When I was in the 8th grade, I had a home room teacher who, for lack of a better word, was a villain in my mind. Everyday, the man whom I will call here Coach Mac, stormed into class each day before the bell rang, leading me and others to look down at the floor in fear.
Like many football coaches, who were also teachers in the South, being direct, loud, and aggressive came as natural to Coach Mac as getting up on Christmas morning came for me.
Where other teachers would ask for their students to raise their hands to ask questions or make comments in class, Coach Mac just “cut to the chase.”
“McGowen, what kind of star is the sun?”
Cowering in my chair, I couldn’t think of an answer. The only thing that came out was a chain of stutters.
“I, I, I don’t know Coach Mac.”
“McGowen, I know you know this. Think now son! Think!”
Over and over again he would ask me questions, and over and over again, I would not know the answer or would be unable to speak.
Such regular occurrences were almost unbearable for me at the age of just fourteen.
*****
Last night, after work, I watched Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie. For those of you are unaware, this movie is based on a series of children’s’ books about a rather different kind of superhero who fights some crudely named villains, and in turn, is effective in making grade-school children laugh.
In the movie, the writers of the Captain Underpants comics, George Beard and Harold Hutchins, who are two young boys, find themselves in their Principal Krupp’s office where he threatens to separate them by placing them in different classrooms.
“The horror!” They think to themselves. “Long distance relationships never work… If he separates us, we won’t be friends anymore.”
As the movie goes on and the boys hypnotize Principal Krupp to become Captain Underpants, as they face a new teacher who turns out to be a juvenile-like named villain, and as the three of them, a superhero and his two “sidekicks” save the day, the boys and the audience are left with one realization, amongst the plethora of potty humor.
There are times when all of us feel like our world is being uprooted and cast in the sea, that the “sky is falling,” that there is no hope for us at all.
And yet, somehow time and time again, though we all face our own share of trials and sorrows, we realize this.
Nothing is ever as bad as it seems. The sun keeps rising, the moon illuminates every night sky, and somewhere far above the toils and cares of this world, lies a Father who holds all of creation and each and every one of us in the palms of his hands.
So, have you had a bad day? In the words of Matthew West, “It’s not the end, the end of the world… It’s just another day depending on grace.”
Until Next Time,
Jacobo
The Adventures of A Warrior 