Report cards are done! Praise the Lord!

This Week

I have been meaning to post an update earlier this week, but it never got around to it. The cause: report cards. They are due Monday, so I've been working on them a little each night. And them happy to say that after I finish inputting the fourth grade cards tomorrow, I will only have 12 more to finish. I am so thankful that they are almost done!

An interesting thing happened Tuesday night. It turns out I never set my alarm that night before I went to bed, so come Wednesday morning I overslept. It was the Lord's grace that our extremely loud shower woke me up, and that I had enough time to get to school on time. But what was really strange about it was that I woke up at least four times during the night. Each time I checked my clock to see what time it was, but I never noticed that the alarm was not on. It was as if the Lord was giving me a chance to realize my error, but I never caught on to it. So the craziness continues...

This morning as we were praying, I was dreading going in to teach today, because I really wanted to time just to rest and finish report cards. In the midst of a prayer my roommate knocked on the door and told me that my school was closed for the day. That was pretty cool, an answer even before we finished praying. So, yeah...it's been a week.

WWJD?

We have started to go through the book of Matthew Sunday mornings and it has been quite interesting so far--especially hearing a perspective on the Christmas story that is slightly new and different to me. The part I tend to struggle with though is how things are delivered from the pulpit. For example....any reference of Mary Jesus' mother in the scripture usually leads to a comment about Catholics. The comment about Catholics usually leads to some joke (which the majority of our congregation seems to find humorous), and before you know it there is a Catholic bashing session going on. This is just unacceptable. Couldn't help but think about if there was a Catholic sitting in our sanctuary for the first time and how offended that person might be. This is not how Jesus reached out to people. He did not make fun of their sin. He confronted the sin in a loving manner. And how is the sin of raising humans to a deity status any worse than supposed "believers" putting others down in a spirit of haughtiness? What kind of a witness is it when we act as if we have it "all right" and others have it "all wrong?" I can tell you I've had enough of the mindset in our fellowship that we can go around putting down and making fun of the traditional denominational churches. I know for a fact that it is not pleasing to the Lord. We all are sinners, and those of us who have accepted Christ as Lord and Savior are only sinners saved by grace.

Some may find it hard to believe, but the Lord is able to work within the Catholic church and there are some Catholics who are born again believers. And for those of us who have been raised in the Catholic church, He is able to use that background as well. It was a saved Catholic that He used to first get my attention that there was more to this "religion thing" than just sitting in church each week. And some of the most humble and gracious people I know are Benedictine monks I use to work for. Instead of making fun of people shouldn't we be praying for their salvation? If Catholics (or anyone for that matter) are going to come to Christ, it is certainly not going to be by the works of a haughty spirit. Sometimes it is real easy for me to see why some people view born again Christians as being hypocritical. This whole situation grieves my heart--how thoughtless we can be with our words--quick to speak and slow to think. Lord have mercy.

Goodnight!

My parents were supposed to come over for lunch today and then we were going to go out to a store together, but my mom called me saying that they were stuck at the exit ramp right outside my apartment because the car had died. So I ended up driving my mom back home and staying for the afternoon. It worked out well because I was able to lock myself in my old bedroom and work on my graduate work. I am in the process of writing my proposal from my research project and I am working on the methodology section, the part that describes how going to design my study. I've been avoiding writing this section like the plague, I'm not sure why, but I've just had a terrible time getting started on it. Locking myself in my old bedroom where there is nothing to be distracted by was a big blessing because I was able to truly focus on what I was writing. Lately it seems like I've been having the most terrible time concentrating on what I am supposed to be doing. Whenever I sit down to work on my paper, I am distracted by the smallest things-it's just like a child who has trouble focusing on school work. although it took me forever to get started on what I wanted to write, it was a blessing to get a big chunk done today of what needed to get done. So happiness abounds!

Just Wondering

Sometimes I just wonder about how many times the Lord tries to get our attention and we just shrug it off as "too normal" a circumstance to be the Lord. I'm sure there must be multiple times throughout the day when He's trying to share something with me, but I'm just not focused on Him and His will. Especially when I am teaching, I'm in teacher mode and am not necessarily thinking about Him. Or as on other occasions, I will start seeing the warning signs that I'm might be starting to get sick, but I fail to act upon them, and then it is only when I get flat out sick that I realize He has been trying to get my attention.

As I am working my way through Judges and 1 Samuel, I am beginning to see how patient and longsuffering He is. When the Israelites kept turning away from Him (an absolutely crazy amount of times), and then when they made it clear that they wanted a human king to reign over them instead of the Lord, He was still patient in pursuing them and loving them. Guess it is a lesson in both how I must be forgiving, but also of how much He loves each one of us--and that He is not against allowing us to go through adverse situations and circumstances in order to bring us to a place of seeking His face.

All Roads Lead to Bob Jones University

So i am in the process of reading through research literature for my MA project. One of the dissertations, written in 1987, was talking about the lack of sound music curriculum for Christian schools, that a comprehensive music curriculum had not yet been written. As I was reading that, the monologue going through my head consisted of, "Well that's strange, the first couple of grade levels in the Bob Jones curriculum were published in 1987. How could this person not know about them?" A Google search later and I have been enlightened as to the fact that the person who wrote that dissertation is the author of the before mentioned Bob Jones music curriculum and on faculty at the college.

How Awesome is This?

"Loops of highly charged particles burst from the sun's surface in this image, taken on Dec. 4, 2006. Among the first images taken by STEREO, the image shows the sun's roiling surface and atmosphere at temperatures around one million Kelvin (1.8 million degrees Fahrenheit)." -NASA image of the day

It never ceases to amaze me how awesome the Lord has created the heavens! God bless and have a great night!

You Know You Should get Some New Clothes When...

After not seeing me for two weeks, one of my students said to me today, "you wore that skirt last week, and the week before that." Usually I remember what I wear, so that I don't wear the same outfit the same day each week. But this time I really couldn't remember, so it rather thought provoking.

Problemo Encountered

It's me again! So I've decided to remove my Bloglet feature (which allows you to receive e-mails when I post) because it wasn't working correctly. Instead I've set up a Google group, to which you can subscribe and then receive my posts by e-mail. To subscribe, please e-mail me (googarama@gmail.com) your address so that I can add you. Or...you can write me a comment and leave it there. Pick your poison.

Have a great night!

On the Subject of Teaching

Well, I don't have too much to say, so I think I'll quickly share what I have and then sign off. My sister and I are going to start a group blog having to deal with the topic of teaching, so I'm quite excited. It'll be fun to share stories and experiences, as well as share ideas about teaching. If you are a teacher in their thinking, "that sounds like fun, I'd like to do that," just let me know and I'll see what I can do to get you on board.

That's all folks, have a great night!

Lord it was You who
Created the heavens.



Lord it was Your hands
That put the stars in their place,

Lord it is Your voice
That commands the morning,

Even oceans and their waves,
Will bow at Your feet,

Lord who am I
Compared to Your glory, oh Lord.
Lord who am I
Compared to Your majesty.

-Brent Helming