Vacation Time

I will be leaving for vacation tomorrow and will not be posting for the next week. My family and I will be heading to the mountains to do a little hiking and a lot of relaxing. Blessings to all of you!

True Truth

Truth is a word we, Christians, casually throw around a lot these days. I catch myself using it as if I have the market on what is true and what is not. The reality is that no one truly understand what truth is and what it is not. Truth, that is real truth, is only found in the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is Jesus who is true, and it is the rest of us who are false. We use the word, but we tend to use the word as an overcoat to cover our real intentions...to get our own way. It is all about control and being right, at least it is that way for me. I can tell someone what I believe to be true, or I can state what I believe happened in a situation as true, but my perception, which is tainted, prevents truth from being truly true. Why? I am fallible and fallen and see the world from my perspective only, thus my view is always...my view.

As I was reading scripture the other day, I came across a old familiar passage. I am sure most of you are familiar with Matthew 18:20 where Jesus states that "for where two or three gathered in my name, there am I among them." And, then it struck me right then and there ... truth is only obtainable when we, Christians, put our pride, our control, our desires and our lives aside and come together in Christ to discern what He desires for us.

Many times I think I know the right way to do this or to do that, but the reality is, outside of Christ, I know...nothing. I know nothing without Christ for He is everything including my truth.

As I prayed this morning for several people, I also prayed that I would not callously treat truth as if it is my commodity to give away. I prayed that as I tell my son and daughter to tell the truth daily, I would also tell myself to do all that I can to tell the truth and seek the truth. That means only one thing ...prayer! It always comes back to prayer. When we gather as the body of Christ and put our differences aside and pray...we begin to walk in the truth.

I leave you with the words of our Lord. In John 14:6 Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me." These are truly beautiful words; may we live by them always!

Teaching for Understanding and Beyond...

The name "Harvard" is often associated with the best and brightest, and in recent years, the name also is closely associated with those of the liberal mindset. Despite the prevailing liberal worldview present, God is still God and often uses the likes of those who do not believe in Him. Case and point with the Harvard Graduate School of Education, I frequent their website often and usually find something that is useful to our school.

David Perkins and Tina Blythe have written an article on teaching for understanding. In their research, they have developed a framework that can be helpful to the classroom teacher in teaching understanding, but understanding is only the beginning of the process for us at WCA. We can use this article to better our approach to teaching understanding, but our goals go far beyond. Our goals encompass critical thinking which demand that we move our students beyond mere understanding into analysis, synthesis, application and evaluation. A WCA graduate will be able to discern, be a critical thinker, be an articulate defender of his or her faith in Jesus Christ and be ready to live and work with excellence for the glory of the Lord.

At WCA we are not afraid of the work of those who do not know the Savior for we believe in a redemptive God who is in complete control. The work of Perkins and Blythe is both helpful and useful in our desire to be excellent in all things!

The framework is made up of the four elements below:

1. Generative Topics:
Selecting a topic to teach is an important process and central to successful teaching. Topics must be central to the discipline and have a ready connection that the students can use.
2. Understanding Goals:
Goals are important in long range and short term lesson plans.
3. Performances of Understanding:
Activities that both develop and demonstrate understanding are important.
4. Ongoing Assessment:
Assessment is an important part of the entire lesson.

The framework is useful but is not the only means by which to teach for understanding. I am confused as to why it stops at understanding as there is much more to the taxonomy of higher thought. I can see applications of the elements at higher levels, but I can also see some issues as analysis is very different than understanding. If you desire to read the entire article click HARVARD to enjoy it. Blessings!

Education: It is a commitment!

I am reading a book entitled, Between Memory and Vision: The Case for Faith-Based Schooling by Steven C. Vryhof for my time as a Van Lunen Fellow this summer. It is excellent; here are some of my thoughts produced by it.


David Purpel, in his book, The Moral and Spiritual Crisis in Education, writes about the nature of education and makes the following profound statement:

"Education requires not only knowledge and skills, but also a commitment to a vision of who we are and what we should be." This statement must be understood by every Christian currently contemplating education choices for their children.

