School Choice??

Recently, I have been hearing a lot of reports of how school choice is expanding across the nation.  I have been hearing on Christian Radio commentators say that they hope the government is listening. The commentator goes on to say that there should be more school choice because it makes such a difference in education. I want to challenge your ideas and thinking about school choice.

                I know many people, including myself, have gotten frustrated with the recent outcomes of test scores from the public schools.  I also understand that many have become disillusioned with the lack of morals within the school. So many parents have decided that they should take matters into their own hands and move their children to a school that shares the same morals and values that they want for their family.  What they are leaving many times are children that have had little exposure to church or God’s word.  So, when the family that is involved in the Church and God’s word leaves the public school, who will expose those without a church to God’s Word? Who will expose these children to Christian morals and decisions? Many of you may be thinking, “It is not MY job to teach the love of Christ to other children, I am supposed to show the love of Christ to my own children.”

                Now, I ask, what would Jesus do? Would Jesus move his own children away from the threat of bad influences? Would he try and shelter the little ones or would he stand beside them and preach about how we should stand up and make good choices.  Jesus would quietly speak about loving your enemies and turning the other cheek. Scripture tells us that we should go out into the world and make disciples of ALL nations (Matthew 28:19-20) not just the ones who are “like” us. Jesus also confronts the Pharisees when they ask why Jesus eats with tax collectors and sinners.  In Matthew 9:10-13,

                10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’[a] For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

                Jesus cautions us that there is a lot of work to do, but there are few workers to do it.  Does God want you to stay in your comfort zone and “feel good” or is God calling you and your family to step out and handle the school challenges together?  Wouldn’t you as a parent prepare your children for the unknown challenges ahead if you were there to help guide them in Christian living while they are growing up? Wouldn’t that prepare your children more for times when you are not there?

                Now think about the impact you could have not only on your own children, but on the lives of other children as well. In Psalms, chapter 8 verse 2, God tells us that we can create a stronger community if we take time to praise the children. The verse states, “Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.” So God tells us that if we take care of our children and raise them right, we could spoil the bad intentions that other countries have against us. How could that help the next generation?

                One of the prime examples in the Bible of a person that God showed favor was David.  In Psalms, David shows us a little glimpse of the faith that he has in God. This is what David thinks God does for those who work for the needy.  In Psalm 72:12-14, he says, “For he will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help. 13 He will take pity on the weak and the needy and save the needy from death. 14 He will rescue them from oppression and violence, for precious is their blood in his sight.

                So, now I ask, how could you help God’s children? Not your children, but God’s children? What gifts could you share with the children of your community?  What passion could you share with others? Do you love photography? Can you help bring photography to kids who would not have the opportunity without your help? Do you have a gift with the written word? Can you help some of the kids who have had unique experiences share them with others in their writing? Are you good at debating? Are there schools that need debate clubs?  Are you passionate about good sportsmanship? Could you coach a little league team?  What can you do? How can you leave a mark?  God already expects you to leave a mark on your own child.  That is why he gave you children.  He also expects that you make an impact on the greater community.  Please do not be so quick to move your children away from negative aspects of public school.  Your child will need to work with people of all backgrounds with grace and humility.  You as adults can begin to set the example in the daily life.

