Mr. White

One of life’s key components is reflection. At this very moment I am enjoying a nice 10 day Spring break from school. When I do return to school I will be teaching for four days before leaving on an 8 day free trip to London, Paris and Barcelona with some students. I cannot help but sit back and ask how and why I am so blessed. I have never really shared my story on how I became a teacher but now I feel like God wants me to share this message so that others can find comfort in the path He has for them.

In March of 2011 I checked myself into a hospital. I had a sharp pain that had brought me to my knees and I couldn’t bare the pain anymore, I needed help. The doctor carefully examined my symptoms before asking me to lift up my shirt. He examined a red rash on my stomach before lowering his brow “Zach, I am afraid to tell you that you have shingles.” My response was one of shock “Doctor, I work at a nursing home, only old people get shingles.” He smiled and said “Well you can get it at any age and it usually comes on by stress, have you been stressing out about anything lately?” I paused and looked at him “Well I have been applying for jobs lately and it has taken a toll on my physical health but I work out 5 days a week and eat healthy.” He calmly replied “Zach, whatever you’re doing you need to stop, take a break from applying and focus on reducing stress.” I thought about it for a moment before thinking 'easy for you to say doc' but the truth was he was right. I had applied to over 230 jobs in the past seven months, I had only received about five interviews to which I did not get any of the jobs. My mind was geared toward finding a new job, I remember thinking " it shouldn’t be this difficult, and I have two bachelors and a master ’s degree." I remember praying on the way home from the hospital, I was angry with God. Why wouldn’t he just give me my dream job?

Fast forward one year later, I had given my life to Christ in every area, I still worked at the nursing home and even picked up a part time job at the OSU Psychiatric Hospital. I was working 6 to 7 days a week and anywhere from 48-60 hours a week. My dream was to work for OSU but God had other plans. That day after the hospital I vowed to focus on God and see where he led me. I remember being frustrated one day and I began applying for jobs for an hour when I finally heard God speak to my heart “Are you done yet?” He wanted me to trust him but it was hard because I desperately wanted to move onto something new. At this time in my life I had been asked to join a leadership team at church. After our second meeting one of the team leaders walked up and handed me a business card and said “If you are ever interested in teaching let me know.” I responded by telling him I do not have a teaching degree, he smiled and said “I am the principal at a charter school so you won’t need one.” My head began to spin, I’ve never thought about teaching. My mom has been telling me since I was in high school that I should be a teacher but like all teenagers I never paid attention to my mom.

I emailed David the next day to see what kind of job this would be. He invited me to come in and check out the school and meet some of the kids. When I walked into the school I was overwhelmed by the loudness. The children were very outgoing and were asking me questions about anything from what’s my name to if I was married? As I tutored, I began questioning whether I could handle this position. I spent months in prayer about it and visited the school a few times. The more I talked to David about the job the more anxious I became. I questioned whether I could handle teaching with very little experience, especially at a poverty stricken, predominately black, at-risk middle school. The hardest age group in the most difficult environment. At this point of the story I must admit I had my heart on entering ministry soon, I was on fire for God and I thought for sure he would want me to be surrounded by fellow believers drawing people closer to God. It wasn’t until I went to my last interview that my mind changed. I received a text from a friend telling me that this school may be my ministry, that those children need the love and encouragement of Christ. My eyes opened and as I walked through the hallway of the school I began praying for the students. David shared his heart on the position, that I would teach Social Studies but also that this school needs a counselor with education and experience. I remember the superintendent asking me during the interview if I could handle kids being disrespectful. I responded by telling her that the previous night at the psych hospital I had a 15 year old boy call me a mother F’er and throw a chair at me, she laughed and felt at peace about the question.

