Public education paradigms are changing, worldwide.
Thought-provoking:
Adapted from a talk given at the RSA by Sir Ken Robinson, world-renowned education and creativity expert and recipient of the RSA’s Benjamin Franklin award.
Keith Fitzhugh had a dream to play pro football. However, when the opportunity came, he decided to stay at his current job, as a train conductor:
What is it about Keith’s story that is so compelling?
He’s interesting not so much because of the outrageous or interesting things he does to assert his significance, but rather because of the loyalty he embodies, with joy. He’s happy to honor his mother and father.
Keith models a lesson of character passed down from his parents and an earlier generation — of loyalty to his family over the instant pursuit of riches and fame. Even of loyalty to his current employer more than setting them aside for a ‘better’ opportunities. Among a generation of young people (like you and me, perhaps) who are ‘options’-addicts, Keith shines brightly.
Let’s honor virtue like this. May his tribe increase, and another opportunity come along so Keith can fulfill his dream and fulfill his responsibilities in joy.
“Prayer is the application of want to Him who only can relieve it, the voice of sin to Him who alone can pardon it. It is the urgency of poverty, the prostration of humility, the fervency of penitence, the confidence of trust. It is not eloquence, but earnestness; not the definition of helplessness, but the feeling of it; not figures of speech, but compunction of the soul. It is the ‘Lord, save us, we perish,’ of drowning Peter [Matt. 8:15]; the cry of faith to the ear of mercy.
“Adoration is the noblest employment of created beings; confession, the natural language of guilty creatures; gratitude, the spontaneous expression of pardoned sinners. Prayer is desire; it is not a mere conception of the mind, nor a mere effort of the intellect, nor an act of the memory; but an elevation of the soul towards its Maker; a pressing sense of our own ignorance and infirmity; a consciousness of the perfection of God, of His readiness to hear, of His power to help, of His willingness to save. It is not an emotion produced in the senses, nor an effect wrought by the imagination; but a determination of the will, and effusion of the heart.”
—Hannah More (1745-1833), Practical Piety: or the Influence of the Religion of the Heart on the Conduct of Life (New York: The American Tract Society, 1811), p. 83.
Notice the usage of ‘want’ in that day is different than in ours; we ‘want’ out of essentially coveting, yet here ‘want’ connotes a deep, unmet desire for a true need to be satisfied.
Good words from a godly woman, who labored for the abolition of slavery, women’s rights, and the common good of all:
“Christianity bears all the marks of a divine original; it came down from heaven, and its gracious purpose is to carry us up thither. Its author is God. It was foretold from the beginning, by prophecies, which grew clearer and brighter as they approached the period of their accomplishment. It was confirmed by miracles, which continued till the religion they illustrated was established. It was ratified by the blood of its Author. Its doctrines are pure, sublime, consistent. Its precepts just and holy. Its worship is spiritual. Its service reasonable, and rendered practicable by the offers of Divine aid to human weaknesses. It is sanctioned by the promise of eternal happiness to the faithful, and the threat of everlasting misery to the disobedient. It had no collusion with power, for power sought to crush it. It should not be in any league with the world, for it set out by declaring itself the enemy of the world;—it reprobated its maxims, it showed the vanity of its glories, the danger of its riches, the emptiness of its pleasures.
“Christianity, though the most perfect rule of life that ever was devised, is far from being barely a rule of life . . . . This religion does not consist in an external conformity to practices which, though right in themselves, may be adopted from human motives, and to answer secular purposes. It is not a religion of forms, and modes, and decencies. It is being transformed into the image of God. It is being like-minded with Christ. It is considering Him as our sanctification [how we change], as well as our redemption [the way we are rescued]. It is endeavoring to live to Him here, that we may live with Him herafter. It is desiring earnestly to surrender our will to His, our heart to the conduct of His Spirit, our live to the guidance of His Word.
“The change in the human heart, which the Scriptures declare to be necessary, they represent to be not so much an old principle improved, as a new one created; not educed out of the former character, but implanted in the new one.”