Helping the least and the lost

         I have always been a "fraidy cat" when it comes to the least.  The folks that hold signs on the side of the road.  "Will work for food," or "Need help".  I have always thought, what happens if you stop and they are a suspect in a recent robbery.  Or worse yet, what if they are some kind of sexual predator?  But, then, you think about Jesus saying, "If you do it to the least of these, you do it to me!"  So how am I suppose to reconcile the conflicting feelings that I have?  Well, in the past, I have always prayed for them.  "Lord, please send someone who can help them.  Lord, may that person find the help that he or she needs.  Lord, help them find work."  However, I still had this lingering feeling of emptiness, like my requests and petitions to God were not enough.
         Recently, I was leaving the car shop.  I had just had a spare put on my car.  I was feeling very grateful that I had the resources to take care of my flat tire.  Then, I thought about how low my gas tank was.  Maybe I should stop by the gas station on the way to school.  I turned my blinker on and slowed down.  I pulled into the gas station and pulled up to a pump.  I got out of the car and put my card into the reader. Swipe.  I waited and then was authorized to begin pumping gas.  I twisted off the gas cap and placed the gas pump into the tank.  I began to fill my tank and I turned around to wait patiently for the pump to click that it was full.
         I faced the E/W connector.  I saw a Dad and a five or six-year old daughter running across the street with a large plastic oil container in their hand.  I watched the Dad.  He seemed to stand around the pump, as if what he was doing wasn't enough.  His daughter sat on the gas pump island with a head in hands quiet look of despair.
        I started to walk over to the dad.  "If you will bring your car over here, I will fill it up." 
        "Thanks," he said.
        Then I walked back to my car about the time that the pump "popped" to stop because the tank was now full.  So, I sat and waited.  I watched the dad and daughter.  The dad seemed to have a little spark in his step.  He quickly put his daughter in the car.  He poured what little gas that he got into the tank and trying to get the car to start.  He backed his car up the E/W connector in the right turn lane and signaled to go left.  He slowly worked his way to the left turn lane and did a u-turn to enter into the gas station.  I waved my hand and he drove up.  As he arrived, I saw that he was crying.  He thanked me, thanked me, and thanked me again.
         He goes on to tell me that he didn't have work.  He has been trying to find work.  He didn't have money for rent.  He had taken money out of the rent to buy food for his kids.  His wife works full time and they have five kids. However, they had recently applied for food stamps and didn't qualify.  I said, " I may not be able to help you find work, but I understand." I went on to explain how my husband lost his job three weeks before my child was born.  I told him not to give up, that God would provide." 
         About that time, his car filled up.  I continued to talk about how he needs to let someone know at the elementary school where his child attends school.  I told him that there were resources available through churches near by that could help with the food.  I asked him his name.  LeRoy Ray.  That name will be burned into my memory for a while.
        After that incident, I reflected on how I responded to this family.  Why did I get involved? I guess God sent me at that moment to share his love to someone who needed a little hope.  I pray that LeRoy Ray will continue to get little glimmers of hope until he finds work.  I pray that I will have more opportunities and enough courage to continue to help others, the least and the lost as God calls us to do.  I also pray that I will have the ability to talk about sharing love with others.  This is not because I want to be recognized.  This is because I'm not sure how many of our children are seeing examples of helping others.

Looking foward...

        As my husband and I are moving back to my hometown, I have realized that this my chance to dream again.  What are my passions?  What do I hope to accomplish in this world?

   I have always believed that I am a life-long learner. And one thing that I am called to do is pass along this passion to the next generation.  One of the things that I think we have lost in our school system today is the time needed to instill that love.

     My home church is an Adopt-A-School Partner with two schools in a needy area of town.  What I am hoping to do is create a group of tutors or mentors that can help facilitate book clubs.  Many of the children do not understand what deeper comprehension is because they have not had it modeled for them.  What I would like to do is train some church members to engage in meaningful conversations and debates about books.  I hope that we can expose our child to a wide variety of texts with the help of educated adults that have read a wide variety of genres.  I am thinking that if we get enough volunteers, there could be a couple of facilitators for each small group.  Children need help with determining importance in a non-fiction text.  And in a fiction text, students need help with inferencing.  What does it mean to read between the lines?  How can we as adults help model that thinking to students and encourage the students to think, question, grapple with the meaning of the texts.

     I have an interview on Thursday at one of these schools.  If this is God's mission for me, I will need to feel their need for me and I hope that I will feel that my experience will be useful to this school.  I will begin praying about it now.  Only by God's grace will he provide what my family NEEDs, while giving me the job to answer my passions.  I'll keep you updated.

Judge not...Lest you be judged...

      So I woke up this morning and checked my email.  As I got to Yahoo! News, I saw an article about Bobby Petrino.  Bobby Petrino, head coach at Arkansas, was in an accident with his mistress who is also an employee.  I then go on to check Facebook and see that the social networking site is aglow with criticism for the former Atlanta Falcons head coach.  Many comments showed  little compassion about this horrible situation or the feelings and emotions of the families involved.
     Many people talked about how Arthur Blank must be happy. When I began to comment about the heartache that the family must feel, I became the target.  Have I ever committed such a sin? No. But from the way that people responded to my comments, you would have thought that I had been involved with Bobby Petrino.  So, why did I take up for him?
      My comments come from a biblical place.  Some of God's greatest servants had indiscretions.  David, not only had an indiscretion, but then had the husband murdered so he could take his mistress as a wife.  God continued to use David in a might way.  Yes, David had consequences to his actions.  No, it was not right for David to sleep with a married woman.  But, Solomon was the result.  And Solomon was a great and strong man. 
     So, I look at these people who are chastising those that do wrong.  Could God make something great come out of this wrong?  I think so.  Why focus on pointing out and making light of the mistakes of others.  Isn't that passing judgement?  Doesn't the Bible tell us that how we judge others will be the same way that God will judge us?  So, why do we waste time pointing out the faults of others?  Why can't we focus on finding  the good that comes out of bad situations?
       I hope that one day, our world will show more compassion than it does today.  I am a sinful person.  I am so glad that Christ died for my sins and the sins of others.  I don't have to worry about the sins of Bobby Petrino.  I can spend my time in prayer for his family.  I can pray for guidance for his wife and the difficult decisions that lay ahead.  I can pray that the children will find a way to love and trust their father in spite of his mistakes.  I hope that more people in our world will try and act in a compassionate way.  What GOOD could we accomplish if we focused on the future in a loving and compassionate way instead of sitting in a seat of judgement?

