Growing Christians-Introduction

Over the past couple of months, our pastor has been preaching a series of sermons about the growing Christian. The messages have been interesting...insightful...inspiring....and yes, convicting. I appreciate very much the work our pastor is doing on our my behalf.
Sunday before last, our pastor provided five areas in our lives that we need to inspect to see if we are continuing to grow spiritually. He mentioned at the end of his message that we, as a congregation and personally, need to take a look at least one of these areas and ask the Lord to take control of it and make us more like Him.
I had some trouble isolating to just one area. After meditating about this, I have decided that I need to grow in every area suggested. I would like to take some time to share with my readers how I have arrived at this belief.
The scripture used for this series of thoughts is Ephesians 4:25-32:
Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. In your anger do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need. Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your moths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. An d do not grieve the Holy spirit of god, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling, and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind an compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
The first area I will be discussing is Personal Integrity. Tune in to my next blog and read what I am thinking. I'd love to see your comments after you have read it.

Megan Dee-Our Beauty Girl

I've been looking forward to today for a few weeks now. This is the day our children, Ken and Lori, and granddaughter, Monica and Dave and I drove down to Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis to attend a memorial service for our Beauty Girl and first grandchild, Megan Dee.

It was a beautiful service. The harpist did a beautiful job playing the prelude softly and then again as the names of all the children who had passed on into heaven from July through December, 2009 were read. The attending chaplains provided us with comforting words, scripture references, and quotes from those who have written about profound loss. There was even a time for all the siblings to come forward and hear a story, For Everything There Is A Time, taken from the book of Ecclesiastes in the Holy Bible.

As we sat in the auditorium with other parents, grandparents, siblings, and family members, I was once again keenly reminded that we on earth do not suffer trials that are uncommon to man. As difficult as our loss has been, there were parents participating in the service tonight that lost not only one child, but in some cases twin children. Some of these parents were very young while others were older. There were white families, black families, and Hispanic families in attendance grieving the loss of their children. The one thing everyone had in common was the profound loss of a child in their family's recent past.

Jesus knew before Megan was ever conceived that He would have a special purpose for her life and that she would complete her work here on earth one week to the day before her tenth birthday. He knew how much her mommy, daddy, sister, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousin loved her and would miss her. He also knew that as much as we love her and miss her...as big a hole as there is in each of our hearts...we would still choose to have her here for a little while rather than not at all.

Loving Megan has made each of us better people. We understand the frailty of life, that it passes so quickly right in front of our eyes. We understand the feeling of grief...the hole in the pit of our stomachs...the sadness that suddenly comes over us for no apparent reason...the tears that well up in our eyes when they are least expected. We also understand the blessing God gave us when He gave us Megan...her beautiful smile, her interest in people, not "toys or things," her ability to just melt into our bodies when we held her or laid beside her.

Having Megan in our family just may be the most wonderful earthly blessing of our lives. We will hold her memory close to our hearts and will thank our Heavenly Father for her life with our every breath.

ISTEP

Tomorrow, I will administer the Indiana State-Wide Testing for Educational Progress (otherwise known as ISTEP+ to Hoosiers) to eighth graders . We have told them to get a good night's sleep, eat a good protein-filled breakfast, drink plenty of water, and give their best effort on the test. Still, as an educator, I must ask, "Is this all I can do this week?"

There is no doubt that I have been teaching the appropriate concepts every day this year. I have worked with students individually and in small groups. I have taught, encouraged, haggled, retaught, quizzed, reviewed, tested, and scaffolded new learning by providing concepts step-by-step providing a strong foundation for new learning as we progressed through the school year. I have done my work. So...why do I feel like I need to do even more this week?

The reason I perceive for this happening...accountability. My work with my students is being scrutinized and evaluated by the scores they receive on their ISTEP tests. This makes me just a little nervous. I just have to remember that true "education" is what is left after all the "learning" has been left behind. I sure hope that my students' true "education" come to the front of their big brains during test time!

Excellence is exemplified when one expects more of him/herself than others do.