—Hannah More (1745-1833), Practical Piety: or the Influence of the Religion of the Heart on the Conduct of Life (New York: The American Tract Society, 1811), pp. 11-12, emphasis added.
An analogy: Imagine there is a pathway before us.
Those who are faithfully following Jesus daily by faith re walking straight ahead, empowered by grace.
To the left is a ditch where the self-absorbed and apathetic get caught up (concerned mostly with self).
On the right is a ditch were a person gets stuck when he or she is over-stressed and overwhelmed. This person cares deeply but is overwhelmed!
Usually when a person is awakened to the Gospel truth, they swerve from one ditch to the other. (Over and over.)
God’s wisdom helps us learn who God is, who we are, and what He asks of us — the faithful pathway straight ahead. We stay on this road by grace-driven effort, neither passively sitting back or doing it all in our strength. God designed that when we follow Him we turn neither to the left hand or the right.
Jesus walked this path perfectly for us, and invites us to join Him, walking in His steps.
The Pathway: turning neither to the left or the right
This happens as we are daily rejoicing in our salvation received by grace, devoting ourselves to the good works He brings in front of us. People who are becoming generous with their time, talents, and treasure are resisting the urge to fall into the ditch on the left, and have spent time in the ditch on the right.
Do you notice how these people are compelling? You notice there is something different about him or her, as they are caring in their interactions with others — speaking to the person no one else notices, pausing from the break-neck pace to help someone in need. They see the hurting and marginalized.
Repent and believe the Gospel. Quit trusting in yourself, and place your full confidence in Jesus, the Righteous One, who lived the life we have failed to live (pleasing God perfectly from a pure heart), and died the death we should die (receiving the full wrath of God).
Continue Repenting and believing the Gospel. The oft-used metaphor of walking shows us it is a long obedience in the same direction, marked by repentance and renewal.
Walk. Step-by-step. Neither worrying we will fall off, nor thinking that life would be better on another path. (That is, walking on the path is no so much about self — it is about God and others.)
All of this with grace-driven effort.
“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.”
—Galatians 5:16“Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.”
—Colossians 1:28-29“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
—Hebrews 12:1-2
“There is no worse screen to block out the Spirit than confidence in our own intelligence.”
—John Calvin
This is hilarious and Church on the Move did an excellent job on that vieo. Yet, if we get past the humor in it, can you agree that it actually is a bit sad that this satire shows us what ‘Dad’ is reduced to these days? What’s missing?
Lyrics:
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Happy Thanksgiving! I hope your day has been full of joy, gratitude, laughter, and rest. (And some football with a side of gravy, of course.)
For all of us shopping on ‘Black Friday,’ let’s remember whose money were are spending, and what it is for.
A reminder for guys: hobbies are not cheap. Sure you’re going to use that new gadget? Need one that snazzy? (Are you thinking, “I really need _______.”)
Let’s not go into debt trying to buy happiness. Joy is there to be had … freely.
Men, let’s take the lead in our families, setting the pace for what we consume, and how much.
There is none like you among the gods, O Lord,
nor are there any works like Yours.
All the nations you have made shall come
and worship before You, O Lord,
and shall glorify Your name.
For You are great and do wondrous things;
You alone are God.
Teach me Your way, O LORD,
that I may walk in Your truth;
unite my heart to fear Your name.
I give thanks to You, O Lord my God, with my whole heart,
and I will glorify Your name forever.
For great is Your steadfast love toward me;
You have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.
—Psalm 86:8-13, ESV
What do you get excited about?
Here someone famous is giving away tons of free stuff.
Do you know anyone with this kind of joy about their salvation?
(What if the most Famous One ever gave away His life for us? Could we get excited about that?)
On a snowy morning (in Portland), the following sped-up video is worth your time and attention. Enjoy.
Professor Philip Zimbardo conveys how our individual perspectives of time affect our work, health and well-being. Time influences who we are as a person, how we view relationships and how we act in the world.