Action King!?!?!?

I have this RIDICULOUS sort-of, part-time nickname in India that Freena gave me. One day, she saw that I was getting ready to go running and she said “There he goes! Jason…the ACTION KING”. It’s completely ridiculous because I consider myself almost the antithesis of an “action king”. Truth be told, there are few things I love more than curling up on the couch and watching a baseball game with a bowl of ice cream in the crook of my arm… HARDLY what I would consider behavior fitting for the pseudonym “action king”.

In any case, “action king” has become a joke among us. Whenever I do anything, I am teased about being the action king. It is self-deprecating as well. When I need to take a nap between classes, I will simply say “you know me…the action king”.

ANYWAY…

Monday turned out to be a rough Monday…probably the roughest one since we’ve been here. The students had their mid-term exams and so I was not teaching in the morning. However, I did have a computer program that I wanted to install on the computer at the school. It is a great program called “Pronunciation Power”. It will be very helpful to them when we leave. (It has been very helpful in my teaching as well). There was only one problem. Electricity. Electricity is not completely reliable here in India. We have electricity for about 15 hours a day. However, there is usually a rhythm to it. We lose electric at about 4am, returns about 6, lose it at 8 or 9, returns around 11…there is USUALLY some predictability. When I left for school Monday morning, I knew there was no electricity but I figured that it would just come back at some point, I would install the program and go on with my day. Well….I waited…..and waited…..and waited……

I sat in the classroom IDLE for TWO AND A HALF HOURS!

Once again…hardly behavior I would accept from the ACTION KING! And certainly not what I had in mind when I decided I was going to work my butt off for the kids of Carmel. But there I was…helpless. I couldn’t do a thing. There was nothing TO do! The kids were taking an exam and there was no electricity.

Later on in the day, I remembered John Wesley’s prayer…. (excerpt only here)…

I am no longer mine but yours…

Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will.

Put me to doing, put me to suffering.

Let me be employed for you or LAID ASIDE FOR YOU!

This is not a great spiritual revelation for me. I didn’t suddenly come to understand that everything I do here is holy (because I don’t believe that). However, this was a reality check for me. I am not always in charge. I cannot always do what I want to do. Some days I am going to have to sit and wait…

Some days I’m going to have to learn to wait…

If I can only take that realization with me back to the US.

It’s not going to be easy…after all, I am the action king!