MORE Personal I AM Statements, ACT II

 

MORE Personal I AM Statements, ACT II

This is from November 7, 2022.

 

My classes this week finished studying the seven I AM statements Jesus made in the Gospel of John. If you aren't familiar with them, here they are!

I am the bread of life.

I am the true vine.
I am the good shepherd.
I am the gate for the sheep.
I am the light of the world.
I am the resurrection and the life.
I am the way, the truth, and the life.

I gave my students the assignment of coming up with their own I AM statements which would define them. Tonight, I am posting some of them, a combination of middle and high school kids, grades 8-12. They are brutally honest and all are used with permission; boys in blue and girls in pink!
I am the girl who just wants a relationship.
I am the boy who thinks about random things.
I am the boy who knows right from wrong but chooses wrong with guilt,

I am the boy who doesn't like being shown affection.
I am the boy who just wants people to check up on me.
I am the boy who has learned too much about society.
I am the boy who loves his dad much more than he thinks.
I am the girl from a tough but loving family.
I am the boy who wants to be left alone.
I am the girl who thinks about what life would be if her parents had stayed together.
I am the boy who loves being alone hates feeling alone.
I am the girl who wants to be in a world that doesn't exist.
I am the boy who always feels embarrassed.

I am the boy who is always loud.
I am the daughter of regrettable actions.
I am the daughter of a hopelessly romantic mother.
I am the boy who completely understands the topic in class but makes a 60 on the test.
I am the boy who will step up when needed.
I am the girl who is only a concept.
I am the girl trapped inside a false reality.
I am the boy who is scared to turn 18.
I am the boy with more materials than his best friend but less on the inside.
I am the boy who lost everyone and everything he loved.
I am the girl who is afraid to be thought of as dumb.
I am the sibling least likely to succeed.
I am the student who feels beyond mentally drained.

I am the girl who is always trying to grow and improve!

I will post some more of these in the coming days. Please keep this generation in your prayers. They seem to be more in despair than in years past but I see so much good in them!

God bless,
Steve/Coach
Luke 18:1

Labor Of Love

 

Labor Of Love

This is about NFL great Brett Favre and singer Little Peggy March Brett! It's  from September 4, 2006! 

Today is Labor Day and I worked. I didn't clock in or put my dress clothes on but I spent hours in my classroom. There were lesson plans to draw up and post on the Internet and grades to be typed into my computer. But it never feels like work. I love my job so much I feel guilty calling it a job. Not everyone is so blessed but I have a short memory. There is nothing I would rather do than what I do. My profession is one that lets me improve as long as I keep working. This morning, I heard a radio talk show host analyzing quarterback Brett Favre. A fourteen year veteran all-star with the NFL's Green Bay Packers, Favre contemplated retirement in the off season. In an interview, Favre mentioned hearing former New York Giants' quarterback Phil Simms speak about when it was time to quit. Simms said the rule of thumb is that a quarterback should play until he knows his time is up...and then play a few years more. His rationale was that life for him was extremely difficult (boring?) after his career ended so he would recommend holding on as long as possible. In Favre's case, even though past his prime, some team is likely to pay five million dollars per year for his diminished services. Who wouldn't be tempted to take that deal? What would you do with yourself if you retired at thirty-five? I could not stand myself if I wasn't busy doing something productive as long as it is feasible from a physical standpoint. If you were Brett Favre, how would you go from worshipful adulation to being out of the public view? I would guess that the spotlight can cast an addictive shadow.

