Where to Start?

I have started this post three times.  I have deleted those three posts.  They will never be again, for the words are lost and I have decided they are not for the ears of others.

Where to start?

I find that writing can be hindered by one thing: the beginning.  Often writing teachers will tell students to create and outline with the material for the essay – the body paragraphs being the most important. Once that outline is created, the introduction and the conclusion will be more obviously constructed once the bulk of the material has been thought out.  It seems to be true, and it can even be true of blog posts as I started with the thought below and now have constructed these opening thoughts.

Life does not start in the middle.

While it may be good advice to give to writing students to start in the middle rather than remain stuck on the beginning, that is not good advice in other areas of our lives.  Although I would prefer to start my day in the middle of it due to my distaste for mornings (well, really just getting up whatever time of day it happens), starting in the middle of my day is not very practical.  I must complete Task A before I go on to Task B because often Task B is contingent upon the success or failure of Task A.

This is true in many of our life tasks.

Go ahead – take a minute and think of some….

(Note: there will be no ending to this post. Why? Because life is still going on!)

Technological Advances

Earlier this week, I had a rather chaotic day.  In the morning, I wrote on my hand to remind myself of a task – to email Rick.  At lunch, I noticed it on my hand and realized that I had not seen the inside of my hand (hazard of typing for most of my day) until then. 

I snapped the photo below..

and send it via text to Rick (my dad) and his wife.

His wife’s response reminded me why I enjoy her: The original palm pilot!

I could write a lot about technology and such, but I would prefer that we just all enjoy the laugh together and go on with our Fridays.

Hope yours goes well!  Do you have your Pray! shirt on?

Pray Like a Pirate?

Today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day, and it is the movement’s 10th anniversary.  Facebook is the reason I know this, of course, but specifically a friend who works at Village Creek Bible Camp shared the website and had a status in pirate talk.

Things like this intrigue me, so I popped over to the movement’s website to check it out. It is worth popping over to the website just to listen to the First Annual Talk Like a Pirate Sing Along.

But what really caught my eye was a phrase above the the video for the sing along.

All Hope Abandon, Ye Who Enter Here

Abandon hope?  I think not!  Instead of me telling you all why we should have hope, let’s hear from the Word of God.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18  So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead

Romans 8:24-25 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Psalm 27:4-5 One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.  For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock.

Zephaniah 3:17 The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.

Our prayer today should be that, even if they make us walk the plank, our hope would be constant in the One who is constant.  In that, we can trust and go through whatever anyone – even pirates – brings our way. 

As we suffer, let us look to the One who suffered on our behalf for our hope.

By the way – does anyone know how to spell “prayer” in pirate talk?

May the winds blow favorably for you all, mateys!

What Church Means to Me

It is election time, and the word “church” seems to get tossed around, misused, and twisted to the point that I no longer recognize what those who are saying “church” mean.  It is election time, and people use the word “church” to add some kind of authority to what they are saying to the point that I no longer recognize what authority those who are saying “church” mean.

Church is not a term that I use lightly.

I do not often mention in a post the fact that I go to church.  I do not often mention in a post the fact that call myself a Christian because I believe in the saving power of Christ and grace that God extends to all because of His death.  Nor do I not often mention in a post itself that the fact that I a pastor’s wife.

I do not mention these things because so many seem to use these for political gain.

But being a Christian (a Christ-follower) is at the heart of who I am.  It defines me in ways that I want to be defined even when I fall short of the perfection of the One whom I follow.  To identify myself with Christ brings clarity to my life.  I do not have to struggle with the questions of “who am I?” or “why am I here?” because being a Christian simply answers those questions as struggle with applying the answers.

Going to church allows me to be challenged by others who identify themselves this way.

I go to church to join other flawed, broken, and needy people who identify themselves as Christ followers, and we join together to struggle with how to follow Him more effectively, more actively, and more sacrificially.  I go to church to hear the Word of God proclaimed from the pulpit along with 200 others who hear the same word and take away something different, but there is beauty in that unity.  I go to church to sing praises to God along with 200 others sing beside me.

