Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Coincidence?
It was during the 1980 upset a medal round Ice Hockey game between the USSR and the USA when Al Michaels coined the phrase, "Do you believe in miracles?" Well, do you believe in coincidences? I don't.This morning we had our usual 6am prayer time. At the end we usually go to the same restaurant for breakfast but today, Javier suggested we go to a different place. It was a "mom and pop" coffee shop on Merritt Island. Javier told us this place was owned and operated by a Christian couple that saw their business as more ministry than business.
After we had been there for a few minutes, the "mom" came over to our table to talk to us. She told us the story of their business and how they looked for ways to use it for outreach. She began to tell us the story of how God had send a lady to them who was running a local inner-city ministry. This lady was using cooking as a tool of instruction and outreach to kids. The story and the lady sounded familiar so I asked, "Would this lady's name happen to be (from our church) "Lee?"
She said, "Why yes, it is." All of us raised eyebrows and smiled when we told her she was from our church and that we (4 of us) were the elders and preacher of her church. She told us how she told Lee they would donate high quality boarshead meat to her efforts. O.K, are you ready for more?
At that very moment our preacher's phone began to ring - uh huh - it was Lee. As Don put her on speaker phone she began to excitedly tell him how she had found this Christian run coffee house and how they were going to donate "boarshead" meats to the Crestview ministry. As we began to laugh out loud she asked Don, "Where are you at and who's laughing in the background?"
Coincidence? Nah - I'd like to think of it as "confirmation" and perhaps God giving us a little peek into the unseen spiritual world around us.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Runner
Do you remember the movie, "Logan's Run?" A classic, yes? I know, not really. I'm glad I don't live in Logan's world. If you remember, when one turned 30 they went to a "graduation ceremony" which was really a mass killing of all of those that turned 30 in an effort to control the population. It is shocking to think someone would object to this procedure but according to the plot of the movie, they did. As you can see in the picture when one turned 30 a red light would begin to flash in their palm to remind them and everyone else it was time to "graduate." When someone decided to forgo their graduation they became known as a "runner." It was Logan and his associates' job to catch the runner so they could keep their appointment with death.
I had a runner on Wednesday. During my 2nd Period class we had an evacuation drill. No matter what period of the school day we're in, students are to go outside on our track, find their homeroom teacher, (we have assigned areas that the kids line up on) and fall in line. We take roll, send a (pun intended) "runner" with our absentee to the "Command Center" and wait for the all clear or the coveted, "You guys get to go (has happened once in my 30 years of teaching) home," signal.
As this day would have it, I had a stray student in my line. I yelled, "Young (they are all young BTW) lady, you need to go to your line and get out of mine." She didn't move. I walked back to her and in my "I'm trying to be nice but you're hacking me off" voice I said, "Look, you need to go to your homeroom teacher's line." Her reply was succinct:
"I'm not in your line!"
Shocking I thought, perhaps I've entered a dimensional shift, a parallel universe, a rift in the time continuum, or perhaps I have a demonstrative "A-type" personality / someone who needs a lot of love in their life middle school age female. I didn't come to any of those conclusions by the way.
I took another step towards her and said, "Look, I don't want to make this into a big issue but you have to get out of my line and go fine yours." Her reply:
(with hands on hips and eyebrows and voice raised) "I'm not in your line!!"
Darn I thought, what we have here is a failure to communicate so I said, "Come with me," as I signalled to our Dean to come my way. What did she do - she took off - running! Yes, the predatory instinct did rise up in me but I decided just to walk fast and keep her in my sights.
She went into the opposite (kids are now being dismissed and are walking back into the building) part of our building and I wasn't too far behind. I made a quick search of each room but didn't' see her.
I had to return to my classroom to let my kids back in the room. Now this is what you call "bad kid karma." As I walked up to my door I peeked into the room NEXT TO mine thinking, "No way it could be this easy," and you guessed it - there was our runner!
