Bucket List #9 - BE A GOOD TEACHER

You didn't want to just be a teacher, you wanted to be a good teacher.  It's funny, because most 12 year olds have totally different ideas than you have when you are a grown up.  But you always wanted to be a teacher.  However, when you returned from rehab it was so life-changing for you that you decided to go into addiction counseling.  You said you understood what an addictive personality was like and since you had been able to overcome your own addiction, you wanted to help others.You also had a plan for sticking with your program, because you knew it would be a life long struggle, but one you were willing to work at.

So you would have still been teaching.  I think you would have been so great at this.  Different people that you went through rehab with have been in touch with us and told how you changed lives and gave many people there a different perspective to recovery.  That in the midst of detox and trying to get their life back, you were like a breath of fresh air.  They said you were always laughing and telling jokes, making them think why were you so happy.  You told me you were free, free from drugs, free from lies , free from the burden of hiding away from everyone.  So you told them they needed to be happy, accept the help and apply it and start living again.  You would tell them that you had faith in them, they just needed to believe in themselves again.  They told us you brought much needed joy and happiness to a usually dreary place. You were teaching, just as much as you were learning. 

So even though you didn't graduate college with your teaching degree, you accomplished much more.  God had a bigger, better plan for you and you did just what he asked of you.  You joyfully turned your life back over to the Lord and you were so excited to be reading your bible again and doing your daily devotionals.  You wanted to go back on mission trips again and you couldn't wait to see what God had in store for you.  Little did we know, you had accomplished all the mission trips, educational seminars and testimonials that God was going to allow.  For reasons we will never know or understand, he decided to take you home.

As long as I live, I will continue to honor you and keep your memory alive and tell your testimony and in doing so, you are still a teacher.  A good teacher, just like you wanted when you were 12.