"Teachers can also help you reach goals," says Marshall, 10. "An example of teachers are your parents. They teach you what is right. God is also a teacher. He guides you to a right path. I think I would be miserable without teachers."

"None of us would be alive if God was not our teacher," says Haleigh, 10. Jesus was the master teacher. He told stories, spoke in parables and intentionally offended religious leaders by violating their taboos, all in the course of teaching.

When Jesus left Earth, he promised to send another teacher. He said the Holy Spirit would guide his people from within. Many centuries before, the prophet Jeremiah foretold a time when God would give his people a new heart. (Jeremiah 31:31-34) Although the Holy Spirit teaches Christians from within, he also works through human teachers to instruct his people.

"My Sunday School teacher teaches us almost everything in the Bible," says Drew, 8. "I changed to much nicer. He taught us to share with others."

I'm amazed at how much three teachers have changed my life. The first one shared with me the message of life when I was 17. He told me that Jesus had paid the price for my sins and wanted me to receive his life by trusting in him as the only way to heaven.

The second one taught me how to look at a biblical text. I had different eyes after sitting in his seminary courses. The third one taught me how to write feature stories at the University of Missouri School of Journalism.