Whether its the boys who have such a strong bond, the teacher who believes and empowers his students, the officer who finds redemption in hope for himself and hope for others, Steve's hilarious moment of monster fighting, or any number of other things, I see great deal that pushes my mind to holy things.
In this post, I'd love to focus on the teacher, Mr. Clarke. He draws my attention for many a reason. First, he really really really cares about his students. He joins the search party, finds the cloth, and attends the funeral. He empowers them, both in action and in theory. Mr. Clarke gets the gadget his engaged students are eager to try and he lets them use it free of the bounds of worry. He also urges them to be curious, as we learn during a phone call with Dustin where Mr. Clarke is hilariously posited the question, "WHY ARE YOU KEEPING THE CURIOSITY DOOR LOCKED?" (There sure is a lot of door/gate language in this show, interesting.)
Mr. Clarke is one who I seek to be in regards to the students I interact with. To be truly engaged with the students I am able to teach, to urge them to be curious, to empower them with action and theory, to care about them when I get a call at 11:00 pm on a Saturday night. Mr. Clarke has these young disciples who he loves and guides. I want to be Mr. Clarke.
Without burdening us with too many words, let's boil it down to this:
Mr. Clarke sees that his students want to learn and he teaches them. He guides them. He leads them. He is a teacher in whom I can find the character of Jesus, that he is our Good Shepherd. We often seek in film and story to find the "Jesus character" amongst the imagination. I submit that instead we can find Jesus in more than just one. For now, look to this humble middle school teacher.
He teaches, he guides, he loves, he empowers, he acts. Let us, as ministers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, follow his example.
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