Memorial Day

When I began thinking about the meaning of Memorial Day, I realized that the meaning has become all too real for many families across the country who have lost loved ones in service to our country. Please join me in praying for our service men and women and their families. Please pray that they might follow Christ as we read in Matthew 4:19a, “Come, follow me” and that they will take a stand for Christ as we read in Ephesians 6:11, “Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.”

Thinking about and praying for our service men and women has become very real to me this past year. My son Jonathan (above) received a ROTC scholarship for college and graduated last May. He is currently serving in the Army as a Second Lieutenant in South Korea. I think about him and all of the other members of the armed forces on a daily basis. As I continued to think about our service men and women and Memorial Day, I came across a letter written by Georgette Frank whose son Lance Cpl. Philip Frank, 20, was killed in Fallujah by sniper fire on April 8, 2004. I thought I should share this essay she wrote on the real meaning of Memorial Day.

Dear Friends,

In the past I would look forward to Memorial Day. It represented the beginning of the summer season at the Jersey Shore and a three-day weekend.

Then we lost our Phil in Iraq.

Memorial Day has now become a day of reflection and remembrance. It is a day to remember all of our Fallen Heroes from all of the wars. It is a day to think about the families that will forever grieve for their lost loved one. It is a day to be thankful to those who have served and made the ultimate sacrifice. They fought and died to win the freedom and democracy that we Americans cherish so dearly. They also fought and died to bring that same freedom and democracy to the people of other countries as well.

As the family of a Fallen Hero, we are so proud of our loved ones who knowingly put themselves in harm's way so that they could make a difference in the lives of others.

I would like to share an excerpt from a sermon by John Hagee:

"I want you to close your eyes and picture in your mind the soldier at Valley Forge, as he holds his musket in his bloody hand.

"He stands barefoot in the snow, starved from lack of food, wounded from months of battle and emotionally scarred for the eternity away from his family surrounded by nothing but death and carnage of war. He stands though, with fire in his eyes and victory on his breath. He looks at us now in anger and disgust and tells us this. ...

"I gave you a birthright of freedom born in the Constitution and now your children graduate too illiterate to read it. I fought in the snow barefoot to give you the freedom to vote and you stay at home because it rains. I left my family destitute to give you the freedom of speech, and you remain silent on critical issues, because it might be bad for business. I orphaned my children to give you a government to serve you and it has stolen democracy from the people.

"It's the soldier, not the poet, who gives you the freedom of speech.

"It's the soldier, not the campus organizer, who allows you to demonstrate.

"It's the soldier, who salutes the flag, serves the flag, whose coffin is draped with the flag that allows the protester to burn the flag!

"Lord, hold our troops in your loving hands. Protect them as they protect us. Bless them and their families for the selfless acts they perform for us in our time of need. I ask this in the name of Jesus, our Lord and Savior. Amen."

Take a moment this Memorial Day to share the pride that we, the families of the Fallen Heroes, feel.

Georgette

Amazing Clouds!

A couple of weeks ago I was driving to school heading into a storm. The sky looked as though it had been hand painted with various watercolor shades of a beautiful slate gray color. I could almost imagine seeing the hand of God with a paintbrush, painting the clouds across the sky. It was such a beautiful sight and knowing that the clouds were poised to release torrential rains any minute that I thought about God and His majestic ways setting the clouds in the sky. I thought about how God uses beautiful, ominous clouds to provide rain to nourish the earth. It made me think of Psalm 147:8, He covers the sky with clouds; he supplies the earth with rain and makes grass grow on the hills.

 Today is the last day of school for the Class of 2012! We will miss them. Please pray for our students as our seniors go to Washington D.C. and our juniors go to Gettysburg next week. Our sophomores and freshmen will participate in service projects around the greater Lansing area next week

A Distinct Pleasure!

Last week I had the distinct pleasure to work with five of our graduating seniors as they created, wrote and recorded several radio advertisements for Smile FM. They were pleasant, kind to each other and wonderful to work with. One of our parents, Becky, helped us record the advertisements. After working with us for over an hour, she sent me the following message: "Also, let me just say what pleasure it was to work with Miah, Austin, Heidi, Erin and Stephen, my goodness but they are impressive all the way around :). I think you had the poster children for LCS right here – we should have shot video! They are shining examples and it was a pleasure working with them."

I would like to share with you some of their thoughts about LCS:

• Lansing Christian School has allowed me to step out of my comfort zone and develop my walk with Christ, with the encouragement of my peers and teachers.
• The friends I’ve made here I will have forever. Thanks to Lansing Christian School I have grown in Christ, and have a faith to call my own.
• As an athlete, I have learned that sports at Lansing Christian School are more than on and of the court; they equip you for life!
• Coming from a public school, Lansing Christian provides a welcome and loving environment unlike any other school I have previously attended.
• LCS has given me a spiritual foundation. Love is the nurturer here, we are continually challenged to grow in chapels and Bible classes.
• Teachers at Lansing Christian School are here because they love teaching kids. That is clear. They help you to not only excel in the classroom, but in life.