The look on her face conveyed a sense of "rut-row" as I peered inside the room and said, "Hey, remember me?" "Surprisingly" her teacher told me, "Debby (name has been changed to protect the stupid, I mean innocent) never reported to my line during the drill."
Results were as follows:
1. Discipline referral written.
2. One day suspension issued.
3. Look on my face when I found our runner - priceless.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
The Smell
Smells were on my mind (and in my nose) this morning. Now for those of you who read and are from locales north of us, please try to hold the laughter down to a small roar - it has been a long stretch of "cold" weather for us here in Central Florida. When I opened our garage door to start my day I was hit by the smell of "cold." There is a certain crispness to the air when its cold. Most years, by the time we get to March the crispness of cold air is a passing memory. 
This is a picture of the alpine forest that we hiked through 2 summers ago on our way to the summit of Mt. Tweeto in Colorado. There is a certain smell that an alpine forest emanates when you enter it. As you know, smells are a powerful memory trigger. When we entered that alpine forest and the smell hit me, memories of being in college and bumming around Colorado in the Summer came to me as well as a 9 mile hike that Greg, my Mom, and I went on (Panorama Trail) in Yosemite National Park.
If I get the chance to smell that (alpine forest) natural fragrance again, the memory of hiking with our youth (Steven - in black sweat shirt - 4th in line) group and Steven will come to my mind. That smell will remind me of a group of teens and adults who persevered through exhaustion, blisters (some had double digits worth), lack of oxygen, fear, and the constant reminder of why the "Rocky" Mountains have that name to reach a goal, the 13,700ft summit of Mount Tweeto.
I wonder if "smells" came to Paul's mind when he went from place to place, preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ and seeing the lost saved. Maybe that's what he had in mind when he wrote the following in 2nd Corinthians 2:
12Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me, 13I still had no peace of mind, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said good-by to them and went on to Macedonia.
14But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. 15For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 16To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task? 17Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God.
This is a picture of the alpine forest that we hiked through 2 summers ago on our way to the summit of Mt. Tweeto in Colorado. There is a certain smell that an alpine forest emanates when you enter it. As you know, smells are a powerful memory trigger. When we entered that alpine forest and the smell hit me, memories of being in college and bumming around Colorado in the Summer came to me as well as a 9 mile hike that Greg, my Mom, and I went on (Panorama Trail) in Yosemite National Park.If I get the chance to smell that (alpine forest) natural fragrance again, the memory of hiking with our youth (Steven - in black sweat shirt - 4th in line) group and Steven will come to my mind. That smell will remind me of a group of teens and adults who persevered through exhaustion, blisters (some had double digits worth), lack of oxygen, fear, and the constant reminder of why the "Rocky" Mountains have that name to reach a goal, the 13,700ft summit of Mount Tweeto.I wonder if "smells" came to Paul's mind when he went from place to place, preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ and seeing the lost saved. Maybe that's what he had in mind when he wrote the following in 2nd Corinthians 2:
12Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me, 13I still had no peace of mind, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said good-by to them and went on to Macedonia.
14But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. 15For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 16To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task? 17Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Institutionalized
The "Shawshank Redemption" is one of my favorite movies. For the past couple of weeks, the character of Brooks has been on my mind. You probably remember how Brooks after decades of incarceration is finally paroled. Despite efforts to re-engage with life on the outside, he eventually commits suicide. 
When news gets back to his buddies in prison, they are all confused as to how this could happen to Brooks. The one seemingly burning desire in all of them is the dream of getting out of the walls of their institution. All of them are confused except Red.
Red waxes philosophically when speaking of Brooks he says, "... these walls are funny. First you hate 'em, then you get used to 'em. Enough time passes, it gets so you depend on 'em. That's institutionalized."
I have some "Brooks" that have passed through my life. There was a time when I was a "Brooks" as in institutionalized by the seemingly impenetrable walls of my denomination. Those walls took various forms such as -
1. Believing the Bible taught freedom in worship but dumbing down my belief for the sake of a denominational view.
2. Believing the Kingdom of God is far larger than our little tribe but only working within our denomination's sectarian framework out of trying to hold the peace and partly out of fear.