We live life together.

Had the writer of the Biblical book of Ecclesiastes written the third chapter today rather than when he did, he would have said very similar things but with some additions (in bold).

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:

² a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
³ a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
⁴ a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
⁵ a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
⁶ a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
⁷ a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
⁸ a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

Notice that nothing is bolded.

With all that has changed since the time of the Old Testament, much has remained the same about relationships – and the relationships in the Church.  The Israelites certainly quarreled about everything from leadership positions to how best to raise their children, but they stayed unified under the Lord.  They probably did not want to be together all of the time, but they came together weekly to study the Scriptures and to worship God.

Things are not always perfect in my church.  We are family, and – like our families of origin – we have differences from time to time.  But more often than not, we live life together – unified under the Lord and coming together weekly to study the Scriptures and to worship God.

And there is a time for everything.

This past weekend revealed that to me very clearly as we had a bridal shower on Saturday morning (a time to celebrate), a funeral on Saturday afternoon (a time to mourn our loss and a time to celebrate a great life lived), and a Sunday School Picnic on Sunday after the service.  The picnic was especially great because it was potluck-style, and there were some great eats to be had!

The image of us living life together has stayed with me and will stay with me.  As I observed the picnic yesterday, I was reminded again of how we live life together. 

• A grandfather holding his sleeping baby grandson talked with a father holding his sleeping baby girl.

• Grown men and women playing a wiffle ball game with children as young as 3.

• Two teens flanking their youth sponsor as they all lay on a blanket – the teens listening to the sponsor as she read aloud her study material for a master’s class.

A time to eat and a time to play.  A time to listen and a time to praise.

 

A time for everything…Amen.

The Gift of God

Every morning, our church’s Facebook page posts a verse as a way to encourage, to challenge, and to support its followers.  More people than just those who attend our church have liked it, and often those who “like” the verse do not attend our church.

Today’s verse is foundational to my belief as a Christian.

Romans 3:23 – For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

I learned this verse “way back” in 1985 when I participated in a scripture memory program at Grace Baptist Church in Grand Forks, ND, called AWANA. 

What do I remember most about the program?

What I remember most is the women who committed to teach me the Scriptures each week. They cared about my future spiritually and about my present emotional self. They did “check ins” with each of us each week, and they deeply impacted our lives for the better.  Many of us who were in that program in 5th grade have continued to pursue the Lord, and some of that thanks must go back to them.

What has stayed with me since that program?

That year in AWANA laid the foundation for me to step into a lifetime of faith in Christ.  I acknowledged that I was sinful, and I recognized that the cost of my sin would be my eternal death – separation from a loving God.  I believe this, and I need to share it today.  Like a well-spring of words, my fingers must type it.

I hold to the promise of the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ – His death on the cross to pay for humanity’s sins and His conquering of death for us all by raising again on what we now celebrate Easter as remembrance.

The gift of God needs to be shared.

Jesus was quite clear with His disciples after His resurrection that the truth about who He was and what He had come to do should be shared with all they (we) come into contact.

Matthew 28: 19-20 - Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

The gift of God is eternal life, and we must share it.  Jesus said so.

Now go!

Improving Ourselves

This morning, my blogger friend Marilyn who blogs at communicatingacrossboundariesblog.com shared a commercial which features her daughter-in-love.  She did this purely out of family pride and even went so far as to state that as a disclaimer.  I read her blog daily as it typically is a source of encouragement or of new thoughts to contemplate – and she is a good friend.

This commercial made me think, and I wanted to share my think.

Click here to watch the commercial on YouTube.

The commercial’s main idea is the Eclipse gum can change who we are from our unattractive (let’s face it – somewhat repulsive) selves to much more attractive selves.

Well – that’s easy!  I love to chew gum!