Please join me in praying for our terrific seniors as they graduate and step up to their next challenge. Our students have grown into wonderful Christian young men and women! It was so inspiring to work with our students that it reminded me of Colossians 1:10, So that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God.

The ROCK!

The other day we were looking at options for T-shirt designs for our summer camp programs at LCS. One of the designs said, “Summer Camp ROCKS!” Underneath the word ROCKS was a picture of various rocks. I instantly liked the idea of using this design because it has so many possibilities in the messaging. The Bible refers to both rocks and rock many times. When I think about God as the Rock, I think of how strong and righteous He is! For example, in Deuteronomy 32:4 we read, He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he. I also think of God as being my Savior, like in 2 Samuel 22:47 “The LORD lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be my God, the Rock, my Savior! Then, as we continued to brainstorm the messaging options, my mind went back to the Sunday School song about building on the rock, the Lord Jesus Christ and how that song is based upon Matthew 7:24 – 27. “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

As Christians, we have the opportunity to build our lives on the Rock! Our day-to-day activities are shaped by our desire to have a solid foundation built upon Jesus Christ our Savior! As the final planning takes place I look forward to seeing the final choice for the summer camp theme and, of course, the T-shirt! Please join me in praying for those who are preparing to work with our children through the LCS summer camp program.

AWESOME!

This afternoon a kindergarten student showed me his shirt and it said, “This is what awesome looks like!”  His shirt made me think of a discussion that the administrative team had last Wednesday.  We were celebrating Colossians 1:27-28 as the verse of the day, To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.  He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ.  After reading the verse, we discussed all of the great things that are happening at Lansing Christian School.  The list is impressive so I thought I would share it with you! 

·         Teachers are working on writing essential questions.  On a daily basis teachers are doing a great job of making the questions part of what they are doing in their classrooms.

·         Redoing the website has been a gigantic task and It has been wonderful seeing the results and hearing the positive feedback.

·         We continually hear about the high quality of our teachers and how they connect to our students.  The teachers work so well together and are good at communicating with each other.

·         When you think about the part of the verse which says, “present everyone fully mature in Christ,” I see the impact Lansing Christian School is having on students through retreats, chapels and the teachers.  It is amazing the things that the school is doing intentionally which affect how our children interact with each other and the world around them. 

·         It is great to see our kids and how they are being transformed.  “Be transformed,” is not just a theme; it is a reality!

·         As our teachers have worked through the process examining the curriculum and inputting information into CurriculumTrak, it is exciting to see other schools looking to LCS as a model.  It is encouraging to hear other schools look to teachers at LCS as leaders in the global educational community. (CurriculumTrak is our online organizational tool for our curriculum.  Through the program we are able to access curriculum at other schools and they may access ours.)

·         It is wonderful to see our teachers have the opportunity to influence our students for Christ.

·         As we are begin our technology pilot which will integrate IPads into our curriculum in first and eighth grade, it will be exciting to see the impact interactive learning will have on our students!

Gods Plan

Sometimes things don’t go as we have planned. Think of the list of tasks we may have at the beginning of the day and how many interruptions happen to deter us from completing everything! Then think of Joseph… how he was sold into slavery and later was imprisoned. All of that craziness could not have been on Joseph’s task list. Joseph’s take on the situation was about how God had planned everything from the beginning. He is quoted in Genesis 45:6-8, For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping. But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.

When we are concerned when our day doesn’t go exactly how we have planned, remember Joseph and what Romans 8:28 says, And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Okay, now back to my list!

Generosity

Recently I heard this story related by Don Denyes during a sermon:  A small church in southern California was preparing for their missions conference.  They decided that they would like to build a hospital in Africa.  Offerings for missionary projects in this church usually totaled around $25,000, but they were told that they would need to raise $160,000 to build the hospital.  There were those who said why even try, we could never raise that much, let’s try something else. 

They began very early to challenge their people towards this African hospital project and the people took it to heart.  The kids would have lemonade stands during the summer to make a little bit of money to give towards the project.  It was interesting in this small community that this project grabbed hold of the psyche of even those who didn’t know Christ.  The Christians were talking about it at work and they were talking about it in their neighborhoods.  Soon people who had no interest in the gospel of Christ, but who were interested in helping people in general, began to give to this hospital in Africa, and they gave, and they gave.  When the mission conference came they didn’t raise $25,000, they didn’t raise $160,000, they raised over a half million dollars.  The pastor said that the amazing thing wasn’t the way the funds came in, but the way it affected the people in the community,  He said, “Generosity is the new evangelism.”

As we wind up the school year we are working to raise funds, not for a hospital in Africa, but to fund scholarships for children in our own community.  Many children at Lansing Christian School depend on the generosity of others to assist them as they learn and become salt and light to our community.  Would you be able to help by donating to our scholarship fund?  Click here to donate today through our safe link online.  It’s easy; simply click the “Donate Now” button at the top right corner.