There is a new TIME-LIFE infomercial: Maltshop Memories. Hosted by teen idol Bobby Rydell, the ad promotes a collection of classic hits from the era between the advent of rock and the coming of the Beatles. Maltshop Memories is crammed with extremely short film clips of 1960's entertainers singing their songs, or mouthing the words, on television shows. One of my favorite shots is of Little Peggy March, lip synching I Will Follow Him. The song hit number one in several countries, including the US. What makes I Will Follow Him more notable is that March was only fifteen at the time, making her the youngest singer on record to have a #1 single. She never came close to that level of success again although she did have several tunes make the bottom part of the charts. Peggy March is still singing today although the little tag, pinned on her due to 4'10" stature, has been discarded. She obviously is gifted and, according to her website, has lived a fulfilling life. Still, I wonder what it would be like to be on top professionally at fifteen and never come close to that rarefied level of success again. If you experience the mountaintop, is everything else at least a little disappointing? Andre Agassi retired yesterday. Did you see it? In an emotional good-bye, Agassi wept before an adoring crowd at the US Open after the tennis legend lost his final match. Only thirty-six and barely old enough to be constitutionally qualified for the Presidency, Agassi faces forty-five to fifty more years of life without the stage he has captivated for two decades. It will be interesting to see his life several years from now. Will he coach or be a commentator? Will he appear in exhibitions? Maybe he will play celebrity doubles matches with Brett Favre. I know this much, even though I am the most casual of tennis fans; Andre Agassi can't just disappear. The game needs his class... and the world needs his work ethic, especially on Labor Day. 

Applicable scripture of the day:
"A man do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God."
Ecclesiastes 2:24 

Applicable quote of the day:
"With each game I play, each season I play, everyone would agree with me, I'm running out of chances."
Brett Favre


*To listen to Little Peggy March sing her classic I Will Follow Him, please copy and paste the link below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JVhbusBDi4&feature=related

God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1

Personal I AM Statements

 

Personal I AM Statements

This is from November 5, 2022.
My classes this week finished studying the seven I AM statements Jesus made in the Gospel of John. If you aren't familiar with them, here they are!

I am the bread of life.

I am the true vine.
I am the good shepherd.
I am the gate for the sheep.
I am the light of the world.
I am the resurrection and the life.
I am the way, the truth, and the life.

I gave my students the assignment of coming up with their own I AM statements which would define them. Tonight, I am posting some of them, a combination of middle and high school kids, grades 8-12. They are brutally honest and all are used with permission; boys in blue and girls in pink!

I am the girl who has lost herself trying to fit in.
I am the girl with no reason NOT to be grateful.
I am the boy with many God given gifts.
I am the boy who loves too hard.
I am the girl who can see everyone else's beauty but not her own.
I am the pacifist boy who wants to fight back.
I am the girl who loves to go to the nail salon.
I am the daughter of two good souls.
I am the grandson of a good Christian grandmother.
I am the girl with a war between her heart and soul.
I am the girl who wakes up in the morning worried.
I am the son of a hard working dad.
I am the girl who wishes her father would get back into the Word.
I am the boy who knows he can do better but doesn't put in the effort.
I am the girl who acts clueless only not to be judged.
I am the young man silently crying for help.
I am the boy who takes care of his brothers.
I am the girl who wants to get married and have a big family.
I am the girl who loves her mom but keeps hurting her.
I am the girl who hates confrontation.
I am the boy who talks to himself a lot.
I am the boy who feels like his life is the same every day.
I am the girl who can't fit the image of who people want her to be.
I am the girl who is an INFJ. 
I am the girl who does not know who to trust.
I am the girl who just wants help.
I am the girl who hides away.
I am the boy who provides for his mom.
I am the boy who misses his sister.
I am a girl who just wants to know the truth.
I am the girl who feels guilty to say no.
I am the boy who wants everyone in the world to be  happy.
I am the girl who loves hugs.
I am the girl obsessed with what others think of her.
I am the boy with the small friend group.
I am the boy who dwells on the past and fears growing up.
I am the boy who can't wait to one day see his own children.

I  will post more of these in the coming days.

