God's Will and My Desires

Have you ever stopped to think about the difference between God's Plan for your life, and YOUR plan for you life? When I was 17 years old, I thought I knew exactly what God wanted for my life and it was exactly what I wanted for my life. To go to college, play on the soccer and baseball teams, major in Chemistry, become a teacher and coach, get married, have 2 kids (a boy and a girl) and live happily ever after. Well, quite a few of those came true, some were obviously not from the Lord, and some started well and fizzled (using the "my plan").

Today, I am 37 years and 17 days old and I have realized that God's will is SOOO much bigger and better than my plans. I was able to play sports until I decided to stop, am teaching Chemistry, coached for a few years (and do not regret either starting or quitting!) and have been married to the most amazing woman for just over 11 and a half years. My kids have been an example of God doing his thing. I have 2 girls, and a third on the way. And I am definitely happy. Actually, I would use the term Joyous as it better describes my attitude.

However, I started this post to get to this portion: the state of the State of California is troublesome. The State is facing financial ruin, has too many social programs to support on dwindling income (i.e. tax revenue), and the school systems are taking a beating, both financially as well as in the court of public opinion. BUT, teachers cannot be the only ones responsible. I will be the first to admit there are a few horrendous teachers, but those few do not represent the greater population of teachers. I can only judge the teachers I know from what I know about them personally from working with them, and what I hear from other students. I would say only 2 or 3 at my school would I NOT let my children sit before in class. But that is a digression that I will leave for another post...

So, who is responsible for changing the landscape of education? The Parents and the Students themselves. I asked some of my friends what needs to be done to 'fix' education. The best response included "require students/parents to pay for repeated classes (failing grades or lost credits)." I believe he also included "more vocational training" because some kids know early on that they will not be going to college, and might choose to go in a different direction, a direction that they feel they can be successful on. Why can't the bureaucrats and politicians see that vocational education is a positive for everyone? Teachers of those trades/crafts will have students that actually have an interest, teachers in 'academic' settings will have students that are motivated to compete with the others in that area, and the business sector will have workers/apprentices that have been somewhat prepared for taking a job in those industries.

As hinted toward in the title of this post, I have a strong personal desire to move out of California. But I know that as of this writing, that is not what God has in store for me. I have just over 18 months to finish my Master's degree. I KNOW without a doubt that God will show me exactly what He wants me to do when that time comes. Until then, I continue on the path He has been showing me.