A volunteer is defined as “a person who freely offers to take part in an enterprise or undertake a task, it means to freely offer to do something.” Philippians 2: 5-7, “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.” Volunteers are the ones who show up when they are needed the most. Volunteers show up with a smile on their face and ask, “how can I help?” Whether it’s serving hot lunch, manning a booth at fall festival, setting up early in the morning to serve breakfast for our staff during staff appreciation week, reading with our elementary students, or chaperoning a field trip. I could go on and on. Our volunteers help to create incredible experiences for our students and in many ways we couldn’t create those experiences without the willingness of each one of them. Our volunteers love and serve God with their time, talent, and treasure. As is stated in Matthew 6:21, “For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.” When our volunteers come to school and serve they are using their spiritual giftedness to serve others, to touch lives for Christ. I witness their example on a day to day basis and it never ceases to amaze me. It is such a powerful example to our students about what it means to serve others… to use our gifts… to reGIFTit! 1 Kings 17:9 says, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” So to our volunteers, to every one of you, I say, from the bottom of my heart… THANK YOU and God Bless you all. You Rock!!
Techlandia Episode 21 – Steak and Eggs
I had a terrific time hanging out with some amazing administrators. What a great honor. I had the privilege of learning and chatting with Jessica Johnson, Tim Lauer, David Frydman, Curt Rees and Jon Samuelson. We discussed some wonderful folks on “The Twitter” that inspire us and we also managed to chat about a few apps that, we as administrators, use to take notes and manage our thoughts. We spoke about a few other topics as well. How fun!!
Techlandia Episode 21 – Steak and Eggs.
Our tools and notes can be found here… http://bit.ly/15uL4iZ
Comments welcomed!!
Natalie the artist meets Rudy the artist
The story that accompanies these pictures is awesomely powerful. One of my 8th graders met Rudy Frank on our school trip to Rehoboth, New Mexico…. Below… Natalie tells the story.
The majority of The sketch you’re looking at was done by a talented artist who introduced himself to me as Rudy Frank. Rudy’s a pretty funny and humble guy. He doesn’t sell his works unless someone offers. When I asked him about it, he told me that he just likes to leave them around town for others to find and enjoy. But there’s one more little detail.
Rudy is homeless.
That’s actually how I met him. On our [8th grade] trip to Rhehoboth, New Mexico, my class helped prepare a meal to serve to the homeless with Answer God’s Call Ministries.
I was going around asking the (somewhat scary) and grungy homeless men and women if they cared for more stew or bread when I saw Rudy looking at a beautiful sketch of two horses that had previously been concealed in a collapsed cardboard box. I, being an artist myself, felt drawn to the sketch. Not because I’m particularly fond of horses, but because I was curious. Did this dirty old homeless guy, the kind that I might avoid at home, actually create that?
I sat next to him and took a deep breath, “where’d you come across that, sir?” I asked.
He looked at me, “you’ll have to come over to the other side, girl. My right ear’s not too good.”
I did as he told me and repeated my question.
He motioned to his head. “I drew it from memory. It has elements of my childhood. I used to live on a ranch where we has horses and cattle. The horses were my favorite.” He pointed to the windmill in the drawing, “I used to see that windmill every day. Decided to start on it at six this morning.”
I was amazed. He really drew that from memory? In less than six hours? “How’d you draw that?” I asked, knowing that art supplies don’t usually come cheap. At least not the kind needed to draw something like that.
He opened up his coat and reached into his breast pocket to pull out about ten beat up stubby pencils.
“With these.” He said, “If I find them on he ground, I keep them.”
I was in awe. The kind of pencils he had used to craft something so beautiful were the kind that I might just abandon in a classroom or kick under the table in a library. I knew I needed that sketch.
“Can I, uh, buy it off of you?” I asked quietly, unsure if he would be willing to part with it.
He looked up from the sketch “twenty bucks. I’ll give it to you.”
I reached into the pocket of my shorts. I just so happened to have a twenty dollar bill despite the fact that we were told not to bring money.
I held it up. “I’ve got twenty.”
“Okay. But one more thing, you have to finish it for me. And finish it well. I don’t like my work to go unfinished.”
We agreed that I would finish it. Before I gave him the money or he gave me the drawing he handed me a pencil stub and told me to do some work on it with him. Fearing that I might mess it up, I lightly and carefully did some contouring on a horse’s front leg. He seemed satisfied. And held out a hand for the money.
Knowing full well that, like many of the other men around, he could be an alcoholic or a drug addict I decided to make him promise me something.
“Promise me you’ll spend this on something meaningful.” By this I meant something that wouldn’t destroy his life.