As I type this at 7 a.m. on Saturday morning, I sit in my pajamas with my hair unbrushed and my clothing unchanged.  I did brush my teeth as I am somewhat compulsive about needing fresh breath once I am out of bed for the day.  The point is that I am not at my best as I write this blog.  I need improvement before I step out of my house and let the world see me.

According to the commercial, I should just chew Eclipse gum.

Oh – if it were that easy.  Isn’t this what commercials do as a whole?  They present to us the picture of perfection, the impression of improvement, and the challenge to change.  And they give us the answer in a product in the hopes that we would then jump off of the couch and run to the nearest store to purchase the item so that we can reach for their promised new and improved self.

But change is never that easy.

I cannot become a sparkling woman in white clothing – so attractive that a prince would pursue me – simply by chewing gum.  I would likely need to lose a few pounds, have a hairdresser at the ready, and spend thousands on a new wardrobe.  And is that change truly necessary?  I am a functioning adult who draws a paycheck and makes a (albeit small) difference in the lives of others on a daily basis.

So – watch the commercial, but put on your thinking cap and remember that it is mostly just for fun.

And buy some Eclipse gum, for – though it may not turn your man into a debonair who will take you away to exotic places – it will surely brighten up his breath after he eats Mexican or Italian food on your date tonight.

Happy Saturday to all!

Online Learning: A Dual Perspective

As an online educator, I have seen the power of online learning from the perspective of a teacher.  I have seen online education be a vehicle for bright students to move quickly in through concepts that they have mastered so that they can go more deeply into concepts that interest them.  I have seen online education be a vehicle to allow students who are involved in rigorous competitive activities such as gymnastics, snowboarding, or horse jockeying stay in school while competing nationally and globally. I have seen online education allow students with challenges meet their goals of obtaining their high school diploma.

Online learning is powerful.

I was reminded again last night about the power of online learning for my own children.  As they sat in the live session with their teacher from New Zealand, my heart was so happy.  My children have used online learning off and on for the past six years as needs have come up with scheduling or class offerings (mostly math).  Our son spent a year and half as a full-time online student before he returned to a seat-based school due to the extra-curricular options available to him and his desire to have daily in person interactions with other kids his age.

Online learning can be full-time or part-time.

Often when people hear of online schools, they only imagine the full-time students who work from home in their pajamas.  (An aside: not all full-time students work from home in their pajamas, but it is a nice benefit – as my son.)  However, many students enrolled in a seat-based school take online classes as part of their educational experience. 

Reasons for this include the following:

• Scheduling issues

• Limited course offerings at the seat based school for a variety of reasons (funding!)

• A desire to expand on the high school experience through electives

• A desire to pursue outside activities

By the way – all students in Minnesota are eligible for part-time online classes.  The school where they attend can reduce their course load by the number of courses they take online. They law states that students can take up to 50% of their courses online, and their enrolling school can sign a waiver to allow them to take more.  Click here for more information on this in Minnesota.

The challenge for full-time online students is in person interaction.

As part of my job as dean of students at an online school, I go to court when students (who stayed in their pajamas but never logged in and did any work) have had attendance issues.  (An aside: In Minnesota, students who attend the publically funded online schools remain subject to attendance and truancy laws.)  I obviously cannot share the details of the hearing because of privacy laws.  However – after the hearing – I had a conversation with the county attorney who asked about how online schools overcome the challenge of person-to-person interactions.

It is a challenge!  However, in the same way that homeschoolers have stated that they can overcome the challenge, students in online learning can.  It takes dedication on the part of parents to help coordinate these efforts, and many online schools encourage it through field trips and giving course credit for service learning (volunteering).  While our son spent his time as a full-time online student, he volunteered with his elementary teacher and helped younger students with reading.  It was a great experience for him!

Online learning needs to be embraced.

