Daily Devotions
A Lesson from Mr. McKay
Title: A Lesson from Mr McKay
Reading for September 26: Habakkuk 1-3
Weekly reading for September 23-29: 1 Thessalonians 1-5
So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.
1 Thessalonians 2:8
I remember vividly the day when I found out that I was in Mr. McKay's class. It was like Christmas morning. Everyone wanted in his class. It was, hands down, the best year of school for me. It was the only year I can remember crying on the last day of school. I wept all the way home from school that day. I had other great teachers, but no one could top Mr. McKay.
Mr. McKay wasn't just any teacher. He was more than a teacher. He was a mentor; really like a father. He had no wife or children and so we were his kids. He shared his love of the Dodgers, Thomas Jefferson, and Dolly Parton with us. He took us to watch the Birmingham Barons. We spent a night in a cave and a week in the mountains as a class. He had high standards for all of us. He was hard on us. He didn't let things slide. He expected and demanded respect and hard work, nothing less than our best would be accepted.
He was the kind of teacher that you wanted to go back and see every year. He was the kind of teacher that showed up at your graduation and would go and congratulate each one of his students with a handshake or a hug.
What Mr. McKay taught me is that being a great teacher is more than just knowing your stuff (and he did) and coming with a good lesson plan (which he did). What made Mr. McKay so great was that he cared about us.
Talent is highly overrated in preaching and teaching. What people respond to is sincerity, not eloquence. They want to see the love of Christ in you. They want to know you care.
Father, help me to learn what Mr. McKay taught me. Remind me that preaching is more than just sharing the gospel but sharing myself with those I would teach.