He nodded and we shook on it.
I took the drawing and finished it, in hope that he’d keep his end of the deal. And, even though I’ll probably never meet him again, I’m always praying for Rudy Frank.
If you’re ever in or around the town of Gallup, New Mexico and you stumble upon a work of art, left behind for someone to find, you’ve most likely found one if Rudy Frank’s pieces.
If you read this, pray for Rudy Frank.
Giving all Teachers access to the School Twitter account
I’ve been coming to the realization that I am only one person, yeah, I know, shocking that I am now just figuring this out. Anyway, I’ve been thinking about the fact that there is so much awesomeness going on in my school that I miss because I’m in a different classroom or in a meeting or performing some other duty. But I still want to capture and be able to share the cool/amazing/terrific/special learning that is going on in all our classrooms. A solution may be to give my teachers access to the school twitter account. I can think of so many reasons why this is a really good idea and I can certainly think of why this is a really bad idea.
Pros:
- More access to the awesomeness that is the learning in our building.
- Potentially endless stream of amazing and powerful images from the classrooms.
- 2nd grade parents being able to have a glimpse into the 5th grade classrooms and thinking how cool it’s going to be when their child gets to experience that learning.
- teachers, currently not on twitter, can start to see how cool it is to share the cool goings on in their classroom.
- more opportunity for students’ work to be publicly displayed.
- improve the connection between our school and the community.
- great marketing tool for our school.
Cons:
- Followers of our account getting overwhelmed with the amount of tweets per day. This is especially challenging for our “text followers.”
- I loose a bit of control of what leaves the building via twitter. Not super worried about this because I totally trust my teachers. However, an embarrassing tweet would not be good.
- I would need to follow the account closely to keep an eye on what’s leaving the building.
- Parents receiving tweets that are not relevant to their children. As I stated above this could be a positive too.
As I wrestle with this idea, I welcome your comments and suggestions as I flesh this idea out in my mind. I go back and forth. I’ve thought even just have a Flickr account that is public (share the url with the community) that my staff can upload to via email. This would allow parents to check it out whenever you want.
Thank you, in advance, for helping me flesh this out.
Prayers for the 8th grade Rehoboth Mission Team
This morning in chapel, every student on campus, including our preschoolers, surrounded our 8th graders in prayer. It was awesome! All year our 8th graders have led their Faith Families through different projects, neat activities and much more. Today was a day to focus on them through prayer. The reason we focused on them is because next week, Monday, they are heading down to Rehoboth Christian School in Rehoboth, New Mexico to serve that school and the surrounding community. The Faith Families surrounded their 8th grade leader and each student from preschool to 7th grade, prayed a special prayer for their leader. One student, we call her E.Y., prayed for her 8th grader using the verse, Isaiah 40:31, “but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Given the challenges our 8th graders will be facing next week with the long days of service and play, this is the perfect verse for the perfect trip. After each child had the opportunity to pray, they were given a prayer card, from their 8th grader, as a reminder to keep them in their prayers each day next week. We also ask for prayers for our teachers and parent chaperones as they walk along side our students during this amazing week together. We ask that you encourage this focused prayer time with your family. On behalf of the 8th grade Rehoboth Mission Team, we thank you and To God Be the Glory.
Compromise is not weakness – via @jamestimmer and @brhoman
Thoughts from @jamestimmer and @brhoman
When we fail to find compromise on legislation and fail to allow for middle ground in political discussion, we play into the hands of the political parties, special interests, and media organizations by giving them power over our thinking. Compromise is not weakness: It is strength. Compromise created the Constitution. Politicians and pundits hate compromise not because they view it as weakness (although they will publicly say that), they hate compromise because it takes their power to control away.
Comments welcomed!!
God is our refuge and strength…
God is our refuge and strength…
I have spent the last couple of days trying to wrap my brain around the tragedy that struck the Boston Marathon. What scares me a bit is that I am not as shocked as I used to be when hearing about these horrendous events. As I retreated back to my Bible seeking guidance I landed on Psalm 46. The theme of the verse is God is always there to help, providing refuge, security and peace. This verse promises us that God’s power is complete and his ultimate victory is certain. He will not fail to rescue those who love him. As verses 1 and 2 state, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea.” Evidence of His strength is seen in the hundreds of fearless and selfless people running toward the smoke after the blasts. Those brave people ran to the aid of someone they may not have even known. This is visible proof that God can provide us with strength in any circumstance under any conditions. Let believers rest in the fact that God’s victory is final. Please take time right now to stand quietly before the Lord Almighty. Psalm 46: 11 “The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.” Amen.
