A FAMILY OF TEACHERS, TOO

We're not only a Levite family (lots of ministers), we also have scores of teachers. Here's our niece and nephew, Amy and Bobby Dan, with their new twins, from South Carolina. Amy's my brother Terry's daughter. Our daughters Julie and Jennifer enjoyed visiting with them and those darling babies. Amy and Bobby Dan's profession is education. He's a high school coach; she's a high school guidance counselor. Our daughter Julie is a fourth grade teacher. Milton's sis Tricia, also a pastor's wife, is a first grade teacher. His sis Janet, also a pastor's wife, is a former teacher. My sister Rebecca recently retired from 40 years in education, at the administration level, and her husband, Don, just did the same, from the county office level. The list of teachers in our family goes on and on.

Rebecca has always said, "I'm a missionary—to the public schools," and that has been true. She has been a role model for thousands of students to emulate.

Missionary? Rebecca's daughter Robin, a former school teacher, and her husband Randy and children Noah and Kalyn, pictured below, are now missionaries in Austria, training young people for ministry to the Lord.

Rebecca came and nursed me the week I got out of the hospital following surgery for GBM brain cancer. She took such good care of me even through unpleasant medical complications that showed her servant's heart. She cleaned my house, and she went with Milton and me to numerous doctors' appointments, and she encouraged me and made me feel loved and cherished.

During that week, I was in a "brain fog" and couldn't make sense of some things, or read or write.

I would hold up a red orb (apple) (or whatever), and say, "Rebecca, what's the name of this?" and she was so patient. I knew what the object was. I just couldn't put the name on it. We all joked about it, though. I said, "Well, everybody has brain fogs from time to time."

According to The New International Dictionary of the Bible, a teacher is "one who imparts instruction, and communicates knowledge of religious truth and other matters." Teachers are mentioned among those having divine gifts in the Bible in Ephesians 4:11, where the Apostle Paul places teaching among the extraordinary gifts of God. "He uses no mark of distinction or separation between apostles and teachers," says The New International Dictionary of the Bible.