And the Marathon Begins . . .

Day One Seminary Report . . . I did it!  It wasn't that bad at all.  No one cried or screamed.  No one ran out of the class in anger or sadness.  No one rolled their eyes at me or snickered at anything I said.  They all laughed at my super lame jokes.  They followed along with me as I pointed them through the scriptures.  They made insightful comments.  I couldn't believe it.  In fact nothing that I worried about really happened.  Phew!  

I expected that I would end the day in tears because I would be rejected by the class, but in fact I ended up worrying more about the pace of my lesson.  That bodes well.  If I am focusing more on the content of my lessons and how I am reaching the students rather than worrying about personality conflicts then I am headed in the right direction.  

I taught from 1 Samuel, Chapter 16 about how Samuel finds David, talking about how the Lord finds his chosen leaders.  It is a great story, and I think I spent a little too much time setting the story up because I didn't get enough time to really help the students see the real world application.  In a perfect seminary setting the students would be prompted to figure the application out on their own because it would mean more if they discover it than if I just toss it out at them.  Today I found myself with only a few minutes left in class, so I ended up telling them how our lesson applied to their lives.  Oh well!  I'll do better tomorrow.  

Yesterday I was preparing and preparing and preparing, and Herman kept stopping me to point out that seminary is not a sprint to the finish.  It is a marathon.  It isn't a one time moment that will stick with the students, but it is a series of small steps that lead them to grow and make good decisions.  That's how I'm going to approach things.  Today wasn't perfect, but it was a step in the right direction.  If the students are patient with me -- and I think that they will be -- then we can all march forward together, eventually getting where we are headed.  

Today was an important first step for me, building a bit of confidence that I can do this seminary calling.  I've still got a long way to go, but that knowledge will keep me on my toes and prevent me from getting lazy about things.  Tomorrow -- David and Goliath.  Classic!