Cover Up!!

“Hey, you mind covering for me…….”

It’s Friday afternoon here on Riverview Avenue. It’s been a busy week, not necessarily bad busy, just lots of irons in the fire. Work, choir, meetings – all the usual things that encompass a normal week in the life of NeeNee, plus trying to begin getting ready for Christmas. This was the first week since the end of October that we’ve actually had school all five days. It seems the month of November always comes with holidays, work days, election days, and various other educational events that keep us out of school. Not that I’m complaining, but it’s not very hard to get used to not working a normal full week.

One of my “and all other duties as assigned” jobs at school is to serve morning duty in the library. At some point in my somewhat colorful career in education, I learned how to use the library computer system. I don’t remember when, nor do I remember why I learned it, but I did. So I go in the library at 7:00 every morning and plop into a tall office chair and check-in and check-out books to middle schoolers. I don’t mind, it’s kinda fun, and I enjoy talking to the librarian. Not that we like to gossip, but it is always good to “catch up on the news” around the building and around town. Especially at 7:00 in the morning when the coffee is just kicking in.

Yesterday and today the librarian has been out of the building at a conference. No one else in the building knows how to use the circulation software in the library, so I have “covered for her” most of these two days. I’ve still been responsible for my own duties, but as an inclusion teacher working with a teaching partner, I was able to do some shifting around for the kids with whom I work, so it made the library coverage possible. It’s been fun, I’ve gotten to see more of a variety of students as well as staff, and I never dealt with any discipline issues, as I could just send them back to class if they plucked my nerves. By “covering” the library, students were able to use the media services offered, as well as check out books, as they would normally.

Thinking about covering for the library made me think about how thankful I am that one day many years ago, a man, who was sinless, “covered for me” on the cross and died for my sins. His hands, his side, and his feet were pierced with nails, and a crown of thorns was placed upon his head. Not because of anything He had done, but because he was willing to cover for me on that day. His sacrifice for me allows me to know a life of love and hope on earth, and secures me a place in Heaven for eternity.

Thank you God for sending Jesus, and thank you for allowing Him to  “cover for me” the day He hung on the cross.

 
Sidney A. Neighbours
November 30, 2018