Although challenges exist, these challenges can be overcome through planning by parents and online programs.  Students will continue to seek online learning as a way to challenge them and support them through their K-12 experience.  It opens doors that the traditional model of school cannot, but traditional models are learning and becoming more flexible.  As online schools become more accountable by state departments for student attendance and testing, they will continue to gain more credibility.  The workload is not lighter, and it is not an easy way to do school.  In fact, most attendance policies require that students do more than simply log on – they need to make progress.  This adds a layer of rigor which is needed to maintain credibility.

What have readers heard or experienced in terms of online learning?  Have others had children take online classes? If so, what is your impression of the programs?

ps: Tomorrow will be Day 1 for a weekly webinar series for parents of online learners at my school. I am so excited.  If you want to ever watch one of these, let me know.

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Other posts about online learning from this author:

• Graduation: Online School Style
• Attendance: Common Sense?
• Qualities of Successful Online Students
• Online Education: A Brief Thought

Just Go to School!

Today is day seven of the 2012-2013 school year, and I am in awe of the number of students who are not back in school yet.  My team of five people has spent the past seven days calling, emailing, and texting students, their parents, their grandparents, and their resident school districts because they have not re-enrolled with us and because they have not enrolled anywhere else.

Maybe we should get rid of public education?

I am starting to wonder if free public education is a good idea any more.  Perhaps parents and children would take education more seriously if they had to pay for it.  I already take education pretty seriously for my own children, but I can guarantee you that I would take it even more seriously if I have to pay $7K or more per child in order for them to attend.

We (as a school) spend thousands of dollars every year to track attendance.

We could save a great deal of money if education was not compulsory. Of course, I would be out of a job, but I am pretty sure that I could find another one.  Seriously, though, think about it: for my school of 1,200+ students, there are four people in addition to me who are dedicated to tracking attendance and encouraging (bribing, threatening – you choose the word) students to do well.  If we just stopped doing that, we would save the cost of the employees, the supplies, the office materials, and all that mileage that pays for me to drive around the state of Minnesota.

So – why do we require students to attend school?

We require students to attend school because it is in our nation’s best interest to have an educated population.  We need to keep people out of prisons and to keep them working. The best way to ensure that students stay out of prisons in the future and in jobs in the future is to educate them.  Ramsey County – and many other counties - in Minnesota believes this so strongly that they adjudicate students until the age of 19. Some judges have been known to get in the way of a student dropping out of school.

Education is important, so kids should go to school.  And parents should make sure that their kids go to school

Enough said.

ps: I did not go into the fact that there are people around the world who would LOVE to have the free public education that we have (not to mention transportation to school!), but let’s face it – that argument is kind of like getting your kids to eat peas by telling them that people are starving in other parts of the world.  It doesn’t work well in that scenario, and I doubt that it would work well in this one.

Struggling with Bipolar

On Sunday evening, as I shared about Pray! Shirt Fridays and its beginnings, I dropped a phrase that I tend to use – “I struggle with bipolar.” 

It was meant to explain some of what led me to open a business to support an idea that a few camp counselors had that could lead to a region-wide or nationwide movement.  The phrase was meant to just explain away why I, a woman with plenty to do, would add more to her plate by ordering 500 t-shirts and starting a website for the business.  It was meant to share a bit of who I am so that what I did made more sent.

Sometimes my words open doors in other’s minds.

Later on Sunday evening, as I prepared to roast marshmallows for the girl’s s’more, a woman approached me and said, “When you mentioned you ‘struggle with bipolar,’ what did you mean?”

What does that mean?

It was a choice of words, really. 

I could have said, “I am diagnosed with bipolar tendencies.” Instead, I said that I struggle with bipolar.  I could have said, “I take medication to control bipolar tendencies.”  Instead, I said that I struggle with bipolar.

And this choice of words led to a conversation.

I am open to the conversations that come from the choice of words that I use.  I want to be open to sharing my experience – as limited and new as is it – with others.  So many people have said that they are shocked with how open I am with the struggles I have, but I am shocked that this is shocking.

We have to stop hiding our struggles from each other.

