Paul, Joy, Leadership

One of the main responsibilities I have with my 5th and 6th grade class is both to model Christ to them and to teach them to love Christ, and in so doing, know how to serve him. It's such a huge and overwhelming task! We were going through 2 Philippians today specifically to talk about considering others above yourselves and about not complaining. I read the opening verses with just new personal insight, though. Paul asks the Philippians church to be like-minded and love one another to "make [his] joy complete" and asks them not to complain so that he would not have '"labored in vain." Bam! The feeling with which he made those statements just struck me so forcibly. I am sure that parents and pastors and others in like situations feel the impact of these verses, but I had never before. Now I have this class of students, and as sinners and children, they complain, argue and bicker. And I know how deeply I want to see them grow in Christ and how much joy I would have to see them loving and serving each other in a Christ-like manner more and more. Paul, while recognizing the strengths of the Philippians wants them to abound more and more. And that is my prayer and hope for my class. Partly, I think it is such a difference for me now to be on the leading and giving end in the classroom, as opposed to the recieving end. It's such a blessing, though. Praise God!

Now I'm a true Mainer

Fun times. So this past weekend Matt and I embarked upon a true Maine experience. With work and all of the changes, it has been tough to find the energy and motivation to get out and do things. This past weekend we went down to Portland and saw a really cool light house. (Like the one on my blog here!) We also went to two sand beaches and took mini-hikes. Sidney (our Beagle puppy) went with us to the beach. She seemed to like running around the beach with us but never went too far. She definitely did not like the water part or sinking in wet sand (she whined), but it was fun. I took about 120 pictures, and got some really amazing ones.

While I was standing on a rocky part of one beach I just looked out on the vast expanse that receded into the horizon. It was stormy to the east and the sun was setting in a cloudy western sky. The words, "and the spirit of God hovered over the face of the deep" entered my mind and I just got chills. God's creation is amazing.

Not only that.....we ate a real lobster dinner! And by real, I mean, we made it ourselves. You can get lobsters out here for relatively cheap, so we got ourselves some live lobsters. I was not too keen on putting those things in the boiling water, so it was actually Matt who cooked the lobsters. Sidney helped, especially when one of the lobsters didn't want to go in the pot. She started barking at it. I have pictures of her sniffing a lobster and Matt holding it. We topped off the meal with bread, salad and wine. Awesome. Now I feel like I belong here.

Bring on the adventure...