James T. Kirk and Myself

I was reading The Last Lecture, which is good (more entertaining than enlightening,) and the author started talked about James T. Kirk, captain of the Starship Enterprise. In other words, the protagonist of the first Star Trek series. The author was referring to something in The Wrath of Kahn, a Star Trek movie, which also happens in the latest Star Trek movie: Kirk, as a cadet, rigs this simulation program so he wins. Why does he do this? Because before he rigs the program, winning is an impossibility. Kirk beats the program and explains the reason he rigged it -

"I don't believe in a no-win situation."

Interesting! Yes, this seems cocky, but it also seems inspiring. Kirk shows us something about his character. He has supreme confidence. He believes every problem can be faced and overcome. ANY PROBLEM. Imagine if we faced the world with this kind of confidence. I can do this.

Then I remembered a very tramautizing (but not really) event that recently occured in my left, via last semester. This event was none other than my rock climbing class.

I

SUCK

AT

ROCKCLIMBING

I couldn't get up any walls. Not one stupid wall. Even if I was determined - my technique was flawed. I wasn't doing it right and I couldn't get it right. It was a two day course. After the first day, I came home and watched Youtube videos about how to rock climb better. I relearned the knots I needed to make. I was still unsure through all of this. The next day, I sucked just as much as the first day. I passed the class, vowing to never rock climb again unless I needed to.

What did this tell me? What grand lesson did Riley learn from all this? Humility.

Humility is not a lack of confidence or self-esteem, it is a lack of pride. Pride is a big problem in my life, as well as Captain Kirk's life. We were both not too confident to lose, we were too arrogant to lose. Until now, I hadn't realized how well this lesson ties into this season of my life. I prayed at the beginning of the semester for God to teach me humility. DON'T PRAY THIS UNLESS YOU MEAN IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I meant it. I learned well and I'm still learning. I learned this through rock climbing and I learned this through my first teaching clinical, in which I didn't do too well. I was talking to a coworker about my clinical experience and how I felt like I failed. His reply ho'd my life. "So, you were upset because you weren't a natural at teaching?" That was exactly right.

What was my problem with the whole situation - my pride. My pride took a hit. My pride was hurt cuz I couldn't make it up a wall. My pride was hurt cuz I wasn't the best teacher from Day 1. The same pride I asked God to help me lose was the pride I was losing. The LORD works in mysterious, and in this case, painfully obvious ways.