The End is Always a Beginning

Last week the wonderful ride came to an end. Our football team lost in the second round of the playoffs to finish their season at 10-2.

It was a wonderful season full of firsts. First ten game winning steak! First time we went undefeated at home! First playoff win! And, first playoff loss!

But, this football season was not really about football, but something much more important - life! Let me explain.

Last night it was a football game. Last week it was a cross country meet, and the week before it was a volleyball tournament. If you attended any one event you would have witnessed our students cheering for each other. But, it is more than that.

If you would have taken a step back, away from the crowd and the noise and watched, what you would have seen is students for other students. You would have seen cheering and encouragement and laughing and fun... and all the right kinds of all those things. Am I saying our students are perfect? No! Are any of us perfect? No! What I am saying is that I am seeing students change the lives of other students.

Our goals at Westminster are simple and complex. Simply, we want to provide our students right opportunities to be students in addition to all the other things we do that schools should do. They are not little robotic adults nor should they be. They should have fun, cheer and scream, and when an end comes like a playoff loss, cry and be disappointed. They are students and should be given the time and the right to be students because it will not be long before they are no longer students.

But, our goals are complex at the same time. We are a Christian school that seeks to be an example by engaging the world for Christ. How we do that is certain to be subject of much debate. How we do what we do is important. We say all the time that the process (how we do something) is as important as the product (what we get from doing something).

When an end comes the sting is a little less severe when you have been focusing on the process and not just the product. Football players at state volleyball games... cross country runners at football games... volleyball players at cross country meets... football players cheering the first performance of our marching band... something is going on at Westminster, and that something is Jesus Christ. He is part of all that we do, and He is the difference.

Are we perfect? No! Do we make mistakes? Yes! But, is there a collective spirit of love and genuine concern for each other? Absolutely! Does that come from the world? I would have to say no based on the evidence I have seen. Then, from where? What did Jesus say, you will know them by their love!

The end of one thing always leads to the next. When students are taught the value of the process the ride is all that much more enjoyable. When the end does come, as it always will, the sting is minimal because the product is not the focus and the next process is right around the corner. Blessings!