Schools in Georgia ...

In America it's really unusual for schools to let Christians into them. Well, this week I've been able to go into quite a few which is one of the best things about this trip.

Yesterday I was in the local private school, and is exactly what you expect when you see nice American school on TV. I got to speak to Grade 4, 5, 7, 8 and 9's ... so I was in lots of classes. I'm not allowed to talk to them about Christian things, but I could tell them all about Scotland, and so all the classes were like question and answer sessions. Everyone is so polite and nice here, and were so happy that I'd come to visit them. A couple of the kids from church were in some of the classes, and so they introduced me, which was quite cool.

Today I was in the Christian school talking with all the different ages. With the younger kids I did the kids talk I had done in church the other week. I got a couple of volunteers that had to come to the front and try to peel and eat a banana using only their teeth. Obviously they couldn't do it. Jim McGillivray, you are still the best at it, no-one else has thought to really rip into it!!! Well, after that I tell them they can use their hands too, and suddenly it's so much easier. We then look at a couple of verses in 1 Corinthians 12 about the church being like a body. The kids loved it! After that little thought (it was their chapel time ... was so funny to see many of them come in with Bibles ... that so doesn't ever happen in Scotland), I told them a little about Scotland. Well, as much as I felt I had their attention for ... about 50 young kids all miming actions for playing the bagpipes was both funny and cute. The older group didn't get a thought for the day, we just had another Q+A session, but we did talk for a while about the differences in churches. Again, was a good time.

Then I had a totally different experience of school yesterday. One of the guys in church runs all the after school programmes for the county, which is where kids stay later after school and work on class work ... either rough kids or not to bright ones, that kind of thing, as well as other reasons. Anyways, we arranged with Joey for me to be able to go to an after school class with 8th Graders (15 year olds), and it was like a total demographic and cultural shock. More than 90% of the class were African American, and there was an obviously different culture, much more like what you see when you look at an inner city American school. To get to the school we had to drive through a really rough and deprived area of town, that we never saw any of when we were here in the summer. It was like a whole different world to the one that I had experienced so far in Warm Springs. The same was true today when I went to another after school, though the differences weren't as stark as yesterday.

Yet, it was the thing that I've loved most since being here. I would really like to go back and spend more time with the young folks, it was such a privedge to be with them ... and people don't often say that about them!

When Jesus met with people He was able to see beyond what people saw on the outside, and that's what I thought when I saw those kids. People are so quick to judge and look down on others, but if we take the time to see beyond the external there is potential and beauty present in everyone (can you tell I'm not a Calvanist!). I had such a great time with the young people. They taught me to 'walk it out' and do the 'two step', and then I taught a few of them how to do a little bit of the highland fling. It was a great time, and they had loads of cool questions and were really interested in the differences between our two countries. Spending time in the after schools reminded me of how scared I was when I started doing LSU (Learning Support Unit) work with young people in high schools, either in workshop courses like behaviour management or self-esteem as well as helping with regular school work, but how by the end it had become my favourite. I may only have spent a short time with those young people yesterday, but it was enough for God to remind me of the little flame of passion I have in my heart for young people like them, and schools work like that.

For now I better go and get ready for the girls Bible Study tonight ... but tomorrows another day with more schools and hopefully more after schools ...