Warrior Wisdom

Counting on My Father - Donna Nelson

2016-10-27T17:42:00.000-04:00

Most of my childhood was spent on a 180-acre farm on top of a hill in upstate New York. My two sisters, mom, dad and I were city people by day, but at night and on weekends we were horse farmers.

Grateful for Our Heritage - by Dana James

2016-10-20T15:51:00.001-04:00

I recently thumbed through the Seven Rivers Christian School yearbook for 1999-2000, the year Seven Rivers graduated its first class.

Go West - by Shawn Hassen

2016-09-12T17:08:00.001-04:00

Horace Greely is credited (right or wrong) with coining the 1850s Manifest Destiny mantra, “Go west, young man, go west.” For entirely different reasons than he may have intended, he was right.

Finding Dory and Finding God - Brandon Laurenzon

2016-08-26T15:58:00.001-04:00

“…that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us…” –Acts 17:27

“For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.” –Romans 1:19-20

This summer our family went to see the newest Pixar movie, Finding Dory. Being the follow-up to the classic, Finding Nemo, it had much to live up to, and unlike most sequels, it did not disappoint. The film was packed with emotion, action, and the perfect blend of interesting new characters and familiar favorites. Former NC State basketball coach Jim Valvano once said, “If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that’s a full day. That’s a heck of a day.” When I left the theater after Finding Dory I had done all three; I had had a full day.

But of all the things I loved about Finding Dory, what I loved best was the story’s depiction of how many people actually find God. [Spoiler alert, stop reading now if you don’t want to ruin the ending!] In Dory’s quest to be reunited with her long-lost parents, near the end of the movie she appears to have exhausted all her possible avenues. Dejected and alone, she notices some sea shells lying neatly in a row. Suddenly, the words of her parents from her childhood come flooding back into her memory: “Just follow the shells. The shells will always lead you home.” The camera then zooms out to reveal the entire ocean floor covered in a meticulous web of shells, all leading to one central location. We come to find out that, unbeknownst to her, Dory’s parents had never stopped looking for her. In fact, they had gone out every day and left shells so that one day she might discover them, and find her way back home.

So how is Finding Doryan illustration about finding God? Well, sometimes people find God because he bursts into their lives like a flash of lightning (much like he did with Saul on the road to Damascus; see Acts 9). This kind of miraculous intervention is not unheard of. But perhaps more common, people find God because he has left signs all over his world, divine shells that he has carefully laid out to point lost children back to their heavenly Father. Saul, who became the Apostle Paul, commented on this dynamic taking place in Athens when he saw the people there had erected an altar “to an unknown god”. He declared to them, “God is not far from each one of us.” In other words, “just follow the shells – follow the signs in creation and in your hearts that tell you that there is a God who made everything you see.” And then Paul shares with them the most important information they need to know, he tells them the identity of the unknown God. He tells them about Jesus.

Do you know someone who appears to be far from God? Maybe you could find ways to show them how God is actually not far from them. Just like Dory suffered from short term memory loss, we too easily forget what God has plainly set before us. We need help in order to remember. Maybe you are the one who feels like Dory, lost in the vast ocean and without hope. The good news of the gospel is that your God has not stopped looking for you. In fact, he has given you the ultimate shell, the ultimate sign of his love, his one and only Son, Jesus Christ, who lived, died, and was resurrected for you. Follow him, and just like Dory you will discover the deepest longing of your soul. By God’s grace, this is what is taking place every day in the classrooms of Seven Rivers Christian School: lost Dory’s are finding their way back home to the Father.

A Summer of Fear - Winsome Arana

2016-08-19T09:12:00.000-04:00

Summer 2016 in the USA could be described as the Summer of Fear.

Fear of living in poor, crime ridden neighborhoods
Fear of having gun restrictions
Fear of not having gun restrictions
Fear of the Zika virus
Fear of immigrants, refugees and others who do not look like us
Fear of losing our economic standard of living
Fear of of Hilary Clinton becoming the next President
Fear of Donald Trump becoming the next President
Fear of letting go of our fears

In terms of fear of living in rough neighborhoods, I think about some of the workers we met on the Family Mission Trip to Montgomery, Alabama. Bryan Kelly and Kevin King are two of the full time workers in the Common Grounds Ministry who chose to leave their suburban life and move with their wives and children to live in ‘the hood’. They believed that they could better minister to the people living in Washington Park by living among them. Many lives have been changed through their adamant refusal to give in to the fear of living in a poor, drug infested community where the Love of God is so desperately needed.

Fear is to be actively fought against. It is not to be embraced with open arms and worn as a well-loved garment or a comfortable pair of shoes. The greatest fear I experienced in my sojourn on this earth so far, was the fear that my first daughter was going to die. The fear hit me like an atomic bomb after she had lain in a hospital bed in Canada for a week, drugged to relieve her joint pains; seeing one specialist after another and none being able to diagnose her condition. The fear was like a huge cobra, moving from my brain to every part of my body, crippling me and rendering me impotent….until I gave my daughter up to God. I thanked Him for allowing me to be her mother for over twenty years and released her back into His care. I resolved in my heart that if God decided to take my daughter, I would still praise Him. Then and only then was I able to exhale and to find the emotional strength to support her siblings and other family members who were besieged by the same ugly fear.

It is said that the opposite of fear is love- God’s pure, unconditional, boundless love for us. This love compels us to let go of the fears that dominate our lives and which sometimes drives the family of God apart.

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” 2 Timothy 1:7

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7. At this time, when various fears grip our country, it is a wonderful opportunity for us to allow the Love and Peace of God to shine through us, so that others may ask from whence springs our hope and we can joyfully share this Hope with them.

Panting for Streams of Water in the Hot Summer - Wendy Cash

2016-07-06T15:52:00.000-04:00

A beautiful verse in the bible is found in Psalm 42:1, "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you oh Lord." With this line, the psalmist gives us a picture of a thirsty creature, desperate to find a cool stream from which to drink. This is how his soul yearns for God.

This summer, Citrus County and the better part of the country has seen record-breaking heat. We are all yearning for fresh water daily, no doubt. Whether we realize it or not, we also yearn for the refreshing, satisfying, soul-quenching truth of the gospel. Next week at Seven Rivers Church, we are hosting Scott Sauls at our family bible conference that runs from the weekend worship service, Saturday at 6PM or Sunday at 10AM, through Wednesday. You can get more information here. In the meantime, check out this post from Scott's blog, God, People, Places, and Things.
Family, Beautiful Gift, Insufficient Savior.

