Too often we miss it. Until it’s behind us, we don’t recognize the moment we could have seized to excite a teachable mind. But Mrs. Sims was different.

My third grade teacher was one of those special ladies who very purposefully used everything from roasting pumpkin seeds to incubating chicks in the classroom to grab our attention. Teachable moments were designed into our lives. She knew they were going to happen, and she was ready for them, because she planned them.

Dale Mason, Publisher

One day I found myself on a field trip, shuffling off a yellow bus into a big room with a domed ceiling. I remember little about the presentation—a man droned in the darkness about planets and faraway stars—but I do remember re-boarding that bus with an awareness that our solar system was somehow both huge and tiny. I didn’t understand. But that was Mrs. Sims’s plan.

Back in our classroom she used fruit and balls and her ever-cheerful voice to teach us about the solar system and America’s race with the Soviet Union to put a man on the moon. She made us believe that one day—if we studied hard—we could fly to faraway planets or do other great things.

For the next few years I spent hundreds of hours reading about space missions, building rocket models, even corresponding with NASA officials and astronauts. Mrs. Sims had kindled within me a desire to understand our universe. She knew how to seize the moment!

Whether you’re a teacher looking for new ways to inspire your students, a dad burdened for your children, or a leader in another position of influence, this issue of Answers is filled with topics that you can use to spur life-changing understanding. There are scores of teachable moments just waiting to happen!

As you read these pages, think of someone who needs this information. Pray for them. Then do what Mrs. Sims was so good at; create a moment that you can seize—for the Creator’s glory!

All for Him,

Dale T. Mason, Publisher