Death by Crustifiction

Grading New Testament exams tonight, I came to the page where I ask students to outline the gospel of Matthew. I had no idea that, in chapter 28, Jesus was “crustified.”
(My nine-year-old’s words: “Sounds like something they do at Subway.”)

Breather for Now

I pulled the first all-nighter of my seminary career last night, writing 20 one-page reflections and cramming for the final exam for my Old Testament History class. I went to bed from 8:30 to 11 p.m. last night, got up and worked until 5:30 this morning, dozed for half an hour before getting up and [...]

Not Even Jack Bauer Can Get Us Out of This One

Powerful episode of 24 Sunday night. “Redemption” caught us up with illegal expatriate Jack Bauer (played by Keifer Sutherland) coming to the aid of African children kidnapped to be made into child soldiers under a would-be dictator.
As always, the show’s story was straight out of news headlines, even including a presidential transfer of power in Washington, [...]

The Kids Are Growing Up

A thought crossed my mind this week that I’ll throw out to see if it sticks. For many of you, this may fall in the “I could care less” category, but since I spend a majority of my time with teenagers, I’m interested.
It seems to me there’s a major generational shift going on in the [...]

Famous, Like, Speeches in Teenspeak History

A few of my fellow teachers and I are on a crusade against the misuse of the words “like,” “sorta,” and “kinda.” The goal of “The Movement,” as we are calling it, is to combat what historian David McCullough calls “verbal diarrhea” in one’s conversations. We think of ourselves as fiber for the teenage vernacular.
Last [...]

No Excuses

I have no excuses for my lack of content the past week, so I’ll offer the same explanation one of my students gave this morning concerning a paper due today:
“I didn’t procrastinate until last night.”
There you have it. Keep reading: one day I’ll write something.

The Facts of Truth

One of the first things I tell my New Testament students is that, while I can’t prove God exists, I can prove the accuracy of the biblical record that claims he does. The kids are usually pretty interested by both statements, and we had some really good discussions last week on topics like general and [...]

Summarizing on a Saturday

I recognize the past week has been less than impressive in terms of original content. Here’s an attempt at righting that wrong:
1. As I see it, the selection of Joe Biden as Barack Obama’s running mate makes a lot of sense…in the short term. Biden personifies age and diplomacy more than Obama does, and his [...]

Thinking Teaching

School officially starts tomorrow and I’ve got my back against the wall getting ready. Despite what today (and tonight) looks like, I’m excited to get back in the classroom.
My friend, Ken, is a teacher and, while his situation in the public school is a little different from mine in a Christian school, I couldn’t help [...]

When Teachers Dream

I’m having a hard time wrapping my brain around the fact that it’s August already. A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I (vaguely) remember it being June; July, however, is a 31-day block gone missing. Maybe I’ve repressed it, but the fact that I’m blogging about this is a prime sign [...]

Happy Campers

As a close to my ramblings about Summer Seminar, here’s our group just after kayaking and one day away from heading home (yes, those are genuine smiles on all our faces).
The students’ pictures are starting to come in (thanks, Monica and Michael), so I’ve gone through my two summary posts and added shots to illustrate [...]

Summer Seminar: A Summary (part 2)

After another 50 miles of biking on the Mickelson Trail (broken up over two days), the novelty of the South Dakota experience began to wear thin. At times, it was downright burdensome, as I was dealing with 28 high school seniors who I so desperately wanted to see “get it” with regard to the academic [...]

Summer Seminar: A Summary (part 1)

It’s high time I got back on the saddle here with a summary of sorts of my recent journey to South Dakota. It was a good trip, but I’m glad to be home in St. Louis, as I missed Megan and the girls something terrible. Though I didn’t take a camera, I’ll have plenty of [...]

Summer Seminar

Beginning Monday, I’m out of town for the next two weeks as one of seven staff taking 28 soon-to-be-seniors on Westminster’s Summer Seminar to South Dakota. Though I hate being away from Megan and the girls that long, I’m looking forward to the trip. Here’s the official write-up:
“The Summer Seminar in Liberal Arts is an [...]

Top Ten Things I Wish I’d Known Last Year

Here’s a list I prepared and presented yesterday at Westminster’s new teacher induction:
10. Don’t let the physical exhaustion you experience during the first week of school scare you. Though it’s tiring, give your body a chance to catch up from summer (it’ll take a good week).
9. Just because a student smiles at you doesn’t mean [...]

Danny and Chaz

It’s been a heavy couple of days on the blog this week. While I know I still owe a post on Bible hermeneutics, between today being the last day of school and me trying to grade 105 final exams, it’s just not going to happen until next week. I’m sorry. This is not meant as [...]

Just as I Suspected

Cheerleading try-outs are this week and it’s taking a toll of dramatic proportions. Here’s proof, as related to me by a female student who is (and will be next year) a cheerleader:
Cheerleading – it will mess with your head if you do it too long.
Just as I suspected, but now I finally have actual insider [...]

Two Million Minutes

Westminster didn’t have school last Friday as we teachers had a teacher in-service during which we watched the short film, Two Million Minutes. Here’s the spiel:
“Regardless of nationality, as soon as a student completes the 8th grade, the clock starts ticking. From that very moment the child has approximately Two Million Minutes until high school [...]

Five Things of Late

1. I can’t remember where I read it, but I’ve been thinking a lot about the idea that, with the proliferation of so many news/infotainment sites, headlines tend to be more and more alarmist in nature so as to capture (and re-capture) readership. No wonder the world feels like it’s falling apart at such a [...]

A Degree of Transition

A reader named Kevin recently left a comment inquiring as to my reasons for transitioning from a Masters of Divinity to MA degrees in theological studies and educational ministries at Covenant. As I just wrote my official transition request letter to the seminary faculty a couple of weeks ago, I thought I’d post it here [...]