Family is the chief biblical metaphor to describe how God relates to us. God is our Father and we are his children. Jesus is husband and we are his Bride, the Church. We are our Beloved’s, and our Beloved is ours, says Solomon’s Song. The marriage between a man and a woman, in the purest sense, is a pointer to and picture of the love between Christ and the Church. In our shared union with Christ, we are also sisters and brothers to each other.

At its best, the nuclear family can serve as a pointer to the love between God and his people.

But like any good and beautiful thing, when family becomes our ultimate thing, it does more damage than good. In the modern west, “family-centered” faith communities have been known to elevate the nuclear family as the apex of human existence. When this happens, it can lead to unanticipated wounds and alienation for those whose family narratives are broken ones.

For example, when on Mother’s Day a church centers its attention chiefly on mothers instead of Jesus, an unseen shame and sorrow can emerge for others who are present. As those whose “happy mother stories” are put front and center, as roses are handed out to some women but not all women, as those with more painful mother stories sit in observation, silent and often overlooked, as memories of an estranged mother/child relationship, a recent miscarriage, an infertility situation, what is intended as a celebration of some can become an unintended wound for others. Over the years as a pastor, many women have told me that they do not attend their churches on Mother’s Day for this very reason.

Because of this reality, churches should continue to honor and affirm the calling of motherhood on Mother’s Day, but should also thoughtfully and lovingly acknowledge the pain and sorrow of other people’s stories.

Just like any vocational calling, the calling of motherhood should be celebrated, but more care and sensitivity than what is sometimes the case in “family-centered” churches. This is not only for the good of those with sad family stories; it is also for those with happier ones. If we slip into thinking that the intact nuclear family is somehow the thing that “completes” our lives — and if having a happy nuclear family is presented, either explicitly or implicitly, as the Christian ideal — then everyone, including intact nuclear families, will miss out on God’s true ideal.

The nuclear family is a wonderful servant to God’s purposes. But like any created thing, it is a poor master and an even worse lord and savior.

When the nuclear family is treated as the end-all-be-all in churches, it tempts single men and women to believe that they will never be complete until they find that “special someone” to spend their lives with. But this is a lie. As my friend Paige Brown wrote during a time when she was single, wanted to be married, and had no marriage prospects — our marital status doesn’t give us our identity; our redemptive status does. According to Paige (and Scripture), it is impossible for God to shortchange any of his children. She goes on to say that if she meets the man of her dreams and lives happily ever after, it will be because God is so good to her. Similarly, if she never marries and dies “an old maid” in her nineties, it will be because God is so good to her. Do we believe this in our churches? What’s more, do we act like we believe it?

Rather than feed the false view that the single life is the unfulfilled life, the Church must renew its vision for singleness as a high and honored calling—one that was shared by the Apostle Paul and Jesus—that positions uncoupled men and women to serve God’s kingdom with unhindered focus, creativity and zeal.

It’s also helpful, if not essential, to realize that depending on the nuclear family more than we depend on Jesus for our identity diminishes family itself. Marriages often collapse not because husband and wife put too little stock in their marriage, but because they put too much stock in marriage — that is, they put Jesus beneath marriage in the hierarchy of their loves. But when we depend on marriage more than we depend on Jesus, irritation turns into hurt, then hurt turns into anger. Anger turns into a grudge, and a grudge turns into contempt. Contempt turns into refusal to forgive. Then someone moves to the guest bedroom or hires a lawyer, and nobody wins.

Aim first at Jesus, and you’ll get more fulfilling marriage thrown in. Aim first at fulfilling marriage, and you’ll get neither. It’s how the kingdom works. If I love Jesus more than I love my wife Patti, I will end up loving her more than I would if I put her above Jesus instead of beneath him.

When humble apologies, forgiveness, and new beginnings can no longer be found in a marriage, there’s usually something deeper going on. It usually means that one or both spouses are demanding that the other be a savior, a true north, an ultimate source of joy and fulfillment and meaning. But as millions have discovered, it’s always a disaster when one broken sinner demands that another broken sinner be their Jesus. Only Jesus can be the Spouse who will never let us down.

Treating the nuclear family as lord and savior, as the ultimate thing versus the good and beautiful thing that it is, also weakens parenting. The sometimes idolatrous, over-emphasis on children in the west has led many moms and dads to parent their children out of neediness instead of healthy love. I once heard a counselor say that parents abuse their children not because they love them too little, but because they love them too much.

If our “love” escalates into a demand that our children think, believe, achieve or behave in a certain way before we will approve of them, it is only a matter of time before we melt down and punish. This is what you call reversing the flow of the umbilical cord: Parents demanding that their children be their source of life; their emotional nourishment; their ultimate meaning in the universe…their Jesus. But this always ends in sorrow and alienation and loss. As in marriage, we must relieve children of the burden of providing for us things that only God can.

Scripture is quite clear that the nuclear family is a wonderful, yet temporary, entity. We raise children with the goal of releasing them as adults into the hands of God. Similarly, when Jesus returns, those of us who are married will release our spouses into his arms. From that point forward, there will be just one marriage—Jesus, the everlasting Bridegroom, and the Church, his everlasting Bride. In his kingdom, there will be no more marriage or giving in marriage…because we will be our Beloved’s, and our Beloved will be ours.

Similarly, there will be just one Father and Mother (God and the Church), and we will be his (and her) children.

Don’t let your earthly family become your Jesus.

Instead, let Jesus and his family become your family.

If you do, your earthly family will thank you for it.

One-Year-Olds Are Like Housecats - Wendy Cash

2016-06-09T16:27:00.002-04:00

I was watching one of those "Top 10..." shows on Animal Planet recently.

This one happened to be, "Top 10 Most Ruthless Animals In The World." Animals such as the Tasmanian Devil and the deadly puff adder made the list. But which animal won the notorious position of "Number 1 Most Ruthless Animal on the Planet"? The housecat. Yes, our furry feline friends are THE ONLY animals on the planet that kill purely for sport. Little Mittens doesn't need to kill to eat or survive, it just wants to toy with and then destroy creatures smaller than themselves.

