Lesson(s) Learned

People Pleasing Gone Wild It's true. Most of the time, I'm what you might label a "people pleaser." I like people to be happy with me, and I struggle when people aren't.  Looking back over my life (all 26 years of it), I've noticed that some key decisions I've made were to please people that were instrumental in my life at that time, while other decisions I've made have been based on what I thought the right thing to do was. Because of that, I ended up having to live through various interpersonal issues that arose as a result of people being not being splendidly happy with me. (Not exactly a walk in the park with a snow cone on the fourth of July.) Recently and not-so-recently over the last three years or so, I have wrestled with the idea to move back to Jacksonville or to stay in Lynchburg and teach. The last couple of years, my mind was pre-occupied with this minor hobby of mine called GRAD SCHOOL. But this year, now that grad school i...

The Problem With Us I'll be the first to admit that I have an overactive imagination. I tend to over-symbolize the everyday happenings of life and oftentimes make them out to be far-reaching spiritual lessons. When, in reality, to everyone else, they're just everyday happenings of life. Allow me to explain. Take today for instance. My kids (students) this year have helped me design this little game that enables them to learn vast portions of their Bible memory verses with relative ease. Not to mention they have FUN whilst doing it. "How exactly is this accomplished?" you may (or may not) be asking. Well, it's simple. I either handwrite or type the verses, word for word, on the dry erase board or the SmartBoard. We all say the verses together as a class, then students come up - a handful at a time - and begin erasing off words of their choice. Then, we pause and recite the verse together again. We proceed through this same routine until everyone in the class ha...