– Arrival. It wasn’t that I spent half the ride crammed in the back of a 4 x 4. It wasn’t that the dirt roads were bumpy. It wasn’t even that one of our vans got stuck in the mud and had to be winched out. It was that departure had been delayed several hours […]
Children
Faith Journey, Video Testimony
Check out this video of the 10-minute testimony I gave at IHOP-Atlanta about our two day faith journey into the African bush, where we saw the Father amazingly provide for us and saw many come to Christ. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4xg8rR16No]
Faith Journey (East Africa pt. 5)
Imagine going off the edge of the map with no money, no extra clothes, and no plan except listening to and following Holy Spirit. Then imagine Him putting together the most amazing cultural experience of your life. That’s a faith journey. In Luke 9 and 10, we find Jesus sending out his disciples in a […]
Teaching: Whose Job is it Anyway?
You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. You can lead a child to knowledge, but you can’t make him think. I’ve been thinking about the role of the school versus the role of parenting in the education of a child. For what it’s worth, I have a few *ahem* […]
Teaching: Confronting my American Idols
Step into my classroom on any given morning, and you’ll see a kaleidoscope of humanity. About half my class was born outside the United States. I have students from Eastern Africa, the Middle East, India, Burma, and more. My American-born students range from platinum blonde to black, and all in between. They are Muslims, Christians, […]
Millennials (Pt. 2): Take a Step Way Back
Life in the 21st century is hard. Meet Grant (no, not the guy in the picture). Grant is a 25 year-old millennial. Six years ago, he turned away from an engineering career to follow his heart and work with children. Now after two years of teaching in a public school district, he’s struggling hard to […]
Millennials and “Why Generation Y Yuppies Are Unhappy”
A recent CBS article reported millennials are more educated but less skilled than their predecessors. Last year, I read a poignant yet hilarious article on WaitButWhy.com called “Why Generation Y Yuppies Are Unhappy.” Thinking of the trajectory of my career as an educator and my personal journey as a young millennial, it’s prompted me to do […]
4 Tips from Veteran Teachers on Finishing Well
The hallway was misty dark. A lone security light shone. I walked into the front office of my school to clock in. It was quiet, too quiet. It’s odd how empty a school can feel without the familiar, raucous noise of children. On this teacher workday, though, what needed cleaning more than the walls of my […]
Madman or American Hero? (part 1)
Sitting in Mrs. Tuggle’s 5th grade classroom as a 10 year-old, with U.S. maps and Gettysburg Address posters on the walls, I remember a few things. When I wasn’t presenting about the great locomotive chase of Kennesaw Mountain or staring blankly down my t-shirt in my desk, we learned about U.S. History since the Civil […]