Well, it's been about a month since we put any real content on here, so here's a story to tide you over. This happened on Wednesday of last week.
We have had a lot of work put on us lately by the school. With most schools, you do your job as a teacher and that's all you really have to be accountable for. But at ICS, there is a lack of people to do the other things like coaching (more than one sport), and working on the clerical stuff that keeps the school up to standard. Thus, lots of extra stuff gets piled on the teachers here, but we press on because we are not here for us, but for the mission God gave us.
Anyway, Wednesday was one of those 'piled on' days where you have a lot to do and very little time to do it. Jess found out that a student of hers was going to be leaving school the next day for two weeks and she had to get his homework for the two weeks ready overnight. That basically involved writing two weeks of lesson plans in one night. Not fun. Very frustrating actually. At the end of the day, we usually ride home with the rest of the teachers in one of two vans that take us home. They announce over the loudspeaker that they are leaving in 3 minutes or whatever and then we have to get our butts down there. Well, they announced they were leaving at 4:00, so we knew we had a couple minutes. We walked downstairs 20 seconds after 4pm and everyone was gone. They left us! AAAaarrrrgghhhh! Just one more frustration heaped on our shoulders.
If you miss the vans, you have to walk a short distance to a bus stop, catch that bus to another bus stop, and the second bus will take you home. It was raining that day, and we had forgotten our umbrellas, so we walked to the first bus stop in the rain, grumbling. We waited in the rain for 5 minutes for the bus, but it never came so we had to catch a taxi to the second bus. At the second bus stop, we got there just in time to catch the exact bus we needed to get home. Our first lucky break of the day, right? Wrong. One mile down the road, a minivan pulled out in front of our bus, not giving our bus driver enough time to stop. We T-boned the van going probably 35 miles an hour. Jess and I were right at the front of the bus when it happened. It was actually really neat to see - but Jess had her eyes closed. No one was hurt, thank God, but we had to stay on the bus for 20 more minutes so the police could get statements and stuff. Uggh.
Finally, they let us board a much more crowded bus that took us, standing up, back home. Or at least close to home. We still had to walk half a mile in the rain again. When we got home, we were tired, sopping wet, and angry.
I titled this post 'War!' because that's exactly what is going on all around Jess and I right now. Spirits of frustration and bitterness had swept over us all day, trying to drag us down. It was very easy to be bitter towards the school for giving us so much work, at the people who left us behind at 4pm and 20 seconds, at the first bus for not coming, at the van driver for causing a huge accident that delayed getting home. If you've ever read any Frank Peretti novels, you can imagine the picture of spirits of anger, frustration, and pity digging their talons into our heads. Luckily for us, we have a big God who drew us to praying in the midst of the spiritual battle around us. He delivered us from the resentful attitudes we had and still get from time to time.
This mission so worth it... but it is so stressful at times. You can pray for us - and when you do, you will be one more warrior helping to protect our minds and our attitudes here. We cannot do this alone, but only through prayer and the strength of our great big God. Thank you all for your continued support both financially and in prayer.
Until the battle is won,
-Russ and Jess Phillips
