Three Teen Boys, Francis Schaeffer, and Why I Teach

I've taught high school for almost forty years. Most days I relish the opportunity to be involved with young men and women at this crucial stage in their lives, when they are working through the most important questions they'll ever have to answer. There are days when I think maybe this is a young man's game, and I should get out. But not most days. Most days this is good work, a good reason to get up in the morning and come to work.

Then there are days like the ones I had last week, when I realize how incredibly lucky I am to be a teacher. One of my most flighty, distracted students (let's call him Fred) came blowing into class the other day asking if I'd ever heard of Francis Schaeffer. (Have I heard of Francis Schaeffer? Reading his complete works is on my bucket list. I'm about half done.) But Fred asking about Schaeffer? This was completely new.

Another teacher had said something about space and time and Francis Schaeffer, and Fred wanted to know more about him. I took him straight to the my bookshelf, where I found the book I thought would answer his questions (Genesis in Space and Time). He checked it out from my library and ignored me for the rest of the period. And I didn't mind. Fred was reading Francis Schaeffer.

Before the end of the period, Noah, a friend of his, brought the book up to my desk to show me a passage and ask me a question. Bonus! Fred was not just interacting with Schaeffer, he was evangelizing, spreading the good news about what the old man had to say. Noah showed me the passage and asked me whether I thought Adam went to hell.

Don't know about Adam and hell, but I do know that I thought it was beyond wonderful that two of my boys were wrestling with Francis Schaeffer.


A couple of days later, Brendon, another student, was standing at his locker down the hall from my classroom. He wanted to show me a cool quote from a book. (Ironically, it was the same book by Schaeffer.)  He too had checked out a copy from my classroom library. He showed me the paragraph, and he was right: it was cool. It was even cooler that he thought so and wanted to share his discovery with me.

I've had Schaeffer on my classroom shelves for years, mostly ignored by my students (who have to select a book to read every quarter). I know, Schaeffer's syntax can be a little Yoda-like, and his sentences can be very long. Still, if anyone was willing to struggle with it, there's so much good thought there.

And now three of my high school seniors. Three teenage boys reading Schaeffer and actually enjoying it! That may be one of the best things I've ever done for those boys, introducing them to Francis Schaeffer.

And I actually get paid to do this! Amazing!