over the Philistine forces that they abandoned their idols. David, in
rapture of He who ordained such a flood-like success, named the place
Ba'al Perazim.
Ba'al Perazim: the literal Hebrew meaning is "Owner of Breakings Through".
An alternate translation is "The One Bursts Out".
And that's exactly what He does.
Last semester I taught four classes. It was alarming to see
relationships built on less than two dozen shared words, to watch as the
Spirit stretched across vast communicative gaps to meet students at
their aches and their joys. It was a blessing, it was an encouragement,
it was grace in action. It was three of the four classes.
Last semester I watched tortured and helpless as one of my classes went
into steady decline, which resulted in eight students failing and more
than a few awkwardly jagged relationships. I began this semester with
such a battle still on my hands. The past two classes with them was a
fight for their attention, motivation, and obedience. I left each period
with my insides in knots and mouthfuls of petitions. The forces that I
am up against in that class seem far more than I can understand or
possibly face.
But maybe I had simply forgotten Ba'al Perazim, the owner of breakings
through.
This morning I walked out of the school gate to do some errands for the
day, my mind certainly a scrolling list of things I needed to buy and
time I had in which to do it, when I found myself, much to my inner
trembling, walking right into a group of girls from that class. Within a
moment I had been handed a pop sickle and was being asked in Tibetan if
I had time to go drink tea. Now? Yes, now Ms. Kelly.
Ba'al Perazim: He bursts out.
And this coming from students who had deliberately not attended my class
for the bulk of last semester, students who had failed, who had been
caught cheating on their exams, students who were listless at best in
class. So in a hazy moment of decision I agree to go... and spend the
next hour and half looking at pictures on cell phones of family members,
drinking syrupy sweet milk tea, chatting about summer, about holidays,
about anything they can come up with, using a strange but not unusual
combination of Tibetan and English to express mundane things as well as
hint at the more important.
Then the thermos ran dry and we stood up to leave...
Ba'al Perazim: He bursts out.
As we step stumble out the door into the blazing sunlight these
students, students who I had only in my wildest dreams ever had positive
contact with, the apex of relationship being a brief verbal exchange,
begin to urge insistently... next time Ms. Kelly, if you have free time
Ms. Kelly, Ms. Kelly please have tea with us again.
Amazing. I'm thinking about renaming the street.
May He continue to be honored as the owner of all breakings through and
have the opportunity to burst out in such a way that these girls, like
the Philistines of David's time, abandon their idols.
