1995 got my attention. 1995 and 1996 were very busy years for my homeschooling efforts. I could have used a book like A Gentle Thunder. Jason, our oldest, was at Salina Vo-Tech studying Computer Aid Drafting. My father thought we needed a computer since Jason was studying Computer Aid Drafting. So he gave us some money to buy a computer. We got a Compaq 486. It had about 300 megabytes on the hard drive. That computer got Paul, our third son, and Josh, our youngest son, hooked on computers. Gary, our second son, was 17. He had just bought his first vehicle. It was a red pick-up. It cost him $3900. He was able to pay cash for the truck since he had worked at jobs since he was 15 years. I remember sitting at the table in the mornings with Gary doing Algebra and Chemistry together. For Algebra we would both work the problems. We would race to see who got the problem done first and who got the right answer. This is probably not the right way to teach Math but we both seemed to have competitive spirits. When I was in the fourth grade we always had math contests.What team I was on usually won but not always. There was a boy named James who also was fast. Sometimes his team won.
Our oldest daughter Sara was 7 years old. Josh was 5 and Rachel was 3 years old. We went to church every Wednesday evening. I taught the younger children. Josh and Rachel were both in the class. Sara was in the class next door. Her teacher was named Cindy. In Sara's class they memorized Scripture. My class we taught the alphabet doing one letter per week. We had Biblical references that went with each letter. Sometimes it was an animal. For "C" we had a camel. A camel knees often especially when being unloaded with burdens. We, too, are to kneel in prayer to God. God will take our burdens. Anyway, Cindy from the class next door decided that both classes would plant flowers in June. So one Wednesday evening both classes planted flowers. But who was going to water them? Cindy did not want to water them. None of the pastors wanted to water them so the task fell to me. So almost every day that summer I went to church to water flowers sometimes taking the youngest three children with me. I remember for two weeks it was about 110 degrees about every day so I went twice a day to water flowers. Many people from the church did compliment me on the flowers in front of the church. I told them it was the Wednesday night children's classes that did the flowers. The next year the pastor asks me to take over the flower ministry. I said "NO!"
My days were very very busy. I could have used a book like A Gentle Thunder which does have a sub-title Hearing God Through the Storm. My devotional life consisted of what I taught my children. I did not have the time to do any Bible reading on my own. The Bible I still use has many devotionals for children. It also has stories highlighted with questions following it for discussion. So I would read the Bible story and then ask the questions. Sometimes I was so tired that I was thankful for the printed questions.
What got me through 22 years of homeschooling was my trust in God. I knew He was a faithful God and that He would never leave or forsake me. I relied heavily on Bible verses like Isaiah 40:11
He will feed His flock like a shepherd;
He will gather the lambs with His arm,
And carry them in His bosom,
And gently lead those who are with young.
My favorite Bible verse is Isaiah 40:31
But those who wait on the LORD
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.
The name of our school was Eagle Learning Center. My job was to train my children to be eagles and to fly above the storms of life. The only way to do this is to rely totally on the LORD.
Back to the present. All my children have graduated. Three are married. I have three grandchildren. God has been faithful. Today I got a newsletter from Dr. James Dodson titled Weathering Life's Storms. I know that the Lord does confirm His messages. He does care about our storms. I started listening to Dr. Dobson in the late 1970's. Several churches around Salina were showing his film series on Sunday evening on how to raise children. Bill and I went. We have been hooked on him since that time. You can still listen to Dr. Dobson on the radio or Internet. He has a new ministry called "Family Talk."
Now back to Max Lucado's book: A Gentle Thunder. This book has 30 chapters. Each chapter is an unit in itself. Each chapter begins with a Bible verse. That verse is explained and applied to storms in life.
For example Chapter 8 is titled Lessons from the Garden. The Bible verse is John 18:6 When Jesus said, "I am He," they moved back and fell to the ground. This chapter talks about how Satan was in the Garden of Eden and Satan was also in the Garden of Gethsemane. Max Lucado explains how Satan stumbles and is silent at the voice of Jesus. Just like the soldiers all fell backwards when Jesus said, "I am He" Satan is silent and powerless against Jesus. When Satan gets in the gardens of our life we can claim the Lord's promise to restore what Satan has stolen. Satan has no authority over us. We need to open the gate of the garden of our life to the Lord. If we have storms in our lives, in our marriages, with our children, in our homeschooling, with our health, with our finances, or whatever our needs the Lord is there to help us. All we need to do is to call out to Him.
Psalm 81:7 When you were in trouble, you called, and I saved you. I answered you with thunder."