Bronx and Angelina

Pink Puff of Perfection

Now I'd like to introduce you to sweet little Angelina. Angelina turns one today! Yesterday Angelina's mama, Erica, was telling me an all too familiar story of her beautiful, blue-eyed, baby girl driving her crazy just the other night. Among other things, Angelina was repeatedly hitting her dog, Bronx, on the nose. Like so many good dogs, Bronx took it like a trooper and let little Angelina delight in the ruthless torture. But lest Bronx have all the fun, Angelina, being all about equal opportunity, was also delighting in biting mom's arm, and then later opening and closing kitchen cupboards with great vigor and tenacity.

But cats are cute and fuzzy and occasionally cuddle with you, and one-year-olds are adorable and own your heart, so we deal with it. It always tickles me when anyone says that human beings are inherently good - they're just corrupted by the world around them. Well, any of us that have raised children or worked in the one-year-old room in a daycare know better. What makes that age difficult is the combination of absolute self-absorption, an absolute desire to dominate any given situation, a complete lack of empathy or compassion, and the inability to understand reason or logic. You know - like cats. Angelina's mama is introducing those things we introduce around that age - the word "no." Frowny facial expressions. Change in tone of voice. This marks the beginning of Angelina learning to NOT be like a house cat. The great thing is, as she gets older, she increases her comprehension of right and wrong, compassion, empathy for others around her, and receives discipline. Angelina will be less and less like Mittens! Isn't that wonderful? Mom and Dad are embarking on what will be many years of shaping, molding, and disciplining their little girl. Because they love her. And they want her to resemble a human. So good luck Mom and Dad, keep fighting the good fight! The terrible-twos will be here before you know it. .

Unplugged Summer - Wendy Cash

2016-05-13T13:29:00.001-04:00

What's your favorite memory of summertime? Warm sun. Long shadows. The ice-cream truck. Endless bike rides. Swimming. Running around the neighborhood. Grilling hotdogs. Movies. These are some of my favorite memories. I bet we share a lot of the same ideas on what constitutes a summer well lived. I also bet our ideas of an all-out summer don't exactly include hours of video games and binge tv watching. Those days are mixed in there - the rainy days when we can't go outside. But summer is about the warm flush of sun-kissed cheeks and shoulders from playing outside and building forts, and climbing trees, and swimming wherever we can find water. It's melting, drippy snow cones, and making up games with our siblings and friends in which establishing the rules takes all day and by the time you get it worked out it's time to go home. Oh and sleeping in! Ah yes, summer is sleeping in, and cartoons on Saturday morning with a pop tart and some chocolate milk. And not taking an official bath because you're going swimming in the springs later after you fish a little while!

There is something about remembering days of good, hard play that brings a smile to our face. A long day of activity brings a level of satiety and fullness to our soul like nothing else can. We still feel it at times as grown-ups. When we golf 18 holes, hike or kayak for several hours, or go hunting, we feel it. You know the great feeling of scalloping in the summer? You swim and swim and find one little mollusk at a time and after four hours you've gathered enough to scrape out a few little succulent morsels of perfection to make an appetizer for your family of four. But it feels good. Your soul is full.

If you have children or grandchildren with you this summer, I want to encourage you to provide a full, soul-filling summer for those children. I realize that can be challenging when children are accustomed to electronics and tech gadgets. But their brains need a reprieve from that and their bodies need the re-awakening of activity. Feet need to feel sand and hands need to feel mud. Eyes need a respite from the virtual world and need to refocus on the real world and the real people around them. We could all use a little help to offer our children and grandchildren an unplugged summer. Seven Rivers Church and School are offering a summer full of healthy, active goodness for your children. Give them an unplugged summer like they've never had before. Give them a summer like you remember. Give them something that will warm their memories years from now.

Seven Rivers Presbyterian Church is offering 7 weeks of summer camp fun for children entering Kindergarten-5^th grade. May 31-July 15^th

Call 746-6200 or visit http://sevenrivers.org/campsevenrivers.html

Seven Rivers Christian School is offering the following camps:

Youth Spirit Camp, May 24-27

Youth Soccer Camp, June 6-24 Y

Youth Basketball Camp, July 18-22

Youth Volleyball Camp, July 26-29

Youth Football Camp, July 25^th-30^th

^{Youth Theater Camp, July 18-22, 25-29}

Call 746-5696 or visit http://sevenriverscs.org/program_overview.aspx

Built on Relationships - Wendy Cash

2016-04-21T09:33:00.000-04:00

Relationships matter. Most people believe that. But it has actually been studied for 75 years by

Harvard researchers. It's known as the 75 Year Harvard Happiness Study. Among several findings in observing lots of people over lots of time, is that relationships matter - specifically loving relationships. Having healthy relationships at home, work, and in your free time not only makes one happier, but actually reduces health issues, lowers stress, and can increase longevity. Now this isn't really new news, is it?! The words "partnership with families," "create healthy families," and "bring joy and peace of the gospel to a broken world" have been part of our mission and vision statements for five years. One of the Core Values of Seven Rivers Church - Redemptive Community - where Seven Rivers Church seeks to be a place of "unusual devotion to one another"- has been a core value for even longer! Where did we come up with the notion that the work of the church and school rests upon and leads to meaningful relationships? It's the gospel of Christ. Consider these examples from the Word:

Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2

Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Ecclesiastes 4:9

Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality." Romans 12:9-13

Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace. 1 Peter 4:8-9

Our most recent video highlights our conviction that an excellent educational experience is gained through building relationships with our students. We are so grateful for the opportunity to walk alongside our parents in enjoying community with our kids. We are blessed, and we know it!

Build Your Child's Christ Community - Shawn Allen and Wendy Cash

2016-02-22T14:39:00.002-05:00

Redemptive Community: In a world of disconnection, Seven Rivers seeks to be a place of unusual devotion to one another. (SRPC Core Value)
partnership with parents. (SRCS mission statement)
Invest in Relationships. (SRCS student core value)

Seven Rivers Church and School know that our lives were meant to be lived together, intertwined and woven within and among one another. God made us to thrive, not alone, but in relationship with each other. We learn from one another, protect each other, laugh together, and like Hebrews 10:25 tells us, we "stir one another up to love and good works,...encouraging one another..."

