Bad Combo
Close your eyes and imagine sitting in a stuffy room with off-white cement walls. There are 4 or 5 rows of wooden chairs about 7 deep. Each chair has a wooden arm on the right side supporting a perpendicular flat surface to perform cruel and unusual punishment. An act deemed unconstitutional, yet beyond the jurisdiction of this musty adolescent proving ground.
The image still conjures up terror. I see myself sitting in the last row, hunched over to hide my gangly frame from unnecessary observation. Mrs. Cardin is pacing between the rows. There is no mercy in her eyes. She knows through some strange 6th sense who has done their homework and who has not. How this skill is acquired surpasses me. She paces stealthily, observing her prey. She stops rows over and fixes her gaze at a helpless peer. I glance out of the corner of my eye, careful not to bend my neck even so slightly. I don’t dare relax. She’s played this game before.
“Mr. Rush!” She exclaims intonationally. “Please come up to the overhead and walk us through homework problem #6.”
“That’s a problem, alright,” I murmur under my breath. Homework! An oxymoron if there ever was one!
The only number and letter combination I understood in Algebra Class was 60 D- and I’m fairly certain she rounded up to move me on. What a goofy idea anyway to mix letters and numbers! If they’re going to add letters to math class at least let me skip English!
I hoped I was done with number and letter combinations the day I exited Algebra. Wrong! I recently approached the lockers at my local gym only to discover they operated using a dual set of locks that combined letters and numbers! Mrs. Cardin gets the last laugh! I’ve been so intimidated by the lockers that I’ve simply avoided them. I was too self-conscious to even read the usage instructions.
I willingly admit that my wife is of far superior intellect. I married up in every way! When we went to the gym last week, she walked up to the set of lockers and spun those locks with authority. I looked at her and said, “How did you do that?”
“It’s simple! You just close the door and set the combination to a letter and a number you can remember. Set the lock and scramble the code.”
Seriously! That’s all there is to it! All this time, I’ve been intimidated by the lockers. I just needed someone to show me the way. I thank God for providing people who help us overcome life’s barriers.
The locker barrier was far from Algebra, but numbers have always intimidated me. Thankfully, numbers have always come easily to my wife, so we make a good team. We all go further when we tackle barriers together. Consider the correlating principle to discipleship. There are aspects of our faith that some may find simple. Things like prayer, studying Scripture, or sharing our story. But to others, these may be a barrier that could be surmounted together. We don’t have to know it all. We simply invite others to come alongside us as we grow and learn together!