On June 5, 2008, my wife, oldest son, his girlfriend and I went to visit my other son who happens to be living in South Korea as an English teacher to K-2 grade children. I had no idea how much of an impact this trip would have on my life. I can only relate it to pregnancy on a small scale. As a husband, I remember that when my wife was pregnant with our first child, I suddenly noticed other pregant moms it seemed for the first time. They were everywhere, in all shapes and colors. Ever since I’ve returned from this Asia trip, it seems that the Asian population in the Chicagoland area has grown, but that’s only because I was made so much more aware of the impact and dynamic nature of the Asian culture.
Therefore, over the next several posts, I want to use my trip as a background to some larger lessons in life from a Christian and educational perspective.
Go ahead and click on the above picture for the full shot.
Mathew
You can have works without faith, but you can’t have faith without works.
You know what works are: obeying the law of God, feeding the hungry, honoring the elderly, basically doing the stuff that God does everyday, all day long.
You know what faith is: it’s believing in and acting upon the promises of God (I will bless, heal, deliver you).
Having works doesn’t lead to having faith. Some people only have faith in their works.
But having true faith always leads to doing the same stuff that God does all the time.
In a song titled When You Gonna Wake Up by Bob Dylan, he says that America is filled with “lawbreakers making rules.”
www.bobdylan.com/moderntimes/songs/wakeup.html
Here’s a case that proves it. Maybe you’ve heard about the Korean couple Jin and Soo Chung who operated a dry cleaning shop call Custom Cleaners. They were sued for $54 million over a lost pair of pants even though they offered up to $12, 000 in compensataion. The pants were supposedly worth $800. Even though the couple won the case, they shut down their business due to emotional and financial fatigue. Well, what’s the big deal. Outrageous lawsuits are common; they happen every day.
One thing that sets this one apart is that the lawsuit was brought by a D.C. administrative law judge. You see, Judge Roy Pearson was about to start his first day of work as a judge and these were his prize pants that he wanted to wear (Roy might disagree with the saying that pants don’t make the man).
My question is how did this thinking make it out of whatever law school Judge Pearson attended. Makes you question the quality of the education that the judge received. Can this type of thinking that seems so juvenile be trusted in our courts? Our prayer should be, Lord, save us and our children from selfish, stupid thinking that has nothing to do with the kingdom of God, the sick, the hungry, those in prison and the soon return of Jesus. It will be the grace of God that allows any of us to not lose our head when everyone else seems to be losing theirs.
On Monday, March 19, 2007, every student at Calvary Academy will be engrossed from 3-4 days in pencil and pen and oral testing. This happens every year. When it does, a hush falls over the school as the students are busily but quietly working to show what they know about math, social studies, reading, science and more in a test form.
At our school, we don’t put pressure on kids or parents when it comes to the annual test event. We believe that if we use the right curriculum, teaching methods, produce a good learning environment, regularly test students throughout the year, and practice thinking skills, students will be ready for these days of testing.
Testing doesn’t tell you everything about a student, but it does tell you how a student performs on tools that are used to open up or close doors to “honors” or “ap” courses in high school, and scholarships and grants in college.
So as you think about your son or daughter testing, remember that they have been preparing all year, and that the test too is a preparation for all the tests that they will face in the future.
Okay. I’ve fallen into the typical annual pledge to do something about my life. But this pledge works for me. This year, as my wife and I have for years, I will go on a ten day vegetable and water only fast (one of the fasts that is described in the book of Daniel). This always stretches us physically and spiritually as well. I look forward to God sharpening my spiritual ears and heart during this time.
My wife and I also joined a health club. My wife has consistently exercised for years and years. I’m the one who never has enough time or doesn’t feel like it. Already, I’ve exercised more and brought pain to more body parts than I thought I could.
To me, making personal goals this time of year is as good as any other time. Why not? We should be making and keeping goals throughout our lives. I’d hate to think that there was some kind of curse on new year’s resolutions. If that were true, why make resolutions at all.
So beside the two I’ve already mentioned, here are several more:
* Spend more time soaking in the presence of the Father (meditating on the word, waiting on the Father to speak to me)
* Develop a new friendship with someone who is hurting, poor, or needy.
* Give all my excess money to my college-age children without grumbling.
* Throw more parties with diverse groups of people (at least twice a month).
I have a few more, but I hope that you’re encouraged to keep running in the direction that God is pushing you.
God is Father. By his own desire and purpose, God has always been, is now and forever will be Father. J.I. Packer says in his book Knowing God that the highest privilege that we have as Christians is to be called a son. This is because God is Father. Before God was judge, healer, savior, creator and so much more, he was Father to his eternal Son Jesus Christ. It’s to this deep, eternal, all-consuming fellowship that we are called.
