The Best Sermon I Ever Heard

        The best sermon I ever heard was not given in a church.  The best sermon I ever heard was not spoken by a person who had been to seminary to train as a pastor.  The best sermon I ever heard was given by a bus driver!
        Five years ago I got to help start the off campus special education program for our school district in an old church building.  Through this venture I got to know a bus driver who quickly became my favorite.  I looked forward to those couple minutes at the end of the day when I got to chat with her.  
       A couple of years into the program the church where we were housed  had to sell their building.  We had worked so hard to make the church our home and I was less than thrilled with the plan that the school system rolled out for our next location.  I could see so many downsides to the new location.  I could only see what we were losing.  One day I lamented to my favorite bus driver.  She then went on to preach the best sermon I ever heard.
      She told me that she had one of the oldest busses in the fleet.  She had been promised a new bus and it didn't happen.  She was frustrated and unhappy every day when she got into that old bus.  One day she prayed about it, told God how miserable she was in this hunk of junk bus.  Her eyes lit up as she told me the next part of the story.  God told her to make it the best "hunk of junk" bus EVER!  She showed me her bucket of cleaning supplies and shared with me that everyday she cleaned the windows, wiped down the seats, swept the floors and made that bus smell good.  She greeted the students as she picked them up and made them feel as if they were embarking on a special journey in that bus.  Good things happened on that bus, great conversations and wonderful bonds were formed between driver, students, families and staff.  She then told me it was my turn to go and make it the BEST move to a new location.
      My staff and I downsized our "stuff", let the students pick colors for the new room, painted, hung twinkle lights and greeted our kids like they were embarking on a special new journey.  We concentrated on building bonds with our students and making some more great memories.  
     My bus driver taught me that sometimes when you can't change something you need to embrace it and make it the best.  My bus driver taught me that.  God works in amazing ways and uses common people like you and me and the bus driver!  

*this blog is in no way trying to insult pastors and what they do, I have been moved by many a sermon presented by my favorite pastors (Randy Engle and Bill DeVries)!   

Half autistic

     One of my students told me recently,  "I am only half autistic, part of me is an artist and part of me is autistic".   I just love that!  I feel like he wanted us all to know that you can't put him in a box, that autistic box.  He is not just his label or his disability.  He encourages us to look beyond that label and discover the surprises.  He is a wonderful artist!  
     Aren't we all like my student?  I don't want to be put in a box, the box of divorced or the box of amazing house keeper (o.k. just kidding about that one)!  Am I divorced?  Yes, but I am so much more than that.  If you get to know me you might be surprised by a few things.
     I feel it is important that my students know their disability.  I have had students reach post high school level and not know that they have a disability, that there IS a reason some things are hard for them.  It is equally important to teach them to never let that label limit them.  A balance must be found where they are pushing themselves to their potential but also being kind to themselves when they aren't able to do something.  That is no small task for my staff and I.  We sometimes are too easy on students and assume that they aren't able to do something.  I have had students that I thought for sure could not do a task and they blew me away with their ability!  Like M for example:  We were doing a fraction unit.  M struggles with basic math concepts and I really thought of giving him something else to work on but I wanted him to have the pizza box!  Let me explain, I put the fraction unit work in individual pizza boxes and I wanted him to have that too.  After the unit was finished and the final test given, M got half of the test correct!  I am so glad I didn't limit M.
     Sometimes we are too hard on students.  We need to know our students well and read the signs when they are getting overwhelmed, stressed or anxious.  We need to listen to them.
    A good day is when students struggle a little, but have lots of success too!  I guess that is pretty much a good day for all of us, right?