Consider this: John Westerhoff, in an address to Christian Reformed Ministries Institute, stated that "by the time children are twelve years of age, they have spent more hours in school than they have spent with their families and religious communities combined. Indeed, it would take seventy-five years of attending church and church school regularly to equal the school's influence in the first twelve years of life." I will add that those twelve years are important in the total development of the child as their worldview becomes concrete around the years of twelve and thirteen.

What happens if those twelve years of school are filled with non-Christian or anti-Christian sentiment? Will it matter?

If the nature of education is as David Purpel writes, a commitment to a vision of who we are, and what we are to be, then, we Christians, must be careful when considering educational institutions that do not share our worldviews, values and belief systems. Often, when considering educational choices, we tend to look at all the pragmatic elements of a school and never go very deep in the spiritual and philosophical areas.

We, in America, tend to think that bells and whistles equate to academic excellence when, in fact, there is no direct correlation; they are to different things. If they both happen to be excellent, it is the result of two different applications of the vision of excellence. I believe we are to be excellent in all things, but we are never to sacrifice academic and spiritual excellence for all the bells and whistles, no matter their luster nor their shine.

As you contemplate the educational choices for your children, please consider the information above and the books mentioned. Blessings!

Life is hard...for all of us!

The older I get the harder the decisions in life get. It is hard to discern which road to take when both look so good, or, in some cases, look so poor. I can not imagine going through life without the Lord Jesus.

This week has been very hectic for many of us. One of us has to wait for news on a a five week old little boy's surgery. Another one of us had to go and watch her five year old grandchild go into surgery. Another had to come to a place of acceptance regarding a son's issues. Another received a call about a friend's sudden end. Another deals every day with the reality of cancer. And, then there is the work issues which are seldom easy, sometime divisive and always stressful, even in a Christian environment. Life does not get any easier, even for those of us in Christ.

Weeks like this remind me of how precious my faith is, and how it sustains me. I can get rolling along and become callous to the needs of God's people, but then God puts something in my way to remind me that it is not about me, but instead, it is always and only about Him. As the world spirals out of control, our goal, in Christ, is to let Him be in control of our lives despite the great temptation to do it on our own and in our own way. We all think our way is right, but it is His way that is always right and always true. And, seldom is it our way.

Yes, life is hard, but Christ is King! Weeks like this force me to sink to my knees and, again, lay it all at His throne. As you go about your day, please say a little pray for all of us here. There are many in our midst who really need it right now, including me!

Hang Number 17!

Over the years, I have developed a distaste for professional sports, especially professional basketball, but, I must admit, tonight I watched a NBA game. As a kid, I loved the Boston Celtics and never missed a game. I loved Jo Jo White, Dave Cowens and Larry Bird and often imitated them on my backyard court, but as I grew older I fell out of love with the professional game for many reasons.

It seemed to me that the game had become a one-on-one isolation-oriented game with little or no defense. I seldom watched a game. Maybe it was because the Celtics became so bad or maybe the game had actually changed...for the worse.

Well, with the Celtics in the Finals...I just had to sneak a peak at a game or two to see how the Celtics would do. I did watch, and I saw some defense, some offense and the Celtics winning. Could it be? Could they win their 17th championship? Tonight they won number 17, and Red is lighting up another cigar. Congratulations to the Boston Celtics! Will this pull me back to professional basketball again? Sadly, it will not because there still is something missing. I would rather watch a college game of any sport instead of its professional equivalent.

Just the same, I still celebrate the championship with the rest of Massachusetts and New England as that is where I was born and raised. Congratulations Celtics!

World Magazine on education

I have been getting World Magazine now for almost ten years. I believe, as a news publication, it continues to get better. World Magazine is unapologetic about its identity as a Christian publication attempting to report news from a Christian worldview.