Our denomination professes church autonomy but yet some of our para-church organizations will threaten God-fearing / long serving individuals who serve their organizations with removal and the always "popular" "un-invitation" for things said or done at their home churches.
Yet,not all is lost! There are many now that are discovering that if the "brotherhood" ejects you, they eject you into a far larger fellowship of Christ -followers. It has been our experience that there are many in other denominations that are tired of being "institutionalized" and are ready to roll up their sleeves and come together for the cause of Christ!
I guess I'm writing this for two reasons. First, to God be the glory for the journey our church has taken! I love worship at our church because praise just flows from our people as they engage in ministry in our community.
Second, to those of you, church leaders and lay members who are institutionalized, fear not! There is a much larger world out there just beyond your walls! May God give you a spirit of courage as a world around us dies from being lost.
May the spirit of Christ bless you all.
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
Come You Know What or High Water!!!
Today is the first day of our wonderful State's highstakes test, the FCAT. All kidding (which wasn't much considering I just typed one sentence) aside, I would ask that you pray for my students as they take the FCAT this week and next. Their highstakes is the right to choose their own electives in High School or have the State choose it for them in the guise of remedial reading and math courses. For us, funding or the lack thereof is the carrot of choice.
This year the State has instituted a new protocol should we suffer an interruption in testing due to severe storms. I thought I'd share it with you so that you could see how serious Florida takes high-stakes testing. You might want to adopt this policy for your State, family, or business.
Severe Weather Testing Protocols During FCAT Testing
Should a severe weather situation occur during testing, please remain calm. To display any kind of anxiety would be a testing irregularity and must be reported.
Please do not look out the window to watch for approaching tornadoes.You must monitor the students at all times. To do otherwise would be a testing irregularity and must be reported.
Should students notice an approaching tornado and begin to cry, please make every effort to protect their testing materials from the flow of tears and sinus drainage.Should a flying object come through your window during testing, please make every effort to ensure that it does not land on a testing booklet or an answer sheet. Please make sure to soften the landing of the flying object so that it will not disturb the students while testing.
Should shards of glass from a broken window come flying into the room,have the students use their bodies to shield their testing materials so that they will not be damaged. Have plenty of gauze on hand to ensure that no one accidentally bleeds on the answer documents. Damaged answersheets will not scan properly.
Should gale force winds ensue, please have everyone stuff their testbooklets and answer sheets into their shirts being very careful not to bend them because bent answer documents will not scan properly.If any student gets sucked into the vortex of the funnel cloud, please make sure they mark at least one answer before departing and of course make sure they leave their answer sheets and test booklets behind.
You will have to account for those. Should a funnel cloud pick you, the test administrator, up and take you flying over the rainbow, you will still be required to account for all of your testing materials when you land so please take extra precautions. Remember, once you have checked them out, they should never leave your hands.
When rescue workers arrive to dig you out of the rubble, please make sure that they do not, at any time, look at or handle the testing materials. Once you have been treated for your injuries, you will still be responsible for checking your materials back in. Search dogs will not be allowed to sift through the rubble for lost tests. Unless of course they have been through standardized test training.
Please do not pray should a severe weather situation arise. Your priority is to actively monitor the test and a student might mark in the wrong section if you are praying instead of monitoring. I'm sure God will put war, world hunger, crime, and the presidential primaries on hold until after testing is over. He knows how important this test is.
This year the State has instituted a new protocol should we suffer an interruption in testing due to severe storms. I thought I'd share it with you so that you could see how serious Florida takes high-stakes testing. You might want to adopt this policy for your State, family, or business.
Severe Weather Testing Protocols During FCAT Testing
Should a severe weather situation occur during testing, please remain calm. To display any kind of anxiety would be a testing irregularity and must be reported.
Please do not look out the window to watch for approaching tornadoes.You must monitor the students at all times. To do otherwise would be a testing irregularity and must be reported.
