The Face of Love

"I'm going to murder you!" the enraged student roared as he grabbed and shook my desk. His eyes were red with hatred, and his body shook with barely restrained violence. I could get no help...Herein is merely a sample of the terror I faced almost daily the fateful year I taught in a large inner-city high school. My classroom was in a dark isolated basement hallway. The discipline office was nearly a block away from my room, and there was no "signalling for help" device whatsoever: no button, no light, no phone. There was no way to contact another teacher, and no security person ever patrolled that lonely hallway. Additionally, my hall ended with a simple glass door that opened onto a secluded alley. The door was never locked; anyone could wander in at any time (and did). I was in a dangerous situation, to say the least. So I saw much violence that year and experienced almost constant fear; yet as time went on, I began to sense and see here and there a miracle. I saw it sprout in situations and in the most unlikely students. I saw the face of love, God's own countenance, begin to shine in the deep abyss of that inner-city school.I'll tell you how it happened; this is my story.Travis L. Waters earned both B.A. and M.A. degrees in English from Western New Mexico University. He also earned the M.Div. degree from Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary. He and his wife, Parlee, live in North Texas. They have four grown children and six grandchildren.