Answered Prayer...

   For a number of years, I have hoped to move to a smaller town where the pace of things is a little bit slower.  I had prayed that this would work out.  I knew that my husband liked the big city.  He felt that it made his job more creative and he had the ability to more with his job.  So, I prayed.  I prayed that if it was God's will, that I could move to a smaller town.  I also prayed that if it was not God's will, that he would take the desire out of my heart.  Things got difficult at work and I hope and prayed for a way to find another work location.  My husband started talking about meeting with people in a smaller town to see what the market was like.  He met with people and began to express the possibility of working in that area.  I tried not to think about it or dwell on the possibility because I wasn't sure about his level of commitment.  So, I continued to pray about what God's will was for our lives.   Well, we are relocating to the smaller town.  I am excited about the move but do not have the ability to be too excited about because of the logistics of moving.  I don't know why I am not more trusting in God for the strength and ability to get things packed and ready for the move.  I will need to focus on that prayer.  Thank you God for the answered prayer. Keep me wrapped in your arms of peace during this transitional time.

Church Attendance???

    Does God understand when you just need quiet time? I hope so. This year has just not been what I anticipated!  It has been hard at work. There is always somebody complaining.  I have spent so much time this year trying to make the teachers at school happy. It is just no use. Then I get home to a three-year old. She needs her mom 100%.  My poor husband gets left over words of love whispered in the morning or love pats passing in the hallway.  Then at the end of the day, there is no time for me. Saturdays, I spend cleaning, doing laundry, and taking Maddie  So, Sundays are those days for me right now.  I  spend time thanking God for making through another week.  I rest.  I try to tell myself that this okay because this is what Jesus did.  But, just in case, God please forgive me!

How do you encourage others in faith?

     One of the things that I struggle with in my faith is the relationship that I have with other Christians.  There are so many verses in the Bible and sometimes I wonder how they are to be implemented or interpreted.  Galatians 6:2 says "Bear ye one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.  This tells me that I should be carrying others burdens and lifting them up to Christ.  What does that mean when you see loved ones that are making choices that are sinful or just not good choices.  Should you say something? 
     Then you think about Matthew 18:7 which states, "Woe to the world because of [its] stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes! "  What if you become a stumbling block  because of something that you say.  But, then in Ephesians 4, verse 15 says, "¹⁵ Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ."  So what are we to do? 
      I have been on the giving end and the receiving end of this struggle.  In high school, I spoke to a friend about smoking pot.  I prayed with her over the phone and asked her to consider her behavior.  Nothing changed for several years.  But, I knew that what I had done was out of love and I still speak to her today.  I don't think my words changed anything.  I think she was on her own journey.  She modified her behavior when she wanted to.  I also had a friend speak to me about the intimacy involved in my relationship with my now husband.  At the time, I was a little upset.  But, I have not held that against her nor has it impacted our relationship.  We will be going to the zoo with our children tomorrow.  However, I know there are times when it can end relationships. 
     The thing that concerns me is that I think we enter into conversations with others in a fast and sometimes unthoughtful manner.  When we speak the truth in love, if that becomes necessary, I think that God should be called upon to be the center of the conversation.  Ask him to give you the words to speak.  Then, and only then, do I think that there is a possibility to make it through a difficult discussion without disastrous results.  Now, I know that I pop off at times.  But, I have also found that when that happens, hurt feelings result.  And God calls us to build each other up and not tear each other down.  I think the Christian community has to be careful that we don't tear each other down over small theological differences that Jesus would probably laugh about.