Up the Sunbeam

-- A little more than ten short months ago, I set out toward a cherished dream  to become a teacher, and today I reached the first major milestone on that road. I clicked the SUBMIT button to turn in my final assignment in the final class of my freshman year of college.  I love looking at the row of binders that hold all my textbooks from this year--each one represents a five-week chunk of my life that I spent on the way to achieving my big dream. Stacked up together, they feel solid, substantial, sacred. Not sacred because of their content (although every bit of truth they hold belongs to God), but sacred because this work is all an offering of love, given for God's glory. He is the reason I stay up late to finish papers. He is the reason I fuss over details. And He is the reason I step up to lead team projects with a commitment to excellence instead of letting someone else do it (or not do it) and just get by with minimum effort. Last year, just before I starte...

-- "You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream." ~  C. S. Lewis ~ I am the daughter of two teachers. Daddy taught Physical Education and coached football and basketball for forty years, and taught young athletes about faith through the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Momma taught several grades from preschool through middle school, not to mention countless hours of women's Bible studies. Between the two of them and their teaching careers that spread across two countries, their impact and influence on young lives will only be measurable in heaven. They both teach like most people breathe. It's part of who they are. Even now, though both have retired from the teaching jobs they loved, whether it's with their most fortunate children and grandchildren or people in the community in various venues, they continue to teach and encourage and inspire. I grew up in a home that valued education . . . a home that saw ordinary moments as...

-- The whimsical whistle of my cell phone ring tone beckoned from my purse.  It was She So Sweet's biology teacher returning my call to answer a couple of questions I had about his class.  He was very helpful in answering my questions and in the course of our conversation, I decided to talk to him a little bit about the upcoming unit on evolution. With a 20 year (combined) history of my kids being in public schools and many teachers during that time who were . . . um . . . passionate about their beliefs in evolution, I always like to touch base with new teachers, hopefully to assure that they will at the very least be respectful of students who hold a creationist viewpoint.  I was so impressed with this teacher (who clearly does believe in evolution) when he spoke of "the theory of evolution and what it suggests."  I was quick to thank him for stating it that way rather than the fierce dogma I have experienced from other teachers. We went on to have a very cordi...