In Calvary’s Statement of Faith, we say that “the Father is eternal, all knowing, everywhere present, and all-powerful…holy, righteous, and just. His love, grace, mercy, and justice were manifested in the atoning death of his only begotten son….”
Above all though, for the believer, he is Father. This truth is what takes us to the heart of the fellowship that Jesus has always had with God. The Father living in Jesus and Jesus living in the Father; the Father and the Son living in us, and us living in them.
This is what has caused people to be overwhelmed with joy, caused them to give up their earthly rights and comforts, endure persecution and death, even while rejoicing. They have discovered this endless river of love flowing from the heart of the Father through his Son to us by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
It’s good to have a perfect Father. Every Christian can claim and take comfort in this. This praise will go on and on for all eternity. It’s good to start it now.
We at Calvary Academy have an obligation - to our founders, our parents and students, to the church, and above all, to Jesus Christ - to stand for something. What will follow are some thoughts on what that “something” is.
The first subject noted in Calvary Academy’s Statement of Faith is God. Our statement affirms that “we believe that there is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son, Holy Spirit.” This is a fact and a mystery. This truth also provides endless insight into the purpose for which we have been created. Thankfully, there is only one God, which means that all life comes from and depends upon that one God.
Yet, the one God exists in three persons, whom have the same power, wisdom and glory. They are co-equal in nature. The unity and oneness that they share are signs of the invitation they offer us to have fellowship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is both an unbelievable privilege and an all-consuming responsibility.
At Calvary Academy, the existence of God is foundational to its entire educational life. Without this belief, we would lose our Christian status and our ability to present students with eternal life. This is what we stand for, the absoulute and eternal existence of the one God and Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. This reality, all by itself, is a cause for absolute, deep and abandoned worship. True education begins as men and women, boys and girls bow down in worship to the Lord.
I’m not ready yet. I don’t think I’ve ever felt 100% ready for the first day of school. It always seems like at least one more day would make everything better. So even though I may not feel 100% ready, I am 100% excited about the new year. New families, returning families, new and returning teachers, new technologies, renewed faith, new instructional plans, a super-clean building. All of these things help us look forward to this year.
At Calvary, we most of all look forward to all of the surprises that the Father has in store for every student, teacher and parent who would take the time to ask, work and wait for his answer.
Ready or not, God is moving and we should run to keep up. Let’s believe that this year will be the best ever and that our enthusiasm won’t dimish as we count off the days left of school.
As my wife and I were speaking to a group of 6-8 grade students about our own racial journey, I made the comment that some of you may have heard this statement from a friend or family member, “you know how white people are.” When I said this, about a third of the audience shook their heads yes; many of them muttered to themselves and one another; and I heard one kid say “My mom says that.” Why do we say things like that when they’re not true; or are they?
Maybe we say them because it’s a neat package, it helps us to frame the complex world into a tidier statement.
My wife, Italian/Irish-American, and I, African-American, have heard all sorts of comments from friends and relatives: “you know how they are,” “that neighborhood is changing,” “why are they so angry,” “they always (fill in the blank).” What is still being passed on to too many of our children is the bitterness, ignorance and hatred that generations have fed on.
Hopefully, you live, work or worship in a community were the them is becoming us. If our children can’t see hospitality (love of strangers) modeled in our personal lives, all the neat, cute, even religious phrases won’t add up to much.
Pam Belluck wrote an article for nytimes.com on February 5, 2006 that follows a trend in some primary and secondary educational circles of rewarding students for perfect attendance. It’s probably not the idea of rewards that is important here, but the size and shape of them.
Here’s a list of rewards described in the story: ice cream, $25 per quarter, bicycles, video game systems, iPods, DVD players, a trip to Disneyland, a month’s mortgage, laptops, the choice of a new Saturn Ion or @10,000. (The parents chose the money). Makes you almost want to be a kid again.
Schools need kids. Kids need school. Parents are the key ingredient. Who’s getting paid in this system? You don’t think that these kids will grow up expecting something special for showing up to work or a community service event, do you? Only years worth of scientific observation and follow-up will tell us, or maybe we can guess.
On June 5, 2008, my wife, oldest son, his girlfriend and I went to visit my other son who happens to be living in South Korea as an English teacher to K-2 grade children. I had no idea how much of an impact this trip would have on my life. I can only relate it to pregnancy on a small scale. As a husband, I remember that when my wife was pregnant with our first child, I suddenly noticed other pregant moms it seemed for the first time. They were everywhere, in all shapes and colors. Ever since I’ve returned from this Asia trip, it seems that the Asian population in the Chicagoland area has grown, but that’s only because I was made so much more aware of the impact and dynamic nature of the Asian culture.