Remembering Levi

One of my earliest memories of elementary school involved a man by the name of Levi Kroeker my elementary principal. Today, I gathered together with hundreds of other people who celebrated his life of service and faithfulness at his funeral. Typically, I am not a fan of funerals (who is?). No reason in particular, other than selfishness and avoiding the level of discomfort I personally feel around grieving people. I am an internalizer, so most forms of outward emotion by others makes me uncomfortable and awkward. But today was different. While I was still not ''wanting" to go to the funeral, I went.

I don't have a ton of memories from Levi. But it seems the only ones I really have are of him calming my storms. At his funeral, one person said that he was a "Master of Self Control." I couldn't have said it better myself. Between the self control and the compassion this man had, it left an indelible print on my life that I will never forget.

My first memory of Levi is one of him pushing me on a swing at recess. As the elementary principal, I always thought it was so cool that he actually PLAYED with us at recess and didn't just stand there and watch for opportunities to discipline. He was the first man to push me on a swing. That doesn't sound all that impressive to most, but as a third grader, I remember quite vividly how much I enjoyed those times with him at recess.

My next memory of him was not as wistul, at least on my part. I was (am) a highly competitive person and I had just played a game of tetherball at recess. Notice I didn't say if I had won or lost...but that, however, was the question of the source of a schoolyard fight that broke out betwen me and Holly Feese, which ended us up on the dirty gravel, punching, pulling hair, screaming and crying. It wasn't until Levi came over that I calmed down. And it wasn't the fact that he broke up the fight, so much as it was that he didn't yell at us. Quite contrary, he kneeled down and sat me on his knee. I don't remember a lick of what he said, only the compassion and love I saw in his eyes. I suppose it's one of my earliest memories of grace in action.

Last but not least, I remember being sent to his office because I was part of a group of girls that depantsed a kid in 6th grade. I'm not sure if I ever fully repented from that....the larger part of me still thinks the kid desereved it. Levi instructed me to call my mom and tell her of my acts. I sat at his desk while he handed me the phone. Instead of calling my mom, however, I called the time and temperature and made a pseudo confession to my wrong doings. There's a part of me that believes that, had I been honest about it, I would have still received the same knee-sitting grace he showed me on the playground.

I can recite Psalm 139 flawlessly to this day because of Levi's 6th grade Bible class. He hungered for learning and teaching the truth of God's word. I will never forget the influence he had on my life.