Shawn Allen class of 2002

This is why, here at Seven Rivers, it is so important to us to teach your children that all of life is best done together. I was reminded recently of a very big reason why we cannot survive without our Christ Community. a son of Seven Rivers, alumni Shawn Allen, and his wife Mary-Margaret recently suffered a devastating tragedy. They lost their first little baby just days before birth.
I was reading Shawn's posts as he allowed his readers to walk alongside him in the midst of this suffering. One particular post detailed the amazing love and grace that was poured out upon them by family, friends, and the church. Christ showed up in their darkest hour through the tangible love of their Christ Community.

Shawn's parents, Denny and Sherry Allen, steeped their children in Christ's Community from the very beginning through making God the head of their home, church, children's church, youth group, Christian School, and regular doses of God's amazing grace and the gospel. You see, Sherry and Denny knew that a Christ Community was essential for the souls of their children - not only for learning, laughing, and joy, but especially for those inevitable future moments of suffering and tragedy that would attempt to destroy their children. Sherry and Denny girded little, growing Shawn with the only thing that could pick him up after the most excruciating trial. Shawn was raised to know that he needs Jesus desperately, and that only Christ can heal the wounded heart and bind up wounds.

Shawn and Mary Margaret Allen

Take time to read Shawn's blog. And ask yourself if you are building your children's Christ Community. Today they fall and scrape their knee, someone hurts their feelings, or they get benched for the whole game. One day, they will face far worse pain. Undergird them with a Christ Community - it will be one of the most loving things you could ever do.

Shawn's Blog Post - "Thank You"

Looking back: When you thought you knew the meaning of Christmas - Michelle Howard

2016-01-11T13:35:00.000-05:00

I always told my kids, "Christmas is for Jesus, it’s about His birth and our salvation through Him." They never doubted for a minute the meaning of Christmas. My youngest is just starting to realize and recognize the reason we celebrate.

But I honestly had no clue about Jesus and his love for me until it was displayed to me and my family this year. It has truly taught me, the real meaning of Christmas and Christ's love.

Michelle looking at books with her PK students.

December was a hard month for us. My husband’s hours are low so I make up a part of the income we need for the winter months. But sometimes, the unexpected happens. An emergency appendectomy had me out of work for a week, the most crucial week of Christmas holiday shopping. It was the only paycheck I would be able to afford Christmas for my children.

I found myself not even able to afford groceries.

It was the most horrible place. It brought back memories of a time when my husband and I were not so smart with finances and had to rely on others for our well-being. Here we were again.

Recess with Miss Michelle

This is my first year as a teacher’s aide in the Seven Rivers Preschool. This school is my home; my colleagues are my family. The students’ families are my family. They cooked every night for my family during my recovery. They gathered a fund for my groceries (without even knowing I needed it!) They made sure my children would have Christmas gifts. They knew my struggle, and helped me every step of the way. They are truly angels. Seven Rivers Christian School has been a blessing to our family. Daily, as I walk the sidewalks, I feel as though our community is a portrait of God’s love, His grace, His giving. It’s not just a school. Its life together, every step of the way.

Acts 20:35 "In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, 'It is more blessed to give then to receive.'”

Galatians 6:2 "Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ."

To witness the bible being portrayed through my very eyes has been the ultimate Christmas and picture of what Christmas and Christ's coming are truly about.

Seven Rivers Christian School: #LifeTogether

The Best Gift You Can Give Your Child - Wendy Cash

2015-12-17T14:11:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, one of our pastors preached a sermon called "Furnace Faith". It was based on the passage in Daniel 3:14-29 in which King Nebuchadnezzar throws Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into a fiery furnace for not bowing to a false god. The men survived the furnace because God entered the furnace with them.

The bible is full of stories in which a struggle, difficulty, or pain is not taken away. In the Old Testament the Israelites do not see the Promised Land immediately upon leaving Egypt. It is 40 years later. Job suffers many, immense trials. In the New Testament the apostle Paul talks of a "thorn in the flesh" that he asks God several times to remove, yet it remains. Jesus, in the Garden of Gethsemane, asks His Father if "this cup may pass" from him. It did not.

In our lives we pray for physical, emotional, and spiritual suffering to end, and fast. Sometimes God does grant us immediate relief, but often the struggle remains. The Young's, a family here at Seven Rivers, recently went through the fire. Their youngest child, Maverick became very sick, in great pain, and lethargic. He was taken to the local hospital and transferred to All Children's Hospital in Tampa. Through exploratory surgery they found that Maverick's stomach had separated from his abdominal wall and bile and fluids were leaking into his stomach cavity causing severe, pain, inflammation, and infection. The doctors made the repairs, but little Maverick continued to have pain and fever. Over the 18 days he spent in the hospital, Maverick had good, and very, very bad days. There were moments his family and extended family were pleading with God on his behalf. It looked bleak. Little Maverick and the Young family were walking through the fire. What they experienced through this hell, was visits from heaven. Family members, friends, and church family were visiting Maverick and his parents, bringing comfort, joy and peace. At one point Mavericks' mom, Dante, writes, "It may be sleep deprivation or stress or just that I have amazing friends that love my family so much, but I am overwhelmed with emotion right now. The love and care that Robb and I have been shown in the last 36 hours is breathtaking!" It wasn't sleep deprivation. There was someone else with them in that hospital room. Mama, Daddy, and Baby were in the fire, yet there was a fourth. Our precious Savior was with them the entire time. His Holy Spirit never left them. Friends and family - ambassadors of Heaven - visited and prayed and wept. Maverick pulled through and healed. It was a great day when he was released from the hospital.

Thankfully, our children don't typically struggle through such precarious situations. We live in a peaceful town, attend a great school, eat healthy food and drink clean water. We are blessed. We do encounter suffering, however. Divorce, separation from loved ones, sickness, chronic illness, relational conflict. As long as we live on this earth, there will be fires to walk through that will not be taken away. The most important gift you can give your child is the truth that they never walk alone. Yes, there are or will be trials and sufferings, but God has promised to walk with us and never leave us. Teach this to your children now, so when they walk through a Maverick-sized fire, they'll know they're not alone.

"Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine! When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, Nor will the flame burn you. For I am the LORD your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior." Isaiah 43:1-3

The Little Things are the Big Things: Teaching your Children to Pray Specifically - Wendy Cash

2015-11-24T13:41:00.000-05:00

Last Sunday I had the joy of watching Thornton Wilder's Our Town performed by The Seven Rivers Players drama club. The poignant story, told in three acts, gives us a peek into the lives of two families in a small town. Daily Life. Love. Marriage. Death. The gripping third act compels the audience to think about the little things in life, "clocks ticking... and Mama's sunflowers. And food and coffee. And new-ironed dresses and hot baths...and sleeping and waking up."