God bless,
Steve/Coach

Luke 18:1

Mixed Message

 

Mixed Message

One thing I like about FACEBOOK is to be able to reconnect with former students. This entry, from 12-18-06, is about one of those not-quite-as young-anymore kids.
 College semesters end before high school terms so our alumni began filing in last Friday. Many of our ex-students make it a point to come by when they are home for whatever vacation is on the calendar. Michael and Amy, Patrick and Scott, Jonathan and Shanna: I spent a little time with each of them Friday. And then there was Patricia. Several years past graduation, Patricia made sure she completed her annual pilgrimage to the halls of Westbury Christian School. Originally from Honduras, Patricia and her sister, Paola, were bright lights in my Bible classes over the past five years. Some students leave you with glowing feelings and some just aren't around anymore. Sometimes you struggle to recall much interaction but sometimes you can recite incidents word-for-word. Those become classroom stories.

I was standing outside the business office one afternoon when Patricia was a junior. I couldn't help but overhear Patricia speaking to her mother over the school phone in Spanish. Although I am not bilingual, I could tell it wasn't going well. Suddenly, Patricia switched from Espanol to English and seemed to shift into a higher gear. I was intrigued so I waited until the conversation was over. Curious, I asked Patricia why the change from her native tongue to her secondary language in the middle of the mother-daughter dialogue. She giggled and explained.
"When I get mad at my mom, I start speaking in English because she can't keep up with me!"
We have a number of students at WCS whose English skills are far superior to their parents' and when I use the illustration of Patricia, I get some knowing nods and grins. In the ongoing push and pull between folks and kids, sometimes the younger generation has a secret weapon: fluency. In any culture, the offspring always angles for the tiniest advantage over Mom and Pop. What the child can understand perfectly, an adult may lack sufficient skills to interpret. Jesus commented that the comprehension of parables fell into the same category. While these short stories seem often simple and direct to our twenty-first century ears, Jesus said bluntly that some hearers would never understand. The Savior even went one step further and explained in Matthew 13 that was the reason his teaching took parable form, so some would get it and some would not. I take it he meant they could have understood but they opted not to make the effort. Believers have a fluency in understanding the teachings of the Lord that non-believers lack. Which brings us back to Patricia. I reminded her of that story Friday and she laughed. She also told me that ruse is getting increasingly hard to pull off; her mother's English has improved dramatically. Take heart, parents; there is hope!

Applicable quote of the day:
"When you grow up in a family of languages, you develop a kind of casual fluency, so that languages, though differently colored, all seem transparent to experience."
David Antin

God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1

The Time Of Our Life

 

The Time Of Our Life

Last  Saturday, as it is annually, might be the best night of the year. The following explains my logic, a line of reasoning I know many of you will undoubtedly share. It is from November 1, 2005.

This past Sunday was my favorite day of the year. Late every October, our government gives us a gift of one extra hour- we call it Daylight Savings Time. (Perhaps not coincidentally, the government takes it back in April which also happens to be when tax payments are due.) I love the free sixty minutes- it's like getting an extra 4% on your paycheck! But, I don't like Daylight Savings Time. For one thing, it confuses me. I can never figure this out: if it's 8:00 a.m. now, what time was it at this time last week? I also prefer it being dark when I arrive at school rather than when I leave school. There are rational reasons for the shift but I'd be OK with not messing around with the clock every six months.

Time is very difficult to explain. I challenge my students to define the term without using a form of measurement and they can't. The concept appears early in the Bible. In Genesis 1:5, the terms day, night, evening, and morning are introduced. In verse 14, we are told that the lights in the sky are there to "serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years." Throughout the Scriptures, God gives his people commands based on calendar dates. Obviously, time has been important to humans from the beginning, another time component. I don't wear a watch and I don't have a classroom clock yet my day is ruled by forty-six minute segments called class periods. A bell rings and twenty-four students leave, replaced by twenty-four more. Another bell rings and the process repeats. I'm comfortable with my teaching routine. In fact, when we have a special schedule due to an assembly or all-school chapel, my day has no smooth flow to it. Most people start their years in January but teachers mark theirs from August. We define the kids by time- age, grade, or how many years they have been with us. A school without time can't function. My brothers teach at a school that doesn't use bells- the teachers rely on their clocks. I would struggle with that. I need reminders. Maybe that's why the Lord gave us days and months, years and seasons, holidays and first days of the weeks. We are reminded of our blessings and with birthdays, the feeling that the sand is gushing through the hourglass.

