Portraits of Grace: Matt

April 26, 2016
 / 
Norman Yung

Portraits of Grace is a snapshot into the lives of the people at King's Cross Church. As "kingdom minded, kingdom people," we recognize God's work in every detail of our lives. We invite you to meet the people of our church.

Photo by Minnow Park

My first year of teaching was the worst year of my life. I was fresh out of undergrad and I had only completed a short stint of summer school student teaching before being thrown into the fire. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing as I was learning new teaching and math techniques on the job while attending grad school. Each day was filled with dread as I had little control of my students. My class was a joke as most of my students did little work and weren’t focused. My students did not respect me as I experienced arguing and fighting on a daily basis. It was a constant battle and I was losing. It also didn’t help that I ignored my church community. I attended Sunday service, but that’s about it. Because I wasn’t rooted with the body of Christ, I was miserable and felt dejected, alone and abandoned by God.

But by the grace of God, I was able to complete my first year of teaching and I’m still teaching to this day. And there isn’t a day that goes by in which I know for a fact that I am only able to be a teacher because of God’s provision and love for me. I have always been horrible with math, needing a math tutor in middle and high school, and to be a math teacher astonishes me what God has accomplished in my life. And through my students and their natural rebellious tendency, I can relate to how I am similarly disobedient to God. Yet, unlike the frustration and disappointment that I sometimes experience with my students, I am thankful to God that despite how evil and sinful I am, I am assured that I am infinitely loved by my heavenly Father. No matter how much I may fail as a teacher, husband, or father, I am forgiven and my identity is secure in Christ.

King’s Cross Church is a church of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA)
For questions and information, please contact info@kingscrossnyc.org.