Throughout the interview process and next couple of months David encouraged me to pray about the job but he felt strongly that God wanted me at his school. He felt so strong about this that he risked putting his reputation on the line to bring in a teacher with no middle school teaching experience. On top of that he asked the superintendent to take what would be his next annual raise and add that to my contract salary so that I would not worry about money. I do not know many people who would make the same sacrifice and I can say I am truly blessed to be mentored by a man of God like David.  At the next leadership team meeting David announced to the whole group that I have been hired and the position of Social Studies teacher is mine if I wanted it. I told him I need a week to pray about it and at the end of the week I felt like God wanted me to trust him that this is where he wanted me. After I prayed about it I remember reflecting back on my yearly goals, ones that I set before I was approached by David. Under career goals I listed the things I wanted to accomplish with a new job, I have listed them below.

1) Help people on a daily basis
2) I can learn, be challenged and match my values
3) Improve public speaking, inspire and teach

That last one gets me every time. God knew my heart, he knew where he wanted me. Even when I thought I had to apply for the jobs He wanted me in, He would quickly ask me “are you done yet?” Meaning are you done pursing what you think I have in store for your life or are you willing to sit back and give me the steering wheel to lead your life. I cannot help but reflect on all the other areas of my life where I have struggle to give God the reigns. I struggle to let go of my finances but once I did he blessed me. I struggled to let go of my career, thinking I had to have control of it but once I gave it over to God he blessed me. I still struggle with being single but I have given that over to God and after a year of devoting my life to focusing on God, HE WILL BLESS ME. We serve a loving and powerful God. He will get you to where He wants you to be, it may not be where you have planned but trust me when I say his ways are best. By following Jesus and trusting his ways, I now have a job where I get to teach, inspire and encourage kids who have little or no hope. My new job has allowed me to go to some pretty cool places like: the presidential inauguration in Washington D.C, an immigration ceremony in a federal court house and now I am preparing a trip to Europe.

God has orchestrated my job in even bigger ways than the obvious. This past year I began a young adult ministry, I felt unqualified but God assured me he would lead me. I spoke to my pastor about my insecurities to which he said “Zach you just explained to me that you are a new teacher, you teach four lessons a day, five days a week, God has you practicing every day.” He was right. At the beginning of the year we ordered new text books and I was blown away when I saw the outline of the chapters. I just finished up a chapter on the Israelites and got to quote scripture (from the text book) and answer questions about God from my students. The book even has a chapter on Christianity which I’m sure we will be going over.

This year has been nothing short of a blessing, those blessings came with challenges though. I promised God that any free time he gave me I would seek what he wanted me to do. He gave me a job where I have a week off for Thanksgiving, two weeks for Christmas, One week for Spring Break and the entire Summer. God has already blessed me with two mission trips to Haiti and in the past seven months and I know he has more in store for me. I get better at teaching every day and in turn I am getting better at teaching God’s word through the young adult ministry I lead called My Generation. I will end by sharing a quick dialogue between a student and I this past week.

Student: Mr. White you are not like every teacher here.

Me: Oh yeah, how am I different?

Student: You don’t swear and you’re always so positive, we are not used to that.

Me: You know why I am this way right? (Student shakes head up and down) I put my trust and faith in God and He gives me the strength to be this way.

Student: I know you do but it is hard, especially when you don’t want to look weak in front of your friends.

Me: Let me ask you this, would you rather let down your friends or let down God?

Student: I would rather let down my friends.

Me: Ask yourself every time you feel like reacting, would God approve of how I am going about this? And you cannot worry about your friends and what they think. It takes more strength to do what is right even it does mean being made fun of or ridiculed by friends. Believe it or not but Mr. White gets made fun of but I take pleasure in it because Jesus was also ridiculed for his faith.

Student: I want to do that, thank you Mr. White (gives me a hug and walks away smiling)

 

 

If you are going through a phase of uncertainty I want to encourage you to seek God. Read what the Word has to say and through this process God will give you peace in leading you to the next step. Please share this message if you feel like it can encourage others by clicking "Like" or "share" on the Facebook tab or the tweet button at the bottom. If you have any questions, comments or testimonies please email me at MyGenerationMinistry@gmail.com Thanks for reading and God Bless!!