"HOW TO BEHAVE 'TIL JESUS COMES!"

Written and preached by David P. Nolte

1 THESSALONIANS 5:11-15

One truth that ought to really keep us on our toes is the fact that without warning, when we may least expect it, suddenly, like a thief in the night, Jesus will return. It will happen while people go on their merry way, oblivious to spiritual matters, indifferent to their responsibilities, and without regard to the needs of others around them. It will happen though scoffers deny it, sneer at it, and try to live like it is a joke. It will happen whether we believe it or not, whether we are looking for it or not, whether we are ready for it or not. When we had to leave the kids home alone, we used to tell them, "You behave 'til we get home!" (Not at all meaning they could start misbehaving when we arrived.) Jesus has left us here on earth; He is going to return. He wants us to behave in the interim. So, how ought we to live in anticipation and preparation for His Biblically promised coming? The story of Frankie and Randy can help us visualize how to behave 'til Jesus comes. Randy met Frankie the day she walked into her sixth-grade classroom as a fledgling student teacher full of fear and trepidation. Frankie wasn't hard to miss. He was sitting at the back of the class, leaning back on his chair with his feet up on the desk. His clothes were spattered with dried mud, his hair hadn't seen a comb in a long time and his eyes glared, "Just try and teach me!" The regular classroom teacher was wrapped up in trying to complete his master's thesis, so the students were given individual contracts at the beginning of each week and then sent to the library or wherever else they could keep out of trouble to do "individual research." The teacher decided to give Randy the one group his conscience hadn't let him contract out, the bottom math group, boys, all restless and all as motivated to learn about math as I am to learn about hang gliding. Frankie's only obligation was to show up every day. If he came, he got full credit, even if he only just sat there with his feet up. Racking her brains for a math unit that could capture the attention of these nine rowdy boys, Randy decided to base the unit on fractions and taught it using recipes. They made everything from chocolate chip cookies to a loaf of home-baked bread. At first, Frankie hung out at the back of the group totally uninterested. Then Randy promised the boys a trip to McDonald's for lunch for anyone who completed the unit. Frankie said she couldn't do that. She said she could and would. Each day, Frankie became more and more involved. As the second week of the adventure with these boys began, a real change took place. Frankie showed up, scrubbed and in clean clothes. By the end of the third week, all nine boys, including Frankie, had completed the whole unit, and Randy realized she had to make good on the McDonald's promise. Those boys had worked hard! What a blow it was when she learned the school administration would not allow a student teacher to take students off school property. Frankie was right, she couldn't do it. An even greater blow came as the classroom teacher handed her the most derogatory evaluation she would receive during that whole year. Depressed and defeated, she apologized profusely to the boys, thanked them for all their hard work and packed up her materials. But she had demonstrated what Paul admonished the Thessalonians, and us, to do. How should we behave 'til Jesus comes?

Randy demonstrated that characteristic toward Frankie and the other boys in the class. And by reaching out to a boy who came to class with a chip on his shoulder and a lot of anger in his heart, Randy also fulfilled another of Paul's teachings:

That's the kind of attitude Randy manifested. She was motivated by a genuine desire to help the difficult boys in that 6th grade class. Sure, she wanted to succeed as a teacher, but there was an unselfish dedication to touching young lives, too. In that Randy shows what Paul meant in his third exhortation:

Randy had sought to do what was good for Frankie and the other boys. That last afternoon at that school, another student teacher and Randy sat up on the bleachers, savoring one last look at middle school before finishing the year back at an elementary school haven. Just then, Frankie separated himself from the group of boys, approached Randy and looked her right in the eyes and said, "Thank you for changing my life." It was not the magic of recipes and fractions. It was not the promise of a Big Mac. The thing that had wrought the difference was that someone cared. If she had changed Frankie's life, so had he changed hers. She had learned the power of love, kindness and respect in a classroom. This novice student teacher devoted her life to teaching in classrooms in Canada and the United States searching out every Frankie she could find. How are we doing in that category? How are we doing in the matter of changing lives in a positive, wholesome, godly manner? When you touch a life is it a downer or an upper? Are you a hindrance or a help? Do you leave a person feeling low or lifted? You know, you never do a good for the other person but that you do a good in your own life, too. There is a boomerang effect, a mirror action. Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy. Give and it will be given unto you. You can afford to encourage and edify others; you can afford to be a peace with others; you can afford to seek what is good for others -- but you surely cannot afford not to! The reward is too great to miss, the price is too high to pay to keep attitudes which produce strife. Put them off and do it Jesus' way. Let Him have His way in your life, beginning right now.

Geese from "Condensed Chicken Soup for the Soul," Frankie by Randy Loyd Mills adapted from "A 5th Portion of Chicken Soup For The Soul," Canfield & Hansen, Health Communications, Inc., Deerfield, Florida.

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