GRACE & TRUTH

The greatest mission

pastor webb hoGGard

Climbing mountains and building great towers are the destinies set before every generation. Racial equality and human sanctity are not the works of nature, but the work of people.

Humans build enduring and magnificent feats because we build on one another. Every age builds on the last, so it goes that the most excellent job given to anyone is the person who educates another.

Many thanks are owed to those who give their lives to instruct others. The heights and depths in which we find ourselves today are built atop hundreds of layers of instructors. Without the forethought to serve the future by writing down all they learn and experience, we can’t be where we are.

I taught in a high school for seven years. I know it’s a mostly thankless job. Honor doesn’t come till many years later when those you gave your all recognize the investment.

I am incredibly blessed by dozens of men and women who poured their life into me. I’m so grateful to those who taught me about life, science, history, the Bible and God. My life is richer.

I am a follower of Jesus. I do all that I can to honor Him and live like Him. Jesus was known as a rabbi or teacher for his entire life. Jesus taught rich truths authored in Heaven on a plain that we don’t naturally gravitate.

Jesus met with every kind of person with patience and taught them things that would change their life. When Jesus was giving his last instructions to his followers, He commanded

us to go and teach everyone about what He has taught. Jesus’ great mission that He sends all of us to do is to teach. Education is the

most important assignment we have.

So, whether you believe in Jesus or not, whether you have ever recognized the ones who took the time to teach you, and whether you’ve ever considered education as serious business, there is nothing more important than helping others build brighter futures. Educators form the world. So, if you teach others in any way, I say thank you.

I would also like to remind every educator that we must engage our students holistically. We must not think our job is intellectual only, but we must regularly engage emotionally. Let’s connect young people to their entire existence.

Physical, emotional, intellectual and social health is how we see a better future. I’m

grateful for people who have done that for me, for my wife, and now for my kids. I thank God for every lesson my parents learned that they taught me.

If you want to build a brighter future, don’t think of bricks and hammers and bank

accounts. Think people. Think about children or young people that are just starting. A better world is a world of better people.

Governmental systems, economies and religion are not based on better theories. They are based on better humans. And no one has

more influence on that than educators.

78 Physical, emotional, intellectual and social health is how we see a better future.

Emanuel Webb Hoggard is pastor at Askewville Assembly of God. He can be reached via email at pastorwebb@hotmail.com.