WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS, GOD LOVES YOU

                           Part 1 Does Jesus Care?

Oh yes He cares, 

I know He Cares, 

His heart is touched by my grief. 

When the days are weary, 

The long nights dreary, 

I know my Jesus cares.  

Seventh Day Adventist Hymnal Page 181

I was 6-years-old on a January morning in 1986 when a tragedy happened.  I was attending a school for blind people, and they had us young children go to the TV room to view the launch of The Challenger Space Shuttle.  Those of us who could see first saw the ship climb in to orbit, but seconds later the screen filled with orange.  I was confused, having only been in 1st grade at the time, and not sure what to say at the time, and wondering why no one would answer our questions.  The staff simply told us not to talk about it, that it would upset us, and that that would make us look bad if sighted people came by.  

As my mom drove me back this morning from my home in a small town I recall talking to her about it, and asking her how she would have told me what happened.  She explained that knowing I was only 6 at the time would have told me there was an accident, and that if I wanted to speak of it, to come to her and she’d short it out in terms that a 1st grader would get.

 What Does This Have To Do With Jesus?

Jesus showed kindness and compassion to even the worst of sinners.  What this story also illustrates is that it takes less energy to care than not to care.

A couple of years later, after a tough 3rd grade year I felt beaten down, which is a horrible place to be at 8-years-old, I began 4th grade with low expectations.  

The teacher I had that year, Mrs. White, was truly Christ-like in the fact that rather than discouraging our creativity she encouraged it.  One day I was having difficulty reading and she asked while I became more and more frustrated “What’s the matter?”  

I responded with, “I’ll never get this, I’m just stupid!”  

In what was an awesome move by a one of a kind teacher, she told me, “Your not stupid, your trying.  Your good at so many things, sports, singing, just keep trying.” 

Mrs. White illustrated just what a few words of encouragement can do in a child’s life.  

My mom was teaching 5th grade around the fall of 1980 when a Laotian boy joined her class.  He was one of many Southeast Asian refugees that came to our shores in the era.  She told me he must have been terrified, not knowing the language, and being in a new place.  I told her that I hoped she was his Mrs.  White, or someone’s Mrs. White. 

Gillie