When I taught high school Economics classes in Tennessee, Bill Bryson, my Equitable agent, would come speak about his profession. He would use mortality tables, showing the odds of an eighteen year old in Wilson County dying that year. The probabilty was that one of every thousand would die: not one of my students thought it would be themselves. Death is a disease of the old, or so we think as teens. Time doesn't get scarce until our seventies. Time is limitless so we waste it and the minutes we waste become the years we waste. But we find out- we don't get the misused moments back. Isaac Watts put it like this:
"Time like an ever- rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away,
They lie forgotten as a dream,
Dies at the opening day."
The last two lines get me. I dream every night but by the morning, they're swept from my mind. That was Watts' view of time- the blunt reality of its relentlessness and the fact that it stops for none of us, whether Supreme Court Justice or talk-show host. The only difference between we the living and the dead is that they beat us there. It's one victory our mortal bodies can never snatch from the jaws of defeat.  

I saw a piece on one of the morning shows this past weekend, surveying people on how they would spend their extra hour. Some said exercising, some mentioned partying, most opted for sleeping. No one mentioned praying or doing something to benefit someone else. I actually spent mine eating but it was for a good cause. A fellow teacher and I had driven almost 200 miles round trip for a spiritual retreat and we got in late without having eaten any supper so my sixty minutes were focused on a Red Baron pizza and two pints of Blue Bell Ice Cream (Tin Roof, Banana Split.) I still don't like Daylight Savings Time but we live with it. That's the point- when we have no more time, we have no more life. I heard a Christian who is scientist define eternity as the absence of time so when we have no more time, our eternity has begun. A quote I used with my high school basketball teams went like this:
"If you had five minutes to live, who would you call-and what would you say-AND WHY ARE YOU WAITING?"
Whether we're on Eastern, Central, Mountain, or Pacific Standard Time, we are on the same clock...and it's ticking away for all of us. Don't run out of time before you run out of life because if you are reading this, you still have hope. I'll leave a very serious topic on a light note with my favorite quote on the subject:
"I've been on calendars but I've never been on time."
Marilyn Monroe

God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1

The Man Who Walks With A Walker

 

The Man Who Walks With A Walker

Frank is now in a facility better equipped for his needs. This is from July 4, 2014.

My next door neighbor's name is Frank. He moved in several months ago, replacing my long-time neighbors, the Reeds. I miss the Reeds- they picked up my mail for me during all my mission trips and drives to Kansas for Thanksgiving and Christmas, a big deal in my book! Frank is a very nice man, very much the gentleman. I can always hear him coming down the hall- he uses a walker which makes a little noise- and he often coughs loudly enough for me to hear him through the apartment walls. We've introduced ourselves but you don't see folks much in an apartment complex. There's no sitting on the porch or waving to the folks next door as they check their mailbox and you mow the grass, like we did in York, Nebraska in the summertime. Friendliness passes for friendship when your address is an apartment.

Yesterday morning, I was coming back home from working out and my return coincided with Frank's leaving. We exchanged pleasantries as he locked his door. I told him I was going to be out of the country for close to a month in Vietnam- he asked where and I told him, Can Tho, working with a church for a fourth consecutive summer. Frank asked if had ever visited a village I had never heard of. He told me it was north of Saigon. Innocently and without thinking, I asked Frank if he had ever been to Vietnam. I doubt I will ever forget his simple reply:
"That's why I have this walker."
So now I know why I can always hear Frank every time when he travels down our hall, and maybe even why he coughs constantly. Our journeys in life led both of us through Vietnam at least forty years apart. I've gone voluntarily. I don't know if Frank enlisted or was drafted- it doesn't matter. He served. Both of us came back changed; Frank physically, at least, and I would guess on a much deeper level in the manner maybe only combat veterans can perceive. My change is less obvious but I hope in some way as profound to my existence. You and I, we owe guys like Frank, those who came back and those who didn't. And so on this 238th birthday of our great nation, I just have one thing to say to Frank and his brothers and sisters in arms. Thank you.

