He sat across the desk from me, wrapped head-to-toe, maybe because it was frigid outdoors or maybe because he feared the outcome of our meeting.  This tall young man had attended class for an entire semester, but over time, the hole he appeared to be digging seemed to only grow deeper.  Now he sat across me, dressed in black, with his head overed, carrying the simple grade document I had given him during the last class, wearing his coat, maybe to insult himself from what he feared most.  His appearance screamed where words did not exist:  “Ms. New, I am so afraid I am going to fail.”

This student, an athlete, came to the university with a backstory.  (Don’t we all have a ‘backstory,’ one we sometimes wish did not exist)  He agreed to meet with me, to discuss his grade, but what I most wanted to learn was the ‘why,’ as in what was the cause.  It took a quick glance at his grades to see how this deep hole had occurred.  Therefore, I thanked him for coming to my office, for agreeing to meet, and then I asked him a simple question:  Tell me what brings you to CU?

Maybe, he expected a discussion of the missed assignments, the lack of grades, and the way he was currently failing class.  Possibly, he came but internally doubted that anything could be done to pull him from the deep hole his grade caused.

As I sat listening, I was reminded how he came from Chicago, how he was an athlete, one who suffered with health issues, even before he arrived on campus.  While listening to him speak, I heard him speak of an injury he sustained during spring training, one that caused his health to deteriorate even more, and one that sent him home.

Earlier I had talked with the academic counselor about this student’s grade, and she explained his mental anguish.  Now, as we sat together, this young man admitted how the injury, the return home, the surgery, the late arrival to campus, and the barrier of his participation in the sport he signed to play ALL led to the mental struggle he faced throughout the semester.

The apostle Paul wrote to a young man, Timothy, instructing and encouraging him.

• Believers are to discipline themselves for one reason:  Godliness.
• Christians are to strive for godliness for one reason:  God’s Promise

Just as athletes train, lifting weights, running miles, and maintaining the body through nutrition and rest, the followers of Christ are to lean into the rigorous training the Lord provides, for ”We have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, . . .”

More than two thousand years ago, the angel of God appeared to the shepherds who were keeping watch over the sheep in the field.  These shepherds were not living a perfect life, and historians write how the life of a shepherd was quite arduous.  These men were looked down upon, ostracized from family, and maybe even filled with mental anguish as they pondered:  Is this my life?  Have I failed?  Will this be the work I will always know?  No, that night (when the angel appeared to them) was not perfect BUT PERFECT LOVE HAD COME TO EARTH.

There is a term in Greek—Thaumazo.  It means astonished or amazed.  The shepherds experienced this on the day they visited the manger and saw the babe.  However, as Scripture reveals, they did not keep quiet about what they saw and heard.

• They believed what they heard.
• They hurried to see Jesus.
• They glorified God.
• They praised God.
• They shared with others.

This young man who came to my office, who sat across from me, who seemed to realize that he had failed the course.  Pain.  Discomfort.  These conditions, just as the physical injury he had endured during spring training were upon him again—right before Christmas.

As his instructor, I knew his present pain could bring discomfort or it could bring gain.  Thus, I was given two choices:  Provide a solution OR Proclaim the failure.

He was so close to passing the course, and with just a little grace over that which he missed and a little mercy over what there was no time to complete—he would make it through to the other side.

The apostle Paul told young Timothy to “Take pains with these things; be absorbed with them.”  The “things” were the discipline and the godliness Timothy was to cling to, just as he had grasped the promises of God.  That day as my student sat across from me, I chose to extend grace and mercy, just as the Lord had extended to me.  Rather than give the young man what he deserved:  failure, I prayed in the moment, asking the Lord to reveal the way I could give this young man that which he could not earn so late in the semester.

Looking across the desk and into his eyes, I said, “Come back on Tuesday.  You will be given an opportunity to demonstrate what you can do, what you have learned.  In order to pass this course, you need to show me you are ready for the next English course.  Then after that, on Thursday, take the final exam.  Do well on both and you will receive the opportunity to pass this course.”