Articles
A Teacher Remembered
Some years ago, we visited a congregation in Missouri where I met the daughter of my second-grade Sunday school teacher, Dorothea James. I learned she had died the previous week at age 96. Later I looked up her obituary online.
Of all the teachers I had in Bible school growing up—and there were many good ones—Mrs. James is among those who stand out most in my memory. Sixty-five years later, I still remember two things she taught me.
First, she highly motivated me to memorize the names of the sixty-six books of the Bible. I recall going over them and over them at home until I had them down. I still have the little metal plaque she gave me for saying them in class. It says, “Jesus Never Fails.”
Second, she taught us not to use expressions such as “Gosh,” “Golly,” and “Gee”—bywords for God and Jesus. Ever since then, it really bothers me when I hear Christians use the Lord’s name carelessly. Evidently they didn’t have a teacher like Mrs. James. She taught us reverence for God.
If you’re a Bible class teacher, your influence may be far greater than you think. You are shaping lives for eternity! Young minds are so impressionable—so let’s give them something they will always remember!
As Paul wrote to Timothy, “You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 3:14-15 NASB—emphasis added).
What Timothy learned he taught others. If you had godly parents and Bible class teachers, you are blessed indeed—and doubly blessed if you pass it on!
Mrs. James is gone now—but what she taught me I cherish to this day!
