What Was I Thinking?

School has been over for a week now and today it is only Nate McFarland and I here in the office. We are preparing the end of the year mailing, stuffing large manila envelopes with report cards, calendars, summer reading lists, school supply lists, and other vital pieces of information. It has been rather quiet here today, so far, and we are enjoying the freedom from neckties and clanging bells that summer affords to us.  I am not wearing socks (gasp!) and in two weeks I will be leaving for an all-too-brief summer vacation. This year my plan is to visit my family in Maine and then travel with my parents to Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island for some rest and relaxation. My idea of a vacation is good friends, good books, good food, and quiet moments to enjoy them all.  School is very hectic and takes a lot of energy out of me each day. I realize this now that all the staff and students are gone, because I go home with energy to do things at the end of the da...

We've been getting a few calls from parents these past two days asking if we will be closing early due to the heat like the public schools are doing. We are happy to inform our parents that GGCA is as cool as a cucumber and that we will be having full days of school unless our air conditioning units break down - that would be an Act of God. Our students have cool classrooms to learn in, a cool gymnasium to play in, and cool cafeteria to eat in, and cool teachers and administrators watching over them. Our school is COOL. Have you gotten any of those emails from supposed brothers and sisters overseas who want you to send them a little money so that they can transfer thousands or millions of dollars into your bank account for safekeeping? I have only read one of those letters in my lifetime, but I see the brief previews of them in my spam mailbox and am amused (when I am not annoyed) sometimes by the first few words I can see. "I am writing on my knees today..." "I ...

We are all looking forward to the Memorial Day holiday. We need some time off from school work and being cooped up in classrooms on these warm spring days. The teachers need a break from their students and the students need a break from their teacher and each other. Spring brings up the sap in plants and trees and it brings up the sap in people too, especially young people. They have more energy and you know - you just know - that once summer comes, that sap is going to convert itself into a growth spurt. It has already begun. Boys whose trousers were the right length when school began are now sporting the high water pants look and their bony wrists extend beyond their long sleeves. I remember sitting in my classroom in Maine with the windows open and the gentle, warm breezes embracing me in my desk, beckoning me to come outside to stretch my legs running and scream the pent-up energy out of my lungs on the playground. Glorious sunny days with clear blue skies enticed my mind to dr...

A few days ago I wrote a letter to the parents of next year's senior class and to the seniors themselves. I think it says something important that I want people to read, something that I believe personally, something we stand for as a school. I think that we, as parents and concerned adults who may have grown up without the benefits of certain experiences and material things, perhaps believe that our young people should not have to go without those things we did, and give them too much stuff and try to push them to do things we may not have done in order to spare them some of the hardships we faced growing up. We want the best for them. We want them to have it better than we did. But did we really have it all that bad? Didn't hardship and struggle form Christ in us and make us the believers we are today? Is life really about having a house and a car and other materials things and security? Is that what the Gospel is all about? Did Jesus say that if we were his disciples our ...

What a day! I just finished eating some pasta for my dinner and my tummy is happy for now. Before eating, I mowed my lawn, an activity that I decided had to be done today, since rain is forecast for the foreseeable future and my brother Tim is coming in to town for a visit. You may be wondering, "What does Tim have to do with mowing the lawn?" Well, Tim is one of those guys who is really handy, in my opinion, and I felt that I ought to mow my lawn in case he saw it during his visit. I was afraid he would look at its wildness and feel compelled to go mow it himself. That's the kind of guy he is. He is handy and helpful. I wish I were more like him. If I were, there would be stain or paint on my steps, there would be hostas planted along the perimeter of my patio, black eyed Susans and echinacea would be bedded down out front, and my siding would have been power washed long ago. He likes projects and being outdoors and I admire his gumption; he gets things done and does the...

This is my third attempt to write a blog entry in the past two days. The previous entries vanished into the digital void. Perhaps that was God's way of saying, "Try again, Dan. You'll get it right eventually." I have been trying to write about how busy spring is at our school with all the field trips, graduations, outreaches, concerts, exams, sports, and other special events. This time, I will let that thought be expressed in summary as, "Pray for us (the staff and students), the weather, transportation, and our impact upon our community." There's so much to squeeze in between now and June 8th, and we are going to be sprinting like mad for the finish line. I have been conducting formal observations of our teachers these past weeks, watching each one teach a lesson and show me what they've got, and I must say that I have been impressed. Maybe I am biased, maybe I am looking for good teaching, but I have seen some lessons that I would call examples of ...

It is a little after six o'clock this Easter morning. My shades are drawn, so I cannot see what kind of day it is going to be weather-wise, but already my heart is filled with expectation for a beautiful day. I just finished reading a newsletter sent to me by my friend, Tain Palanun, former GGCA teacher now living in Seoul, Korea and teaching in a Christian school there. The newsletter was filled with beautiful testimonies written by the students he took to Thailand with him and members of the Korean church for a conference and times of evangelism. Something about reading the students' first-time experiences winning souls both thrilled and broke my heart; they were discovering how to share their faith with total strangers, giving out tracts, sharing in song, and ministering through drama. For me, it is the day after the Easter play here in Baltimore has ended. After a month's worth of concentrated effort, my life will begin to return to it's normal routine. I won't ...