These little seemingly innocuous moments were things the character Emily missed the very most looking back from the grave. Interestingly enough, when my son comes home from school, it's the little things he can't wait to be a part of - breakfast with the family, talking in the kitchen, laying on the old, soft couch while we watch movies. When I go to visit my sister in Indiana, it's the swing out in the yard, the little tiny bathroom that's always so spotless clean, and pulling chairs from all over the house to squeeze in the kitchen at meal time that I most look forward to. The little things are the big things. So that being said, let's teach our kids to specifically thank God for the little things.

Start with a conversation before prayer time. Tell your child something specific about your day that was a blessing to you. "My friend made me laugh so hard today," or, "I saw a bluebird, my favorite bird, on the way to work," or perhaps, "Mom fixed chili for supper and I love her chili!" Then help your child think of specific moments of their day that were meaningful to them. Then pray a prayer of thanksgiving for these very specific things, "Dear Father, thank you for my friend that makes me laugh..." Get in the habit along with your child of acknowledging that these simple little moments are God's gifts for us. Specific prayer not only keeps us from rote, meaningless, ritual praying, it also keeps us from making our prayers only about lists of needs and wants. They are reminders that, amid hurts, sorrow, and struggles, life is made up of lots of little, wonderful, beautiful echoes of eternity given to us by our heavenly Father who loves us.

A Beacon of Light - Colleen Bennett

2015-11-03T15:20:00.000-05:00

It was 3:30 p.m., and all I wanted to do was bang my head against a desk.

For weeks in my AP English class, we had been discussing argumentative writing, and I didn't seem to be making any headway. I was desperately behind on curriculum because getting my students to complete homework seemed less likely than Houdini escaping from one of his elaborate traps. My students didn't see the value of doing the hard work to become good communicators, and they certainly didn't see the beauty in the study of literature.

See, I was working at one of the toughest public high schools in the state of Florida. And while national Title I funding was abundant and local sales taxes gave us quite a bit of money to invest in one-to-one technology in the classroom, none of that seemed to make a bit of difference.

What I didn't realize then was that I couldn't stand up in the center of the classroom and talk about how valuable it is to be challenged without students first understanding that they were created by the Almighty God to live significant lives, to advance his kingdom. Without being able to place God at the center of my classroom, I was going to be lost on how to transform my students' academic thinking and behaviors.

That's why Seven Rivers Christian School is such a beacon of light in our broken world.

Here, the basis for all our instruction is giving our students a grasp of who God is and who we are in relation to Him. The very essence of who we are rests on our imparting to students that all knowledge comes from our Creator who loves us. Learning is otherwise empty without understanding that God is the source of all truth.

Family Dinner Night

I sat surrounded by more than 500 other SRCS family members in the sanctuary during our family dinner night Friday, Oct. 16 who felt similarly. Watching adults grasp the value of this place is certainly amazing, but in many ways, it was more moving to have heard from some of the upper school students as they discussed the impact that this place has had on them. A few students, overcome with emotion, talked about how they couldn't envision their lives without SRCS.

Adults around the room wiped away tears while simultaneously filling out pledge cards in response to our students' words. It was astounding to see so many called to give such heartfelt gifts to our school.

And that's when it hit me.

Yes, SRCS is beautiful for all the reasons listed above. But perhaps the beauty of this place can be found most tellingly in the coming together of so many families to support this ministry.

How remarkable it is to watch God at work in our midst.

SRCS families enjoying chicken dinners

Make-Believe and Fairy Tales by Wendy Cash

2015-09-27T20:24:00.000-04:00

“When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty, I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.”

– C.S. Lewis

Mr. Tumnus and Lucy in Narnia

When I was a little girl, playing make-believe was my favorite thing. On the school's playground or in a friend's backyard, "Let's play pretend!" was the exclamation most heard. Being a mama to my baby dolls, making mud pies, and playing Little House on the Prairie were the best. I would pretend that my stuffed animals were my students when I played teacher, and they would come alive and play when I was asleep or out of the room. As an adult, when I saw this make-believe portrayed in the Toy Story movie series, I thought, "I'm not the only one!" As I got older, my love of make-believe translated into wonderful fictional tales of fairies, giants, princesses, witches, and all sorts of magic. Tales of Narnia, Middle-Earth, and Madeleine L'Engle's amazing tale, A Wrinkle in Time, took me away to fantastical worlds.

Every once in a while, naysayers of make-believe will rise up and tout the negative effects of allowing children to wander in wonder. Last year, it was prominent atheist Richard Dawkins, who exclaimed at a Science Festival in England that “I think it's rather pernicious to inculcate into a child a view of the world which includes supernaturalism – we get enough of that anyway. Even fairy tales, the ones we all love, with wizards or princesses turning into frogs or whatever it was. There’s a very interesting reason why a prince could not turn into a frog – it's statistically too improbable” (Knapton). Poor Richard.

Gandalf in the Shire. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

We as former children and now parents need not have a reason to allow our children to engage in make-believe and read fairy tales. However, there is great research that points to a correlation between make believe and brain function. Executive function, those things that allow people to think and process properly, are developed and strengthened by make-believe. Staying focused, planning, organizing, and following through are all developed in the world of pretend (Spiegel) . And I don't mean "virtual" make-believe. I mean picking up sticks, calling them swords, and rescuing the town from dragons! It's carrying the teddy bear and doll outside to cook up a feast in the mud puddle. Pretend play also helps children with self-regulation, reduced aggression, and empathy (Kauffmann).

From a theological point of view, fairy tales help us understand the real world, Good versus Evil, and actually tackle the very big "meaning of life" questions (Stone). In CS Lewis' In Defense of the Fairy Tale,he says that "fairy tales provide a context for the unknown, and for our limited minds, the unbelievable" (Rigney). Fairy tales and make believe cannot only help us grasp the good and evil of this world, but actually give us a glimpse into the eternal world that our limited minds can barely comprehend.

So as parents, let's enter the magical forest with our children, pretend to have super powers, and pick up a fantastical story together. In so doing, we build our brains, comprehend this world, and catch a glimmer of the wonder of the world to come.

