This morning, I was talking with a student about the earthquake in Sichuan province in China, which is so close to us. There was a news story recently about a teacher who, upon feeling the first tremors of the earthquake, ran out of the school and was the first person to appear on the playground of the school. When her students exited the school, they asked her, “Why didn’t you come back for us?”
Since the story came to light, she has written an explanation on the Internet, saying that she is human too, and why are people judging her on the basis of her vocation. I would be devastated if my students had cause to ask the same question of me.
But I wonder what I would do in that situation. I would like to think that I would unquestioningly sacrifice my life for these students under my care, but the truth is that when the moment actually arrives, I don’t know what I would do. Instinct kicks in, one would think.
What would my instinct be?
And I was reading on a blog this afternoon that we are, at one time or another, someone’s ‘doorknob.’ It really made me think. I wonder whose doorknob I am, and whether I will know enough to open the door.
Questions, questions. Mercy is when God does not give us the things we fully deserve. Grace…
Something by Christopher Idle:
“His justice is full and complete, his mercy to us has no end; the clouds are a path for his feet, he comes on the wings of the wind”