When my issue comes in the mail one of the first articles I read is the one Joel Belz writes. This month's article, Less is More, was on education. It was well written, to the point and exactly what we Christians need to hear regarding education...and all of life.

Education is vital to the Christian for many reasons. May we not forget that one of the most important elements of Christian education is that this Christian process of education will be yet another avenue to instill in our children the fundamental truth of Christ: the first priority in all of life is to love the Lord God with all of our hearts, all of our souls, all of our mind and all of our strength. As a Christian pondering the institutional choices for your children's educational future...consider how your school of choice will do on that one? Blessings!

Tim Russert

BREAKING NEWS
Tim Russert dies at 58
Veteran newsman and "Meet the Press" moderator Tim Russert died today, NBC News announced. He was 58. Tributes from newsmakers worldwide are coming in, with President Bush calling Russert "an institution in both news and politics."

I was shocked today when I was informed that Mr. Russert had passed. While I do not align with many of his political views, I did enjoy him as an interviewer and a journalist. I felt like he treated everyone the same, regardless of political affiliation and worked hard at his trade. "Meet the Press" was a news show that managed to hang on to its journalistic integrity despite the prevailing winds of political polarization associated with most news stations.

Mr. Russert was a devote Catholic and will be greatly missed. Mr. Russert promoted family and fatherhood; he also promoted hard work and discipline as important ways to live life. Join me in praying for the family of this father and this son, and in praying that God would use even this for His glory. Life is but a thread...and, sadly, it takes times like these to remind all of us of that truth.

Today's Happiness

How do we define happiness today? If I can just make this amount of money... I will be happy. If I can have this or that...I will be happy. Happiness, even among Christians, is defined differently than it should be. Wilfred M. McClay writes, in his essay, that "happiness is a matter of having the right expectations." He writes that ideas have everything to do with happiness.

If ideas are that important to happiness, then a Christian's happiness ought to be rooted in the ideas of our Lord Jesus. His ideas were rooted in the idea of servanthood or the service of others. Today's happiness, sadly, is not rooted in others; instead, it is totally self-centered and not the selfless concept continually lived out by our Lord.

Read McClay's article, The Paradox of the Pursuit of Happiness to get his views on today's happiness. Is your pursuit of happiness a pursuit of worldly desire or Christ your Savior?

The Truth...

I was given the great blessing one summer of spending almost three months in Israel as I worked for a Christian hostel in Haifa. I learned many things as I lived with Messianic Jews who worshipped and loved the Lord Jesus. This past weekend I was reminded of a lesson I learned from them as they lived daily with issues we, in the west, never encounter (Thanks Pastor Zellner! Come visit us at Westminster Presbyterian Church...you will not be sorry!).

The Bible is the truth...yet we spend a lot of energy defending it like it needs protection. I love Apologetics, but I want to make sure I do not spend all my energy defending and have nothing left for loving. I believe we ought to ask those who claim that there is no god...to prove it. There is plenty of evidence for the gospel; where is the evidence to support the claim that there is no god? My lesson is simple: those who claim that there is no god...please prove it! Why! Well, wouldn't you want to share the truth with everyone you encountered? Exactly! Blessings!

The Great Quotes Collection

Robert E. Lee is the source for our next great quote. Enjoy!

Wisdom is nothing more than healed pain.

Robert E. Lee
1807-1870, American Confederate Army Commander

Graduation rates...concerned?

The other night I caught Lou Dobbs talking about graduation rates. Mr. Dobbs is by no means on my list of loyal conservatives, as he almost always chooses the liberal side of every story. But, Mr. Dobbs, in my opinion, does try to hang out inside of what is true and rarely stoops to the likes of those who nightly speak in fallacies. Anyway, all this to say that I was surprised by Mr. Dobbs and his reaction to the numbers regarding graduation rates. Here are some excerpts from the transcript of his show:

DOBBS: Tonight, recent studies show that high school dropout rates are far higher than educational institutions had been reported. Today, one quarter of white high school students drop out of high school. For blacks and Latinos, the dropout rate is 50 percent.

