Why My Professor Cried

I walked into my Judaism and Christianity in the Classical Near East class on Friday and the Professor was wearing jeans and a neon orange-striped shirt. This was NOT normal, as he usually is in a suit, or at least a dress-shirt, slacks, and a tie. He's actually a very lively, bold, and level-headed teacher. He talks fast and intensely and confidently.
But Friday was different.

At the start of class, he explained that he had been at his son's spelling bee, and he hadn't had time to change, and was going to be off his game that day, and his son was amazing, and if we wanted to know about it we had to read his article because there was no way he would get through an explanation. He said all this choking back tears. He really was "a mess" that day, as he put it. He kept getting off topic, and several times he just stopped and zoned out before he would say "stay on track Hunt" or "I am out of it, today" etc.

Anyway, I just read the article and it really touched me. Sometimes, I (we?) tend to be overly critical and emphasize the perfection in something, but miss the actual success. My professor, in one of his 'off-topic moments' tearfully said something that may not make sense before you've read the article.

"It's the trying that matters. Of course, we, in the church with our emphasis on 'works', know how important it is to do our best. But how can we forget, for even a moment, that Jesus already has everything taken care of? He did all that for us, and it really doesn't matter if we fail or not. We just have to try. My boy- he didn't even get one word out, not even one letter. He stood up there and said 'I can't.' And yet, God loves that amazing kid. He loves him and doesn't care a bit about whether he won or not. Because it's okay to say 'I can't.' Isn't that what He's there for?" (paraphrased)

Here's the article.
The Failure that was a Success
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