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(ALMOST) LIKE OLD TIMES
“Your wife is nice.” I heard this more than once this past week from some of my 8th graders. And how did they discover what I already knew? Melissa, in her role as director of education for Clarity, often gets into the local classrooms to share about sexual risk avoidance as part of the schools’ overall health curriculum. This past week she was at my school, interacting with some of my students. It was just one period a day, and she and I were in two separate classrooms on opposite sides of the courtyard, but it was still a great…
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VERTIERES DAY
I was in a bit of a funk this morning when I got to school and then I looked at the date: November 18th. The day may not mean anything special to you, but it is Vertières Day in Haiti, commemorating the last decisive battle for Haitian independence against the French back in 1803. For my family and the missionaries with OMS in Haiti, November 18th became our surrogate Thanksgiving Day, because it – unlike the 4th Thursday of the month – is a national holiday and school is out for the day. And what a day it always was. Matt…
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COME!
I spent my morning chewing on the story of Peter joining Jesus on the water (the version in Matthew 14) and I don’t feel like I am finished with it yet. It strikes me as a really important story and I don’t think I have quite gotten to the heart of it. It occurs right after word of the beheading of John the Baptist reaches Jesus. He tries to find a solitary place to pray and process this information. But the crowds find him and, instead of alone time, Jesus spends the day preaching and teaching over 5,000 people. The…
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IN SEARCH OF SOLUTIONS
Throughout each day of teaching, I am more and more preoccupied with the question of what could make a significant difference in the lives of unmotivated students. (There are just so many.) What do they really NEED? Their most pressing need is certainly not the knowledge of what a gerund is or how to write a 5 paragraph essay. And I know that ultimately the answer to their greatest need is “Jesus”, but this is a public school and I am looking more for what could be done within the given parameters to improve these kids’ lives and attitudes in…
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IT BROKE
For the birth of each of our four kids, I made a simple stained glass cross. Like this: And for each birth, the baby’s cross was in the hospital room when he or she entered the world. They were among the keepsakes we took with us when we moved to Haiti and the four crosses were scattered around our house there. One day we came home to find Caleb’s cross in several pieces. Nobody had been in the house except the dear Haitian lady who cleaned for us weekly. When we asked her what had happened to the cross, she…
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MODERN WORSHIP
I guess I am in a critical mood tonight, so here are three big criticisms of modern American worship services: 1) We have ditched the classic hymns with their robust and systematic theologies for songs whose theologies seem to be driven mainly by their rhyme schemes. Modern praise songs range from simple collections of tired and undeveloped clichés to simple collections of tired and undeveloped metaphors. A particular pet peeve of mine is how many of these songs reassure us that God “will never let us down”. On the bright side, some do have a catchy melody. 2) So few…
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BIBLE TIME
In fulfillment of a class requirement, for over a month now I have spent 30 minutes in Bible study daily. Typically I start at 5 am, and I set an alarm for 30 minutes so that I don’t have to watch the clock, worried that I might be late for work. I am moving very slowly through the book of Matthew, taking notes as I go. And with all sincerity, I can say it is the highlight of my day. The alarm sounds, telling me I have to get on with my other morning routines, but I switch gears with…
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A VERY PLEASANT DAY
Typically, to take a day off from school involves so much awkward planning for a substitute teacher, it is hardly worth the effort. But all of my classes are reading books right now and that makes it super easy to make sub plans, so I took a mental health day off from school today and arranged a three day weekend for myself – at Melissa’s urging. Glad I did. I started the day with my (newly) usual Bible and prayer time followed by a two mile run with the dogs, and then I met with a friend before returning home…
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SEATING CHARTS
For weeks various students throughout the day have walked into my classroom with one question on their minds: “When are we getting a new seating chart?” I sometimes explain that I don’t rearrange my seating chart very often because it is extra work and I am – like they are – quite lazy. That usually shuts them up temporarily. Recently I have noticed that certain students are disregarding the seating chart and hoping I won’t notice. Or that if I DO notice, I will be too tired to say anything about it. So today I re-exerted my authority over seating…
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PERFECTIONISM
Every time I think I have my perfectionism conquered, I get a reminder that it has deep and persistent roots in my psyche. I came to my laptop tonight – a little later than I prefer after two very long days – only to discover two things that immediately triggered my perfectionism: 1) I had forgotten to hit publish last night after I wrote here. Such a silly and avoidable oversight. -So I had to remind myself that I succeeded in my commitment to write every day, I just hadn’t published. (Still bothers me,…