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Waiting Out the Wait
I’m not good at waiting. Most of us aren’t. We live in a culture of instant response and immediate gratification. Even waiting out a storm can drag on. “Right now” has become the norm and expectation. But immediacy in all aspects of life is a relatively new phenomenon. In the not-too-distant past, responses and news of current happenings travelled at a snail’s pace. But as pre-iPhone kids, this created anticipation each week as we looked forward to the Sunday paper’s section of cartoon strips. My favorite: the beloved Snoopy by Charles Schulz. I still remember the picture of Snoopy laying atop his red doghouse with ears relaxed and eyes…
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A Forgotten Birthday Cake and the Pursuit of Excellence
After starting down the office hall to my desk at work, I noticed laughter and noise filtering through the stairwell doors. I turned and headed for the stairs instead. Walking down a floor, I opened the lunch room door and found an office party and remembered: I was supposed to have brought a triple chocolate birthday cake and some Sprite. I had committed to do a job and failed to do it. I hate to fail. During my teen years, there was a popular, but questionable Christian song that exhorted me that when I was weak, God would always make me strong. So I spent many years operating on the…
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How to Glorify God at School (Part Two)
Last year—at about this time—I wrote about Anna starting junior high and how students can glorify God at school. You can read about it here. What about us as parents? What about those of us who anticipate challenges that will in no doubt bring trials, problems and difficult situations at school? Every year I meet with Anna’s new teachers to talk to them about LVAS, the FM system and the struggles my hard-of-hearing student will have in their class. No matter how much I try to prepare them, problems always arise. It never fails. For us, starting a new school year means dealing with apathetic attitudes, stares and questions. Each…
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How to Glorify God at School
Just got home from taking my student to walk her schedule and practice opening her locker at her new school. Despite all the fears that come with her disability—you can read about that here—I feel so thankful for God’s faithfulness in Anna’s life, as she gets ready to start junior high in a few weeks. One of the challenges Anna faces this year has more to do with her desire to glorify God at school than anything else. I told her glorifying God can produce all sorts of blessings, but it can also lead to bullying. She didn’t even blink. Instead she asked, “What am I suppose to…