Should students notice an approaching tornado and begin to cry, please make every effort to protect their testing materials from the flow of tears and sinus drainage.Should a flying object come through your window during testing, please make every effort to ensure that it does not land on a testing booklet or an answer sheet. Please make sure to soften the landing of the flying object so that it will not disturb the students while testing.
Should shards of glass from a broken window come flying into the room,have the students use their bodies to shield their testing materials so that they will not be damaged. Have plenty of gauze on hand to ensure that no one accidentally bleeds on the answer documents. Damaged answersheets will not scan properly.
Should gale force winds ensue, please have everyone stuff their testbooklets and answer sheets into their shirts being very careful not to bend them because bent answer documents will not scan properly.If any student gets sucked into the vortex of the funnel cloud, please make sure they mark at least one answer before departing and of course make sure they leave their answer sheets and test booklets behind.
You will have to account for those. Should a funnel cloud pick you, the test administrator, up and take you flying over the rainbow, you will still be required to account for all of your testing materials when you land so please take extra precautions. Remember, once you have checked them out, they should never leave your hands.
When rescue workers arrive to dig you out of the rubble, please make sure that they do not, at any time, look at or handle the testing materials. Once you have been treated for your injuries, you will still be responsible for checking your materials back in. Search dogs will not be allowed to sift through the rubble for lost tests. Unless of course they have been through standardized test training.
Please do not pray should a severe weather situation arise. Your priority is to actively monitor the test and a student might mark in the wrong section if you are praying instead of monitoring. I'm sure God will put war, world hunger, crime, and the presidential primaries on hold until after testing is over. He knows how important this test is.
Friday, March 05, 2010
He's Back / It's Built / They're Leaving
Hi there,
My unofficial blog break lasted roughly 720 hours but who's been counting or reading for that matter. Speaking of being (as in 1/3 of the title) built, the construction of the International Space Station is almost finished. Click on the link to see the construction in BT or as we like to call it here in the office, "Blog Time."
http://i.usatoday.net/tech/graphics/iss_timeline/flash.htm
Here's some comforting thoughts concerning our subject:
1. President Obama has for all intents and purposes, killed our manned space program and the Kennedy Space Center.
2. We will now being paying the Russians (I'll use a term from mathematics) a "gi-normous" amount of money to fly to the Space Station that we mostly funded.
Oh, the "They're Leaving" part of our title - that represents the estimated 23,000 people that will be laid off in our County due to the President's Space Program.
Now, I don't want to come off as being bitter because God is certainly in control. So I will leave you with my new favorite Psalm that our Praise Team / Band is now playing for our church and it has become a favorite around here. God's blessings on all of you.
1 How long, O LORD Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?
2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?
3 Look on me and answer, O LORD my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death;
4 my enemy will say, "I have overcome him," and my foes will rejoice when I fall.
5 But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.
6 I will sing to the LORD,for he has been good to me.
My unofficial blog break lasted roughly 720 hours but who's been counting or reading for that matter. Speaking of being (as in 1/3 of the title) built, the construction of the International Space Station is almost finished. Click on the link to see the construction in BT or as we like to call it here in the office, "Blog Time."
http://i.usatoday.net/tech/graphics/iss_timeline/flash.htm
Here's some comforting thoughts concerning our subject:
1. President Obama has for all intents and purposes, killed our manned space program and the Kennedy Space Center.
2. We will now being paying the Russians (I'll use a term from mathematics) a "gi-normous" amount of money to fly to the Space Station that we mostly funded.
Oh, the "They're Leaving" part of our title - that represents the estimated 23,000 people that will be laid off in our County due to the President's Space Program.
Now, I don't want to come off as being bitter because God is certainly in control. So I will leave you with my new favorite Psalm that our Praise Team / Band is now playing for our church and it has become a favorite around here. God's blessings on all of you.
1 How long, O LORD Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?
2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?
3 Look on me and answer, O LORD my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death;
4 my enemy will say, "I have overcome him," and my foes will rejoice when I fall.
5 But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.
6 I will sing to the LORD,for he has been good to me.