Rigney, Joe. "Three Objections to Fairy Tales and C. S. Lewis's Response." Desiring

God. n.p. July 6, 2011. Web. 25 sept. 2015

Stone, Rachel Marie. "Richard Dawkins Has Reason to Fear the Fairy Tale." Christianity

Today. n.p. June 2014. Web. 25 Sept. 2015

Kauffmann, Scott Barry. "The Need For Pretend Play in Child Development."

Psychology Today. March 6, 2012. Web. 25 Sept., 2015

Spiegel, Alix. "Old-Fashioned Play Builds Serious Skills." NPR. February 21, 2008.

Web. 25 Sept. 2015

Knapton, Sarah. "Reading Fairy Stories to children is harmful, says Richard Dawkins."

The Telegraph. June 4, 2014. Web. 25 Sept. 2015

Teachability--the Key to Lifelong Learning by Shawn Hassen

2015-09-04T15:30:00.003-04:00

Questions about the syllabus are common on the first day of class. What is your policy on late work? Which type of notebook should I purchase? Less common--and quite exhilarating--is the question, "What can I personally do to succeed in this class? How can I learn better?" Thatis a great question.

Nearly three decades of teaching and observing humanity--and experiencing my own sin--have taught me that learning is both physiological and spiritual. Assuredly, the human brain is one of God's most brilliant, complex creations that science has only begun to tap. Aside from the fascinating cognitive function of the brain, however, learning is also a function of the heart--of our personalities, of our attitudes, of our fears, and of our faith.

Fear and lack of faith--or trust in this case--are among the greatest impediments to learning, and they both culminate in one paralyzing personality trait. Arrogance.

Most people fear failure. If the fear is deep enough, however, people find themselves fearing confusion and, by its very nature, the actual learning process, itself (which ironically must include confusion and failure). Certainly not all--but many--people manage their fear by inadvertently defending themselves in a desperate attempt to have all the right answers at all the right times. This determination to be right, to have all the answers, to avoid confusion at all costs, to refuse to ask questions and seek answers destroys our teachability. If we are convinced that we know how to do it already, we are barely listening. We certainly are not listening carefully. And we won't be caught dead asking for clarification.

Not only does arrogance reinforce this unhealthy need for control, but it is also connected to our trust. Arrogance is born out of a fear that will quickly give rise to distrust. "I must be correct, and I must have all the answers. Therefore, if your teaching counters my immediate understanding, then your information must not be trustworthy. Thanks, but no thanks. I've got this."

The key to learning and, arguably, to enjoying God's creation forever is replacing our own arrogant tendencies with an openness to the wisdom of others. Confusion, questions, mistakes--and the people God places in our lives to influence us and teach us--are all a beautiful process of learning. May God continually soften my heart so that I can spend a lifetime learning and growing with passion and with joy.

Grade Weighting - Dana James

2015-08-17T10:38:00.003-04:00

I have taught mathematics for 34 years, and I have a very simple understanding in my class: in order for a student to earn a 100 average for the course, he/she must make a grade of 100 on every single test, which further means that he/she cannot miss a single problem on those tests. Anything less than that standard doesn’t reflect 100%. Simple, right? Well, not in today's world.

I recently saw a list of high school GPAs that ranged from 4.39 to 5.12. Since an "A" in a class is worth 4 points, you might wonder how a student could achieve a GPA higher than 4.0. Well, it happens because of grade weighting. Grade weighting started in the 80's to encourage students to take challenging Advanced Placement classes. Some students were reluctant to take AP classes because they feared it would negatively impact their GPA, which they believed would then negatively impact their chances of college admission or scholarships.

At first, grade weighting was modest. The typical AP class would be worth half a point more in the GPA calculation, so a "B" was worth 3.5 points and an "A" was worth 4.5 points. However, as schools added Honors classes, Dual Enrollment classes, and International Baccalaureate programs, grade weighting grew and changed. Today, a GPA of 4.0 is no longer considered exemplary since in certain classes an "A" can be worth as much as 6 points. As you might imagine, this has skewed and muddied the meaning of a GPA.

Let me share a few truths. Most colleges recalculate GPAs for every student applying for admission. Colleges recognized long ago that the high school GPAs being reported were only useful in comparing students within a given high school. GPAs lose relevance when comparing students across different schools. In order for colleges to compare students across the state or nation, they needed to establish their own criteria and recalculate accordingly. Students are then compared to each other based on the college’s criteria, not their high school's criteria.

Also, unknown to most people, many colleges track student college grades and college graduation rates by high school. For example, if students routinely come in with high averages from ABC High School and then don’t perform well at a given college, that reflects poorly on ABC High School. It calls into question the validity or relevance of GPAs from that school. The reverse is also true. Your high school's reputation, based on the performance of its graduates, can be a prime consideration when colleges are evaluating applicants.

The most competitive colleges require a high school recommendation. Among the things they ask is a very simple question: "Has this student taken the most difficult course of study offered at your school?" It turns out college success is tied more closely to a student's willingness take challenging courses than it is to a high GPA. Great colleges are looking for students who are willing to take on a challenge, not students who are just padding statistics.

There is merit to weighting grades as a way of rewarding students for taking harder classes, but when we keep raising the weights for various course options, how does one even know how to interpret the GPA numbers that result? It was much easier, and I would argue more meaningful, when a 4.0 meant straight A’s. Ideally, education should be about the acquisition of knowledge, the development of thinking skills, and growth as a problem solver. We encourage students at Seven Rivers to take challenging courses in pursuit of those ideals and to put their GPA in perspective. We tell students not to avoid a hard, but beneficial, class because it may lower their GPA, but we also discourage taking classes to inflate their GPA simply for the purpose of positioning or ranking.

I started this article by saying that I give a 100 average in a class only if it is truly earned. You might wonder if that has ever happened. Yes it did, once. The student's name was Tyler, and he went an entire school year in a Precalculus class without getting a single test problem wrong. As the year progressed for him, the tension and the pressure mounted. One day, it took Tyler three hours to complete a test because he knew he was heading in the wrong direction and stayed with it until he figured it out. As the end of the year approached, Tyler's classmates were just as interested in his grade as they were in their own. His classmates broke out in applause when he scored a 100 on his final test. He received a standing ovation at the school's Honors Night when I shared his accomplishment with the parent body. What Tyler did was truly exceptional. I did not curve his grade, give him extra credit, or let him retake a test. It was hisaccomplishment. Tyler would go on to attend Georgia Tech, graduate with honors, and secure a job as a computer programmer. He will still tell you that accomplishment in Precalculus remains one of his joys.