High school dropout rates have been rising steadily for 30 years, but incredibly, schools and administrators lie, cheat, or invent more positive graduation figures out of thin air.


CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This fall, 4.3 million children will enter high school in this country, a third -- or more than a million -- will never graduate. They are coming to high school with poor math and reading skills, become bored and frustrated, and then drop out.

Graduation rates peaked in 1969 and have declined for most of the past 30 years. And of those who do graduate, too many lack the skills to enter college.

JAY GREENE, UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS: Well, of the about four million students who enter high school, only about 1.3 million students, by our estimate, graduate and have taken the required college prep courses.

TOM LUCE, ASST. SECRETARY OF EDUCATION: We have a problem. You know, of about every hundred students that enter ninth grade, only about 67 graduate. And we just can't have that in this country. And we've got to correct the problem.

ROMANS: Correct the problem and correct it soon. Researchers say the economic fall-out of these rising drop-out rates will be devastating. High school drop-outs have much higher rates of poverty, imprisonment, welfare enrollment. And even if they can get a GED and get a job, today's high school drop-outs, they'll make at least 35 percent less than high school drop-outs of a generation ago. There's no time to lose in this.

DOBBS: It is literally wasting an entire generation. The fact that school administrators and state government, education departments and for that matter yes, the federal government education department, which is an altogether separate issue, somebody is either lying or they're absolute fools not to be able to come up with these numbers. ROMANS: At best, they are literally guessing. At worst, they are trying to keep the numbers high for their federal funding and so that they can meet federal statutes, No Child Left Behind, et cetera.

DOBBS: This is not only absolutely unacceptable for what is presumably the world's only super power. It's un-American to deny these kids an opportunity for a great public education. It's criminal.

ROMANS: Lou, we're not even in the top ten in the world for graduation rates anymore.

To quote one of my teachers, "Wow!"

I have a simple solution for education...competition. If we allow parents to choose the school that will educate their children, schools that do not do the job will disappear as quickly as their students. That is my two cents...for tonight. Blessings!

What am I learning about reality?

We all deal with the question of reality every day! What is real? Is this picture really moving, or is my trusted sense of sight deceiving me? Is Jesus Christ real? Did he live, die and rise three days later from death? The world asks these questions every day; do we answer them?

There are no special words or chants to be said. There is no special sermon or special prayer to pray. It is God alone that saves, but I believe we can provide our answers to these questions when we Christians learn to live in love and unity.

I am learning some valuable lessons these days from two churches that have agreed to host our school for the next year. Both of these churches are different than the church I currently attend, which I love. Both have agreed to allow our school to use space for the next year while we wait for our new building to be finished. Both are currently working with us to ready space for the coming year. For me it has been pure joy to work with these people.

And, what do we have in common? Well, we are all brothers and sisters in Christ, and it is Jesus that unites us because we try to place Him first. I am sure there are many things that could divide us, but when we make every attempt to put Him first, we tend to come together in Him and for Him.

When we put aside our agendas, our pride, our selfish ways, our issues, and our desire to want it our way...something wonderful happens...unity in Christ.

I said I was learning some things these days. Well, I am learning to listen a little longer. I am also learning that submitting to another fellow Believer...is a wonderful experience. I am learning a lot from our students as they come every day and work hard! And finally, I am learning that the things that look impossible to us feeble human beings are always possible when we put Him first and trust Him to provide!

What is real? Life in Christ is the only real thing I know right now. He is always with me at work, at home, in difficult times and in good times. It is only through Jesus that all that has come together could have come together, but the sad truth is that tomorrow...I will not appreciate what He has done for me today. I will be like everyone else; I will forget the miracles of today and rush into what I need for tomorrow. I will make my needs more important than others, and I will make sure they are urgent... and, in my own sinful self-centered way, I will forget all about what...You, O' Lord...have done for me today. May it not be! Lord, help me to slow down and take time to marinate in your word and in your daily miracles.

And, that is my prayer for each of you. Blessings!