What Was I Thinking?

A couple of weeks ago before the big storm you may have noticed that I was not standing out on the sidewalk on Monday and Tuesday morning. On those two days I was in Dallas, Texas at a conference sponsored by Summit Ministries, an organization that promotes teaching young people and teachers apologetics and biblical worldview. The conference began Sunday evening and ended Tuesday afternoon and featured speakers such as John Stonestreet, Jeff Myers, and Del Tackett among others. There were some big ideas that I took away from this conference. The world is flooding our culture with a myriad of non-biblical worldviews and aggressively promoting them through many avenues to our young people. You cannot shelter you child from the world's messages. We as believers have to be as aggressive as the world is in promoting our biblical worldview to our children. We do not want our message to be just one among many and to be drowned out. Children need to be taught our biblical worldview ea...

So, we are back in school after three days of Hurricane Sandy cancellations. I like knowing that God always has a purpose behind what He allows to happen in our lives. These days off were good for Mr. McFarland who has been under the weather with some sort of respiratory virus. Yesterday's extra day off helped us take care of some minor storm related water problems in some of our elementary classrooms where the wind drove rain under doors and, somehow, over windows, to create dampness. It was much easier to deal with these issues without the students in the classrooms, and the school is as good as new again today. Today I set foot into a classroom again as a math teacher, something I have not done for some time. I will be reviewing the three basic trigonometric ratios and teaching students how to solve real world problems using these ratios - How high is the tree, the building, the airplane? How far away is the airport? How long is the shadow? All that fun stuff. Mr. Neil Braganza,...

I love autumn. I love how the weather is warm in the daytime and cool in the nighttime. I love that my lawn grows more slowly so I can mow less often. I love that apples and pumpkins come in season and the foods that are made from them. I love the smell of something baking in the oven and sound of soft things tumbling in the clothes dryer since those two appliances warm my home as they work. I love adding another blanket on my bed and moving my sweaters to a higher, more accessible drawer in my bureau. I love the golds and rusts of the changing leaves and the crickets serenading me to sleep. Yes, I love autumn. We are well into the first quarter here at GGCA. I counted fourteen and a half school days until grades close, the half day a remnant from when Harvest Night was planned to be on a Friday; it is on Saturday now, October 27. We have begun meeting with parents about academic concerns now that progress reports are out. Athletes are on academic probation if their grades are too low ...

It has been so long since I have blogged here. I have been busy since my last posting, getting school up and running and teaching my Essentials of Teaching class on Friday nights at Maryland Bible College & Seminary. I have a blog going in that class too. September was a month of activity. We started off with a Back to School Night spaghetti dinner, and then followed it with Picture Day, Spirit Day, two Pizza Fridays, along with all the usual office planning work for outreaches, field trips, the annual Senior Retreat, and the special Institute for Creation Research seminar on October 12. I felt the stress of doing so much with just the four of us here in the office, popping ibuprofen caplets for the pain in my shoulders and praying the staff would not mutiny and set me adrift in a dinghy. October has arrived and I pray that the seas will be calm and the breezes mild so the Good Ship GGCA can sail along without fear of being capsized or driven upon some rocks. I look forward...

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...