It's Open Book

The great thing about a large school system is some of the technology that we have available to us as parents. One such innovation is the use of a website called STI. Each student is given a log-in number and password and the parents are able to check at any moment their child's attendance at school, homework assignments, grades, and teachers can send notes to parents via this website as well. I do not check STI every day but I do check it quite often. It helps me stay up to date on how Gabe and Kristina are doing.

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Yesterday I logged on and noticed that Gabe had made a 75 on a science test. I began to investigate a little further and saw that the teacher put in big bold letters next to the grade "OPEN BOOK." I sat at my desk for a moment and then out loud posed the question to all my co-workers "How in the world do you make a 75 on an open book test?"

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I muttered on this all afternoon and when Gabe called me to let me know he was home I went through my spill about looking at his grades and I said "Why did you make a 75 on a science test?"

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He immediately turned on the "Huh? What are you talking about?" questions. He was acting as if he had never even heard the word test before.

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I asked him again "Son, I checked STI today and you made a 75 on a science test. What happened?"

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That is when the fun started. He replied with "Mom, it's just that I am having trouble understanding the material. I studied and studied and when I got in there to take my test I just couldn't remember anything because I'm having trouble. That's it, I'm just having trouble."

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I sat in silence for a moment and then I asked another question. "Son, can you read?"

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He quickly replied "Well, yes ma'am I can!"

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That's when I hit with the big one..."Then you knew the material because it was an OPEN BOOK test! The answers were right there in front of you!"

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I could hear the wheels in brain spinning out of control as he said "Oh, she put on STI that it was open book?"

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You know sometimes we are the same way. We will go through struggles and trials or be faced with what the "right" thing is to do and when it blows up in our face because we made the wrong decision we want to say "Well, I didn't know what to do!" But, the truth of the matter is every "test" that we take as Christians is open book. "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding." Psalm 111:10. We must follow God's instructions that he has given to us. It is all right there in front of us but it is up to us to take the initiative and open the book (the Bible), ask him for advice (pray) and then follow his instruction with an open heart (obey). What will your test score be?