In Times Like These

This week I was in charge of giving the communion thoughts at church. I decided to speak about the events in Boston from this week. Below you will find my thoughts. 

 

In Times Like These

If you’re like me, you have probably spent a little more time this week tuned in to a news channel while taking in all the latest information on the tragedy in Boston.  During times like these we all undoubtedly hear questions asking “is there any hope for us?” As a father, I worry about what type of world I am bringing my daughter up in. But, even though, in times like this, we feel that there is no hope for humanity, we must remember that we do have hope and that hope is in the form of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. As Christians, I believe that we have a duty in times like this to help restore others faith in humanity. To do this we must continue to be the hands and feet of Jesus. We must continue to put Jesus first in everything we do and we must continue to make others see Jesus in our actions and words. We must show the world that we have hope because we trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah 26:4 tells us to “Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.” This is a calling that we should practice every day, but especially in the wake of situations like the one this week.

When is a good time to get sick?

Last week had spring break which should serve as a time to relax and a time to recharge before the last stretch of 7 weeks of school. In our county, we have one week of review and then the state standardized exams or CRCT. This one week is our last chance to re-teach, review, and re-whatever we need to do to prepare our students for the high stakes testing that we all know and love. As you probably figured, this is a very important week for everyone at the school and probably not the best time to start missing days from the classroom. Lucky for me, my new friend bronchitis decided to pay me a visit.

 

 

I thought I could knock it out by making a visit to the urgent care on Sunday morning, but to no avail as a reaction to a steroid shot kept me awake all night and cost me to miss the first day back at school on Monday. I kept thinking to myself that it would be ok as I would still have four whole days and I would still be able to review the most important parts of our material for the test in those days. I go in to work on Tuesday and last a whole 4 hours before going home with a fever. After a second trip to the urgent care, a change in medicines and adding medicines; I finally am able to get out of the house again on Saturday. Yes, Saturday. I missed the whole week of school except for 4 little hours (2 and a half of those hours were homeroom, planning, and lunch). 

 

 

So, here we are. Staring down the CRCT and I haven't had a chance to review with my students at all. All week I kept saying to myself that this is not a good time to be sick, but, as a teacher, is there ever a good time to be sick? It seems that every day is so important that it cannot be missed. At least that is the way I feel. 

Surprise Spring Break Trip

This week was the much anticipated Spring Break. I decided last week to plan a surprise trip for the family and all I told my wife was that we were leaving on Monday morning and we would be back sometime Wednesday evening. I wouldn't tell her where we were going or anything. The only clues she had was that she would need some warmer type clothes and her bathing suit. Yeah, those clues didn't help either. So off we went on our journey and things were going smoothly until we got 45 minutes from our destination and found out the road was closed due to a landslide. Ok, we will take a slight detour and be there soon. Boy was I wrong; the slight detour took our 45 minute drive and turned it into 2 hours and 15 minutes. So, off we went again and we finally reached our destination of Gatlinburg, TN around 4:00. Both of us have been to Gatlinburg before, but neither has been in many years so this was going to be a fun and quick family trip for us. I quickly remembered that Gatlinburg is not somewhere to go if you are wanting to lost weight. We quickly made our way to Bubba Gump Shrimp Company and upon leaving there made plans to go to Pancake Pantry for breakfast the next morning. Of course, we had to stop at the Funnel Cake shop on the way back to the hotel for a treat.

The next day we took Callie to Wild Bear Falls Indoor Water Park and boy did she have a great time. They have a couple smaller areas which were perfect for kids her age, a lazy river, water slides, and a deeper pool which she could "swim" in. This was by far one of the most enjoyable days of being a Dad as I saw my little girl's face light up as she kicked her little feet and "swam" back and forth to her mother and me until we finally told her it was time to go. That night we decided to go back downtown to have dinner at a Mexican restaurant which was right on the creek and Callie got to watch the ducks as we enjoyed our tacos. We also took a little time to do a little shopping (had to get some fudge) where Callie made a new friend (see below) and stopped by an arcade where Callie took a couple rides and then beat me at air hockey (sorry no pic of that).

Wednesday morning we got up and realized that we probably have spent more in food than travel and lodging so we ate breakfast, took a scenic drive, and visited Ober Gatlinburg before heading home.

 

 

So much of the time we are in such a hurry to get from one place to another and to take care of the "important" stuff that we forget to slow down and take time for what is most important. I am glad that we were able to do that a little bit this week.