By Greg Miller © 2018

Raymond taught history at his local high school.

A Christian, Raymond not only taught his students historical facts, he also taught them the importance of being thankful, productive citizens in their communities. “The more thankful you are, the greater, more positive role models you’ll be in the future,” he told them.

Students honored and respected Raymond because they believed he was trying his best to guide them down the proper pathway of life. Raymond took advantage of every opportunity to share God’s Word with his students.

Raymond began each class period by having the students recite First Thessalonians 5:18, “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”

  He encouraged the students to be thankful for their families, especially their parents. He quoted Exodus 20:12, “Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.”  

Raymond wanted to do something special for his students, so about one week before the Thanksgiving holiday, he requested and received permission from the school’s principal and the local school board to provide a Thanksgiving lunch for the class. “Everything will be provided for the meal,” he announced. “All I want each of you to bring is yourself.”

The students decided to surprise Raymond by bringing some food items to share at the meal. Roscoe brought a big bag of popcorn, drizzled with homemade butter and sea salt. Ruthie brought a homemade apple pie big enough for everyone to have a large slice. Ruby brought a gigantic loaf of homemade whole wheat bread. Robbie brought a green bean casserole that he made with green beans he personally picked out of the family garden. Renee brought three of the biggest pumpkin pies Raymond had ever seen.

Raymond was both surprised and pleased by the outpouring of love shown by the students. “You have made this one of the happiest Thanksgiving celebrations I’ve ever experienced,” he said. “And to show just how thankful we really are, after our meal, I think we should bless the prisoners at the local county jail with our extra food.

Raymond said the blessing over the food, and everyone ate until they were  full. Then they went to the local jail and fed the prisoners a great meal. The students then shared the 100^th Psalm with them.

As Raymond and the students were leaving the jail, he said, “This was a great Thanksgiving. We ate, shared our food with the prisoners, and blessed them with God’s Word. You’ve shown me today that not only are you listening in class, you are actually learning what you’ve been hearing!”

To contact the writer of this column about speaking engagements, including Christian Comedy Fundraising Outreaches, Christian Creativity Seminars and/or puppet ministry, please email [email protected], [email protected] or [email protected], with “Rays of Son” in the subject line.

By Greg Miller  2018

 Greg is retired from the Elizabethton STAR Newspaper, after working there for almost 23 years. He now freelances for the paper. Contact email address is [email protected], also facebook.com/kidcool4jesus. Available for speaking engagements/other ministries. Jesus is Lord