The school year is winding down and it is such a huge relief.  We’ve not been able to catch our breath for a couple of weeks now – going to bed late, getting up feeling exhausted…  This morning I finished up grading research papers and submitted another newspaper article.  Now I just have one last test to give – tomorrow morning – and all the final exams to grade (which will be a snap compared to all those research papers).  Of course there are all the end of the year details to address, also, like accounting for all the text books and…

It’s Mother’s Day and I did my best – given the circumstances – to let Melissa know how much she is appreciated by all of us.  The kids are getting old enough that they are actually taking responsibility for finding their own gifts for Mommy – and even paying for them out of their own pockets.  (Praise the Lord!)  We had a great steak dinner and Melissa’s brother, Randy, and his family were here as well to celebrate with Grandma Trudy.  Life is a bit too busy in general right now.  I have never been one of those who complain…

Do you remember playing games with siblings or classmates or neighborhood kids and having that amazing power at any time to put your two hands together in the shape of a “T” and shout, “Time out!” to stop the game?As long as you didn’t overuse or abuse it, the “Time out!” was all it took to bring the game to a grinding halt.  Then, nothing else bad could happen – you couldn’t be “tagged” or “out” or “it”.  (But nothing else good could happen either: if you made a move towards winning the game after you called the time out, then you were…

Yesterday morning was cold and rainy – like most Saturdays lately.  I have decided that perhaps God hates soccer.  Dats (age 10) had a 9:30 game and a storm had just blown over, so the game went on as scheduled.  About 25 minutes into the game, Dats was in position at the opponents’ net and managed to kick the ball past the goalie and score a point for his team.  His first goal of the season!  His first goal of the last couple of years, in fact.  You should have seen the look on his face as he came running down the field after…

I had another article printed in The Republic today.  This one was written on the fly – about how much English teachers enjoy the research paper assignment.  I know firsthand because in two days, my students hand in their final drafts … and I get to start grading them.  I saw more plagiarism than ever before on the rough drafts, so I am anticipating having to give out at least a couple of zeroes when it is all said and done.  That’s the worst part.  That and the hours upon hours of sorting through all those papers.  My rubric is…

I just heard on the radio about the passing today of Chuck Colson, a man who built his first reputation on politics and his second (and more lasting) on the Gospel.  If the name doesn’t ring a bell, Colson was one of President Richard Nixon’s staff who did some jail time for the Watergate scandal.  While in prison, Colson was born again and went on eventually to found Prison Fellowship.  Colson was an astute observer of culture and human nature.  When I was a young Christian, around college age, I was deeply influenced by many of the books Colson authored. …

I worked the day job only two mornings this past week.  We had Monday off as an unused snow day, I worked Tuesday morning, left to attend a pastor’s conference in Louisville, returned late Thursday night, worked Friday morning and then left school for a funeral.Travis, a dear brother in Christ, had recommended this conference to me a few weeks ago.  My concern was missing school time: I had just one last personal day I could take.  On the other hand, I still had something like 16 sick days built up!  I asked around school and folks told me that…