There is something about me that you may not know,…… I am a math teacher.   2+2=4  Now that is my kind of sentence. I like numbers and operation signs; they make me feel comfortable. I especially like the equal sign because it leads directly to an answer that can easily be judged as right or wrong. I hope I’m not alone when I say that math teachers like to know right answers; we would rather see a period than a question mark.

Last week when I posted my first blog, I spent a lot of time editing and re-editing,…..proofreading, slotting, and saying back, all those great strategies that I learned from my Language Arts friends. I checked all my commas and question marks. I made sure they were all in places that a good teacher would put them. When I finally got it “perfect” I clicked a little button to publish the blog. Then, it happened. Not two minutes after clicking that button I reclicked another button and “undid” all I had done. Suddenly, I was reminded that God knew what he was doing when he made me a math teacher. He knows that I am happier with periods because most of the time a period at the end of a sentence signifies a statement, a declaration of fact. See, I don’t like question marks, but I really don’t like commas. I either over use commas, or I forget about them completely. Commas signify slight pauses and question marks, you know, they really can lead to questions that are never answered. Those are two things that drive me crazy in life: unexpected pauses and unanswered questions.

Despite my personal feelings about punctuation, God has thrown a few big questions in my life. Sometimes it drives me crazy that I don’t know all the right answers, but I do know where to go to look for them, the Bible. When I look through the Bible, I am happy to see more periods than anything. Sure, there are commas and some question marks, but the number of periods has them beat by ten miles. I see periods at the end of promises God has made to me. Like when He promises to be with me, to never leave me, or to give me hope in the future, even though I can’t see past today. I’m thrilled to see that these sentences don’t end in question marks so that means they are declarations of fact. For now, some of my questions may remain unanswered, but I am certain one day God will give me all the correct answers that I need to know.

I guess I feel I must confess all of this to you because as you read this blog you will see that I will miss some punctuation marks or even get crazy with commas at times. Please try to overlook the mistakes and just remember that I am a math teacher who is just looking for answers, so please be patient with me. 🙂

Before I click that little button again, I feel the need to branch out and use two exclamation points for Holt Rowland. With football season officially beginning this weekend, I must say on earth what he is yelling in heaven……”Go Bears!” and “Roll Tide!”