True success does not need to be weighted or skewed. It happens when grit and perseverance meet opportunity.

Seven Reasons not to go on an International Mission Trip - Leah Falciola

2015-05-07T09:44:00.000-04:00

There was blood everywhere. I was cradling the young girl’s head, trying to talk to her and keep her calm, simultaneously asking myself how in the world I got here- to the other side of the world, to this moment where time mattered more than I knew. It was my first day in Africa. A few hours before, I had landed in South Africa, met a pastor there, and listened to him tell me on the ride to his house just how dangerous it was in this particular city. He gave me instructions on what to do if someone came up to us with a gun, explaining that he didn’t want to scare me, but he wanted me to be prepared. When we got to his house, all I wanted to do was to sleep, but the pastor and his daughter explained why it was better for me to stay up to beat the jetlag, and took me out to see their newest church building as a way to help.

“We are not in the greatest section of town,” the pastor informed me, “so we are going to stay in the car and just view the church from here.” It was when we were rounding a corner after leaving the church that it happened. As we were turning, I noticed a girl in a school uniform walking on the side of the road, and I also noted another vehicle traveling way too quickly towards us and her. I watched in horror as the vehicle struck her and sent her flying onto the grass.

I don’t remember the moments between our car and the grass, but we were all there at her side in a few seconds. The pastor was calling the emergency services, and his daughter and I were attending to the girl. Meanwhile, I realized that the woman who had accidentally hit the girl was a police woman herself, but she was too distraught to offer any help- -she was on the grass too, wailing. The victim, in contrast, was barely moaning, but was muttering something about her cell phone. I remembered then that she had been on the phone when she was hit, and I told the pastor to look in the grass for it so we could see if we could use it to contact a relative.

We were able to find it and call her father, who eventually came, but showed no emotion for his daughter who was in my arms, bleeding from her head and face. The ambulance never came, or we decided that it would be foolhardy to wait for it. It shocked me, but the girl’s father agreed to let us, perfect strangers, take his daughter to the hospital. I had never seen a pastor operate a car like a NASCAR driver before. I didn’t have that much time to gawk, though, because the hurt girl had revived a bit by this point and was talking to us. I will never forget her apologizing to us that she couldn’t see us through the blood that was now covering her eyes. We were trying to wipe it off, but kept reassuring her that she didn’t have to worry about trying to see us, though she kept saying that she wanted to be able to see the people who had helped her. We persisted in asking her questions to keep her awake, and we quickly came to love her as she told us about her family, her favorite subjects at school, and her aspirations for the future. She was only around 15. At that point in my life, I was working as a cognitive therapist and clinical coordinator for individuals who had sustained brain injuries, so I was just praying that her dreams would not be rudely halted and altered by a brain injury.

Once we got her to the hospital, she was whisked away by the doctors to the ER room, and I never saw her again. Her father came soon afterwards, and he insisted that he could take over from that point. The doctors had assured us that they thought the girl would be alright, but my heart hurt for a long time, not knowing for sure what ultimately happened to her. South Africa was just my stop off point for a night before I flew to Zambia, my final destination. My mission trip to Africa hadn’t really even started yet.

**********************************************************************

Fast forward to 2015.This March had me thinking about missions and mission trips. Our SRCS seniors embarked on their trip to Tuscaloosa, Alabama to help build houses with Habitat for Humanity, and came back with stories of how this trip seemed like the culmination of their education. Meanwhile, the 8^th graders were setting out on a service journey of their own. At the beginning of the month, they held a bake sale in order to benefit their newly formed, Warrior Water Fund in partnership with Water for South Sudan, and they reaped the benefits of hard work in the form of almost $1,000 earned in only week. I was so incredibly proud of them. Concurrently, a missionary friend of mine asked me again to come to Honduras this summer to help minister to the underprivileged children of the school and community he serves there. All these things set my mind percolating over these two questions: why do we go on mission trips-especially international ones- and are our reasons good enough?

Since I was in college, I have been on a good number of trips to give me fodder for thought. Besides Africa, I have been privileged to serve in short-term mission trips to the Philippines and the Ukraine. I wrote down some of my thoughts on the subject of international, short-term mission trips, and then I contacted a few people whom I respect to add some of their own. It was interesting to see how much of what they said corresponded to what I had already written down. This is what we came up with.

Seven Reasons not to go on an International Mission Trip

Don’t go for an “exotic vacation.” If you are just itching for an international vacation, then invest in a good travel agent and by all means, go on vacation. There is nothing wrong with that. If a cheaper option of adventure and escape is what you are looking for, then as my pastor, Marty Hoffman put it, “Stay home and watch the Travel channel instead.”
Don’t go to be a hero. Let God, the Author of all missions, be the hero. After that, make sure to highlight the work of the local missionaries. They are the ones who are there day in and day out. Support them; don’t overshadow them. My church’s missionary to Peru, Larry Secrest, explained it this way, “…Make the short-term team an extension of the ongoing work of the national church so that it is not viewed as a North American intrusion. The short-term team needs to have the goal of learning from the nationals with whom they will be working and not to enter the country with an attitude of superiority.”
If you don’t have a specific skill or service to offer, don’t go. As my pastor said, “Make sure there is a defined objective for your trip, and pray earnestly as to your role in that objective.” Otherwise, just send the $1,000 plus you would spend on trip expenses to trusted missionaries. I’m sure that they would be more than grateful.
If you are not willing to get outside of your comfort zone by eating strange foods, taking showers with freezing water, using holes and filthy outhouses as bathrooms, working in close proximity to people who have close to nothing, etc., don’t go.
If you are unwilling to see your own selfishness through new eyes, then don’t go.
If you are unwilling to have your heart stolen and then broken because of what you see and experience, as I did in the story above- don’t go.
If you have not disciplined yourself to be of service where you are, here in America, like the SCRS seniors and 8^th graders did this past month, then don’t expect to leave the country and suddenly have all that change.

With all of that said, if you are ready to be challenged, open to having your heart and mind changed drastically for the good, and willing to have the Lord bless you in ways previously unexperienced, then by all means go on an international mission trip. I can promise you that you will never regret your decision. But when you are packing, just don’t forget to save some room in your luggage for me.

