What Was I Thinking?

Tomorrow I am boarding a plane for Budapest, Hungary along with Pastor Brian and Paula Lange and Nathan McFarland. Together we will be providing professional development for the administrative and teaching staff of Greater Grace International School, something we have not done like this before. We are looking forward to our time with the incredible folk who minister in that school, and I hope that they anticipate our coming with eagerness and not dread. Our goal is to share whatever we have to offer that encourages and empowers them in their school mission. GGCA and GGIS have a special relationship. We communicate regularly now that the Internet makes audio and visual connections inexpensive and accessible. We have had teachers and graduates from GGCA got to work in GGIS and vice versa. This year, Krista Reagan will be joining the GGCA elementary school team after teaching for several years in Budapest. We are also planning to have a GGIS high school student join us here in Baltimo...

I just returned from a vacation in Maine last night. Even though I had not mowed my lawn for over three weeks, it was not a jungle, but there was a mystery plant growing in the middle of my front yard. Usually I run over this plant with the lawn mower when it is small, but this time it was quite large, nearly 12 inches high. The plant is a maroon color, but has not shown any blossoms. When I told my mother about this plant, she said, "It wants to grow. Dig it up and replant it somewhere it can live." So, I borrowed a shovel from my brother, Doug, and transplanted this mystery plant to get it out of the middle of my yard where I would prefer just grace to grow. I hope the plant thrives and shows me what it really is. People are like that too. They can be real mysteries, popping up in unexpected, maybe inconvenient, places where they get mowed down over and over again until they are put somewhere they can grow and thrive and show their true selves. I felt like that plant wh...

Summer is here. School is out. A boisterous troop of elementary age children just ambled through the office on their way to the buses waiting to take them bowling. They were happy to be with their friends, going somewhere to have fun while attending the international convention here in Baltimore with their families. It has been over two weeks since I have seen so many children here at school. It has been quiet with just Paula Lange, Nathan McFarland, and me working here, finishing off the school year just passed and preparing for the school year just ahead.  People assume that we have the summer vacation weeks off like the teaching staff does and say things like, "Are you enjoying your time off?" and "What have you been doing since school ended?" as though the last day of school for the students was the last day for everyone in the school until late August. I tell people that I still go to school every day. They look at me with surprised faces and ask, "Wha...

I am writing today because I fear that if I do not, my heart will explode. I have just come from the eighth grade Bible class where Pastor Sturge Gorham shared the heart of God with each of us there in Mr. Braganza's mathematics classroom. The anointing of the Spirit of God was so thick in that room that you could have cut it with a knife. You know how the Bible say that the Word of God is quick and powerful like a two-edged sword? That was the reality this morning, because the Word was incredibly piercing and Pastor Sturge held nothing back as he spoke to us about being salt and light and being what this world needs, since every human on the planet has a hole in his heart that can only be filled with the eternal love of God. He challenged us all to remember the Creator in the days of our youth and to care about somebody's soul now, today. God asks us, "Do you know who you are?" and tells us, "You are the salt of the earth and the light of the world." We don...

I am very tired today as I write this, so if it does not make the best sense or if my writing is riddled with typos, you know why. I have been appearing as Jesus in the Greater Grace Church Easter play each night this week in addition to working as principal at Greater Grace Christian Academy during the day. I love playing Jesus. My desire is to make him real and human - somebody that people would want to know more. I am blessed when people tell me that they would like to think that Jesus is the way I portray him. I am also blessed by the GGCA students and graduates who are part of this production. They are running lights, doing costumes and make-up, acting, playing music, singing, and working on the stage crew. I entrust my "dead" body into the strong arms of Paul Andrulonis and Charlie Weyer, and I feel quite secure in their care. Kimmy Andrulonis, Morgan Lincoln, and Danielle Bednez help transform me from a crucified Jesus into a living, ministering Jesus in less than ...

And so it begins. March break is here and I am reveling in the quietness that comes when there are no other staff or students in the school. I am wearing jeans and and a roll neck sweater, I haven't shaved, and I rolled in to work when I felt like coming in after waking up when I wanted to. If only all work days were like this one... We have been looking forward to this break for some time now since God has not seen fit to bless us with any snow days (or even snow delays) this school year. It is my hope that a week away from school will help the students grow less familiar with each other and that the teachers will catch a second or third wind, and that the stomach flu virus will run its course outside of the school walls. I was listening to the radio yesterday and I heard a report about how in France the school all close down for two weeks around this time so that families can all go on ski vacations. Two weeks for skiing! I am thinking that if families are going to th...

I can't believe that the temperature is supposed to be nearly 70 degrees today. This is the month of February, after all, and we are supposed to be dealing with sleet, snow, and bitter cold, not balmy weather. All of our students' prayers for a snow day have come to naught, but they have had two days off this week, one thanks to Presidents Washington and Lincoln and the other thanks to parent teacher conferences. The dearth of snow days hasn't harmed us one bit. We are all relatively healthy in body, mind, and spirit, and we aren't playing catch-up for missed classes and scrambling to re-schedule basketball games and field trips. Greater Grace Christian Academy is chugging right along like a train steadily making its way down the tracks toward June and the final days of the school year. We have much to accomplish between now and June 4th. Besides completing our academic courses and finishing sports seasons, we have concerts, a high school banquet, a spring fundraiser, s...