I know that a lot of our struggles are embarrassing.  Why wouldn’t we hide our struggles? Why wouldn’t we keep things to ourselves?  Who wants to share about not sleeping for days on end during a mania or about staying in bed for days at a time during a low?

What if hiding from each other is hurting each other?

By keeping all of our struggles to ourselves, we make them taboo.  I am not advocating for us to just talk and talk and talk about what we are going through, but I am advocating for there to be more authentic community – especially in the church.  Moving into a deeper relationship with others in our church community should be a goal.

This is really scary – I know that.  As someone who is pretty open about her struggles, I have been hurt by being honest about what kind of day or week that it is in my life.  It has not been easy being open about this struggle in my life. The thing is that I just do not know any other way to be.  I cannot keep silent about what is happening in my head and in my mind because I have seen how much silence has hurt others in the past.

Silence about struggles hurts everyone.

When we keep silent about issues in our lives, others – who struggle with similar issues – feel like they have to keep silent as well.  And this just makes everything bigger than it is.  And it leaves us alone with our issues.

The worst feeling I have ever felt is that of being alone.

God never intended us to be alone.  He is with us always, and He gave us community to surround us when we struggle.  We are not meant to be alone, and God has provided us with each other to ensure that we are not alone.  When we do not acknowledge this and do not share our lives with each other, we work against what God has intended.

I struggle with bipolar – I have been diagnosed with its tendencies, and I medicate to stay balanced.  This is not something that makes me jump up and down with joy, but – if it is what I have in my life – I will share it with others because I have benefited when others have shared with me. 

I say that I struggle because it is not easy to experience a change energy levels at the whim of my chemistry.  I say that I struggle because it is not fun to know that today’s mania will only last so long and the productivity that I love will turn into a lack of energy that I tend to detest.  I say that I struggle because this “disorder” is not something that is well accepted in the work place, the church, or just about anywhere.  I say that I struggle because I get strange looks when I share about it. 

It is a struggle.

We all struggle with something – physical, mental/emotional, or spiritual.  Because of sin’s impact on the world, we struggle.  And the best medicine out there will not be able to completely take away the impact of sin.  When one disorder or illness has been knocked out, another will come along thanks to the impact of sin in the world.

But we do not struggle without the promise of redemption. 

On Friday, I read the post of a dear young lady who serves in Africa.  She typically blogs about stories of redemption, but on Friday she laid out a brave and raw post about the hard stuff without the redemptive ending.  Her post hit me in the heart and reminded me that we have not been promised redemption now.  That was never part of the promise, but the promise still remains.

So – I struggle, but I struggle with the hope that redemption for us all is on its way.

In His time…

Resting on Labor Day

Today is Labor Day.

According to the United States Department of Labor, “Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.”

What does Labor Day mean to you?

For almost the last decade, Labor Day has meant two things for our family:

1. The end of summer as our kids go back to school on the day after Labor Day.
2. A weekend of Family Camp at Village Creek Bible Camp.

 

There is truly no better place to spend the last weekend of summer.

Whether up high on a hill overlooking the valley, in the woods walking the trails, or down in the valley looking up and all around, this place is beautiful and filled with variety. 

In addition to the beauty, there are activities for everyone – horseback rides, archery, the lake (with a blob!), the gym, and the craft room.

The group of us who go together like to do very little.  We sit in front of one of the cabins on our lawn chairs and eat the snacks that we brought along to share.  We connect with each other as the start of school and fall and all that comes with it nears.

And we connect again with God through the beauty of the place, the messages during chapel sessions, and the conversations over meals.  We pray with each other and for each other.  We leave our burdens or share them.

It is Labor Day, but it is filled with the rest that God provides through His word, His son, and His community.

If this day were Thanksgiving, I would say, “I am thankful for Village Creek Bible Camp.”  It is not Thanksgiving, but I am still thankful for Village Creek Bible Camp – the place, those who serve, and what it provides.

Happy Labor Day to all!  I hope that you find peace and rest on this day.