“They will still
bear fruit in old age...” (Psalm 92:14)
Courage and Aging
Vickie, a regular writer for Teachers of Vision magazine, sat with Pat at the kitchen table in
Pat’s quaint country home for the last time. Pat gazed down at the rough draft
in her hand, the last devotion she was to ever proofread for Vickie, and then
offered it to her. Vickie took it from
her hands and looked at it. As usual, it
looked like someone had bled all over it with red ink. Pat was from the old grammar school. During
her tenure as a public school teacher, English teachers did not grade holistically. Strict, well defined standards for word
usage, punctuation, and capitalization were taught to students and corrected on
all English papers. That’s why Vickie
loved Pat as a proofreader and used her in addition to the computer’s grammar
and spell checks. All Vickie’s wrong tenses were corrected. Split infinitives were
spliced back together. Sentence structure was changed to make the piece flow
smoothly. In every sentence where Vickie
referred to God as he, Pat always
insisted it be capitalized in order to honor and reflect the greatness of God.
No computer spell check ever did that for Vickie.
Pat’s eyes lingered upon the devotion and then tentatively
looked up at Vickie. Pat had a difficult time looking Vickie in the eye and
Vickie could tell something was wrong. A solitary tear ran down Pat’s cheek as
she spoke to her long time friend saying, “I have been diagnosed with dementia
and I will soon be moving with my husband into a transition assisted living
facility.” They both knew her role in
the Christian Educators Association International had finally come to an end
after many years. They shared some more
small talk about CEAI and the new facility she would be moving into with her
husband. Vickie said goodbye to her and
gave her a lingering last hug.
Pat Thomas was a retired elementary school teacher, now
deceased, who served the Lord and many children for many years at Jane Long Elementary
in Richmond, Texas. Vickie doesn’t remember how and when she crossed Pat’s
paths, but she remembers how fascinated Pat was with the vision and mission of
CEAI. Pat was fascinated by the CEAI ministry
and on several occasions said, “I wish such a group was available when I was
teaching. I needed a group like this to
support me. I never knew such a group
existed. When I was teaching no one ever
encouraged one another in their faith.” After learning about the ministry she
said, “How can I help?”
Pat, in her retirement, then began making up for lost
time in serving her fellow educators by encouraging them in their faith. The Houston Area Network of CEAI immediately
put her to work and she became a foundation stone of the ministry. Her most
important role was serving as an intercessor, a prayer warrior for the
group. She knew who the real director of
CEAI-Houston was, Jesus Christ, and she petitioned Him regularly on behalf of
teachers and students. Pat was a personal friend to many who kept telling members
the value of the ministry and encouraging them to keep pressing on when they
became discouraged. Vickie’s young
children came to affectionately know and love her as Grandma Pat. She served faithfully for years as the
CEAI-Houston Network treasurer and was one of the largest financial donors in
the group’s history. She was also the
proofreader for all newsletters and devotions that were sent out by the
ministry. She was a woman of spiritual and academic excellence. During her period of service with the CEAI-Houston
Network she helped provide hundreds of Bibles to youth, shoes to hundreds of
children in Honduras so they could attend public schools, finances to support a
ministry to run-away youth in inner city Houston, and support for a Christian
English teacher serving in a Chinese university. She helped provide hundreds of
teachers with quality devotions that encouraged them in their faith and showed
them how to stand, walk, and follow their Savior into their public school
classrooms each day and yet honor the laws regarding separation of church and
state.
About a year after saying goodbye to Pat, Vickie received
an encouraging letter from her. It was
upbeat in content and crafted with beautiful penmanship and grammar. Then
several months later Vickie received another letter very similar in content.
Pat had forgotten that she had sent the first letter. Vickie was doubly blessed
by the second letter and placed both in her personal keepsake treasure box.
Even as Pat ran the last lap of her life’s race with crippling dementia she was
telling Christian educators to take courage. Wow!
The Bible says, “The righteous will flourish…and will
still bear fruit in old age… (Psalm 92:14).
Pat is a living testimony of this truth.
May each of us remember, like Pat, that after we retire from teaching in
the classroom, we may still bear much fruit for Him in His schools.
Prayer: Lord, thank
you for Pat’s example. Help us bear much
spiritual fruit in education now and after retirement.
Application: Become active
in a local Christian educators association before and during your retirement
years.
Sharing: Who is an
aging person who has been an inspiration to you and why?
CLASSROOM
LIGHTHOUSE SERIES: TEACHER! TAKE COURAGE!
(For inquiries contact ceaihouston@sbcglobal.net.) #11
Prayerfully dependent,
K
PS. Don’t forget to spread the word about the 1:16PM Prayer Movement.
• Follow us on Twitter for the prayer prompts @one16pray
May God bless you with success His way this 2013-2014 school year.
Christian Educators Association International is the only professional association in the United States specifically for Christian educators in public schools. CEAI protects our members first in prayer, next with excellent professional liability insurance and other benefits while helping them live out their high calling as a Christian in the public school.
