s questions, there were over one hundred students in the class. I took a chance and asked if I could see him after class. Amazingly he had many openings available. Friendly and able to see where I was having difficulty in understanding different concepts, he eagerly opened my understanding. Our visits became regular. The next term I got a B. Before long I was one of his A students and enjoyed science even more.
Jesus stated after He finished the parable of the sower, "He who has ears, let him hear" and the crowd dispersed. The disciples then came to Him and asked, "Why do you talk to them in parables?" "Because you have been given the chance to understand the secrets of the kingdom of Heaven," replied Jesus, "but they have not...they go through life with their eyes open, but see nothing, and with their ears open, but understand nothing of what they hear...how fortunate you are to have eyes that see and ears that hear...." (1)
The disciples "stayed after school" and learned from the Master. The crowds went home, they saw the Master and heard Him speak words of life, yet when "class" was over they returned to their daily lives. The disciples learned how to cross that bridge between hearing and seeing to understanding. After the Master explained the parable of the sower to the disciples, He asked, “Have you grasped all of this?" "Yes," they replied.
Today, I still stay after school: reading the Bible, meditating on His Word, praying to the Father and trying to listen to Him, fellowshipping with His saints, striving each day to walk closer to Him. Am I an "A student"? Hardly, but I am learning. He has the words of life worth staying after school for. The final exam and graduation is just around the corner.
(1)Matthew 13:10-16
(2)Matthew 13:51
(Phillips translation)
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