Applicable quote of the day:
"Our veterans accepted the responsibility to defend America and uphold our values when duty called."

Bill Shuster

God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1

A Tale Of Two Summers

 

A Tale Of Two Summers

Some people are famous and some are infamous. Some simply are themselves and make a difference in a quiet manner with little fanfare. The following entry has some of both. It originally ran on August 1, 2006.

Four decades ago, Charles Whitman's name was added to the history books. On August 1, 1966, the twenty-five year old ex-Marine and Eagle Scout barricaded himself in the Texas Tower on the University of Texas campus in Austin. Perched high above the city and with a sniper's vantage point, Whitman picked off unsuspecting victims for roughly ninety minutes before being shot to death by several police officers. The death count at the conclusion of his rampage was fifteen, including his wife and mother who were killed earlier the same day. Thirty others were wounded. One of Whitman's targets died about five years ago. A rifle shot had destroyed his kidney, leaving him to survive for more than thirty years on dialysis. Weary of the toll the procedure was taking, David Gunby stopped his treatment and passed away in a matter of days. It is amazing to watch film clips and witness the change in television over the years, both in the camerawork and the methods of reporting. Charles Whitman, in some measure, was a precursor to the tragedy that would be Columbine. Back then, our society was more innocent and susceptible to shock. Charles Whitman helped pull back the curtain to provide a morbid glimpse into a culture swirling toward a violent future.

Let me tell you another Texas story. In the July 20 web version of The Observer, a community paper in Kingwood, we find the account of Beth Grimnes. A twenty year old life guard at a community pool, Beth resuscitated a ten year old boy who come into contact with a high voltage of electricity, jolting him into cardiac arrest. Beth, who had never even had to attempt to rescue a swimmer in her five years, performed CPR and mouth to mouth, reviving the boy and delivering him alive to the paramedics. The young man's mother credits Beth with saving her child's life and giving proper credit, proclaimed "God used her in a major way." Beth Grimnes- life saver and hero. This is one of those 'rest of the story' stories. You see, Beth Grimnes is one of my former students. In the 1999-2000 term, Beth was in my eighth grade Bible class. What an absolute jewel of a girl. Once she was helping me with an errand before first period and I introduced her to our secretary as, "my assistant, The Lovely Beth Grimnes." I started calling her LBG for short, a nickname she loved. Beth's younger sister, Katie, got mad because Beth would never tell her what the initials stood for. Katie also asked if I would give her a nickname, a request I never got around to fulfilling. The Grimnes family moved to the other side of Houston after Beth's eighth grade year and that's how she ended up in Kingwood, Texas on the afternoon of June 14, 2006. The family of Zachary Ives believes the Lord arranged for The Lovely Beth Grimnes to be sitting on the life guard chair that day. I would never argue with them.

There you have it, the tale of two Texans separated by forty years and radically different conclusions. One is infamous while the other will be remembered for all the right reasons. In Luke 6:9, Jesus was addressing a dispute over the Sabbath. The Savior asked a question that allowed only one correct reply: "Is it lawful to save life or to destroy life?" In the summer of 1966, Charles Whitman chose the latter. In the summer of 2006, Beth Grimnes opted for the former. And one ten year old boy will see his eleventh birthday because she did.

 Applicable quote of the day:
"We can't all be heroes because someone has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by."
Will Rogers

God bless,
Steve
Luke18:1