Africa Trip-

Ukraine Trip-

Kids from orphanage clamoring for the Bibles we were handing out.

Five Tips for Cheaper, Better Travel - Shawna Green

2015-04-21T09:24:00.000-04:00

Believe it or not, summer is right around the corner and it brings with it all new events to look forward to. My favorite of all is travel. My mother is a great traveler. She revels and excels in the entire process. I like to think she passed that particular trait on to me. I'm not what you would call a "well-travelled traveler." I've only been to a handful of countries but I am a wanderer at heart. I love to experience new places and people and I've learned a few things along the way. For example, taking 5 pairs of shoes on a weeklong journey is neither practical nor necessary. And staying in the center of your destination (whether it be a city or an amusement park) is usually overpriced and rarely worth the extra dough.

In an effort to save others some of the time and costly mistakes I've made while traveling, I hereby impart on you some of the wisdom I have gained over the years.

1. Use a flight search engine and book early!

My two favorite flight search engines to use are Orbitz.com and Skyscanner.com. Orbitz has a great feature that allows you to look at the price of flights on the day you are hoping to fly out as well as 3 days before and after your chosen date. If your travel days are flexible, this can be a great tool to get a fantastic deal.

Skyscanner takes researching and purchasing a flight a step further. This search engine does not force you to choose a specific city to fly out of or into; nor a specific date. You only have to indicate your origin and destination country. Skyscanner then gives you the cheapest cities to fly out of and into. This can be especially helpful if you haven’t settled on a destination and are attempting to choose one that is affordable to get to. You can even adjust the calendar to encompass an entire month or year so that you can choose the cheapest day or time of year to travel.

2. Ditch the hotel

There are so many other accommodations available around the world besides hotels. Hotels, especially ones in city centers, charge exorbitant prices just to sleepat your destination! Dozens of websites offer alternative accommodations that are cheaper and often much more enjoyable. For those who are able to rough it, campgrounds are a great option. They offer remarkably low-cost campsites and even cabins for those who are not tent-enthusiasts.

For the traveler who needs the amenities and conveniences of the modern world, Airbnb.com offers another alternative. Airbnb.com is a website and app that connects citizens with spare rooms or even empty apartments with the travelers who desire them. You can rent an extra bedroom in a Frenchwoman’s home or even rent an entire flat in Madrid for around $50 a night! Each lodging offers dozens of reviews from real guests. Not only does this help your wallet stay fat, but it also allows travelers to experience their destination as a local. You can eat, sleep, and live among locals and truly experience what it’s like to live in Seattle, Atlanta, or even Florence instead of merely passing through the area as a tourist.

3. Research, research, research

If you do your research you can get really great deals. Most museums and tourist attractions offer free or reduced admission on certain days of the week or month. Many large cities also have free music, food, or ethic festivals throughout the year. Young travelers, especially to Europe, can also cash in if they do their research. In most European countries all you need is a valid ID and all persons under 25 years old get incredible deals on public transportation, educational sites, and popular tourist attractions. Beware of offers that pose as “great deals”, however. They are not always a bargain. Some websites offer “reduced rates” on train tickets or admission to tourist attractions but many times these “bargains” are nothing of the sort. Waiting to buy tickets at your destination can be cheaper, but you’ll never know if you don’t do your research!

4. Take more pictures of people than landmarks

Trust me. You can never take a better picture of the Eiffel Tower or the Grand Canyon than the professional images found online or in books. You take trips not only to experience your destination but also to do it with people you love. Take a picture of Niagara Falls, but make it the background of a family photo. It’s the photos of the ones you love that you’ll cherish the most when your travels are over. Take pictures of people!

5. Travel apps are your best friend

As much as I hate to admit it, Smartphones are extremely useful. There are hundreds of travel apps that are available, and many times free, to download. A couple of my favorites are Viber and Maps.Me. Viber is my personal favorite when it comes to communication. If you are traveling outside the country and don’t want to be forced to empty your bank account to pay your phone bill when you return, you’ll want to use an app like Viber. Viber uses Wi-Fi to send text messages and even place calls. Here is the trick, however. The number you are trying to reach or send a message to must also have the Viber app.

Easily navigating your travel destination is key. That’s where Maps.Me comes in. This app is free to download and offers detailed maps of entire states and countries. Maps.Me can also give you step-by-step directions to get from one place to another. The best feature of this app is that it doesn’t require cell phone service or even Wi-Fi to operate. It simply uses the GPS already built into your phone to locate your position and give accurate directions.

Wherever you go, whatever you do: enjoy!

“We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us.” – Anonymous

Praying with Your Family - Michelle Knott

2015-04-09T16:49:00.001-04:00

Carving out time for family devotions and prayer is very important in creating a strong-knit Christian family. We have all heard the saying, “A family that prays together, stays together”, and I believe that to be so true. Praying with and for our children must top our list of parenting priorities.

A Distorted Dream - student Belle Gardner with forward by Mrs. Shawn Hassen

2015-03-20T13:08:00.003-04:00

Is it an oxymoron to enjoy gradingpapers? Not when you are privileged enough to

teach English at SRCS.

God's Plan is Always Perfect - Georgia Jekabsons

2015-03-04T13:41:00.002-05:00

February 8^th, 2012 is an important life changing date for our family. We thought we were happy...living the American dream. I had just finished my degree in December and got my new full time contract at school, Jeff's job was going great, and the girls were doing their thing with school, music and dance. We thought life was good! But God had another plan... a BIGGER plan… and a plan we continue to watch unravel before our eyes each day.

Our Kids Need Grit - Sheila James

2015-02-27T12:27:00.005-05:00

I love to read - a lot, and although I enjoy getting lost in a good piece of fiction, more often than not, you're likely to find me reading a good piece of non-fiction. I pretty much love reading about "all things education."

To Finish the Race - Find Your Friends - Tricia Marble

2015-02-20T11:14:00.000-05:00

If you would have told me 2 years ago that I would be doing mud runs I would have laughed in your face. I HATE running.

The One Thing You S-I-M-P-L-Y Cannot Live Without - Patty Hoey

2015-02-06T17:12:00.000-05:00

In the hectic, fast-paced, over indulged society in which we live, I crave simplicity. My background has always been entrenched in healing and wellness of some sort, and I find I gravitate back to my roots as often as I can.