The Sandors

2008-10-03T19:03:00.000-07:00

Well, I have completely slacked off on this blog! I'm not sure anyone reads it anyway, but I figured I would try to revive it. Here's your (or my students') current events quiz for the week:
1) What happened to the 700 Billion dollar "bail out" deal on Monday?
2) What hurricane hit Canada early this week?
3) Where do some generals want to send more US troops?
4) What happend to the 700 Billion dollar "bail out" deal in the Senate?
5) Who debated each other on Thursday night?
One interview I saw online this week made me curious as to how people can sound so pompous while clearly showing their own lack of understanding. The man being interviewed confidently declared that believing in a specific God (apparently being agnostic is okay) is a sign of danger. God, according to this man, is not revealing Himself except for a few books used by different religions. The books disagree with each other, and the man being interviewed took special time to mock some stories in the Bible. He then went on to say that religion was okay for people in the past because they didn't know any better. For example, they "didn't know where babies came from." Ironically, it is the Bible (even from a purely secular reading) that shows how stupid this statement is. In the first book, God shows that Sarah understood that if Abram was to have a son, and it wasn't happening through her, then he needed to sleep with another woman. Later on, Judah loses a son because he refuses to father a son for his dead older brother. How does he refuse? Read Genesis to find out. It proves he had a pretty good idea of what would produce a child. The pagan fertility festivals were focused around sex. It seems like they had a pretty good understanding that sex led to babies.
But anyway, I just couldn't stand the boundless arrogance of this man who has his own TV show! Why is it that people choose to listen to such nonsense? I think the unfortunate answer is that most people are not checking up on the facts, but simply trusting a man who sounds very confident in his incredible (literally 'without credit') statements.
Oh well. It's time to focus on the Fall Holy Days and God's coming Kingdom, not the distractions of this world.

2008-06-20T21:14:00.001-07:00

So another school year is in the bag. Summer has been crazy since I've been working in the morning at summer school (which I hesitate to call 'teaching'). Then in the evening I've been working at Outback. All this is to make some extra cash in preparation for our first bambino which I have started to refer to as AJ (Abraham-or-Julia). At least working two jobs really makes you appreciate the Sabbath!
The headlines have gone crazy of the last few months. It's really time to draw close to God (as if there ever is a time not to). But speaking for myself, if I let anything get in between Christ and me, then I really need to be smacked in the head... with a shovel. Hebrews 12:1-2!

2008-05-07T19:27:00.000-07:00

In an effort to cut down on expenses, my wife offered to cut my hair (raise your hand if you already know where this is going). After a minute or so of complaining about not getting enough hair off with the trimmer, I suddenly heard her say "Uh-Oh." Long story short, we had to do some improvising and no one has noticed. Still, I think the lesson here is very useful: Next time she wants a hair cut, I can save her some money by doing it myself.
In other news, we have chosen a midwife and are hoping to do a home delivery. Although we've gotten a fair number of looks that essentially say "why would you want to kill your baby" I'm sticking to this one because most people are only relying on a version of childbirth that is mostly based off of what they have seen in movies or TV.
Also, what do my kiddos need to know about the Romans? I find that I think they need to know everything, but I only have a few days left...

2008-04-21T19:20:00.001-07:00

Does anyone have advice on how to convice 13 year old girls that just because they think they are the princess of middle school really doesn't mean a thing? Or perhaps the "thing" that is a problem is that they take that as a right to choose which rules to obey and which to break. It's not something I deal with well, and the problem has gotten worse over the last couple of weeks... maybe it's time to call in the parents (hopefully they don't think their daughters are princesses too!).

2008-04-13T19:01:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all who have been praying for my brother. He hasn't had any more seizures, but we still don't know exactly why they happened in the first place. All of the medical tests have said he is normal, but they can't give him a clean bill of health until he's gone a certain period of time (either 6 months or a year) without any seizures. Until then, my parents have given us his car (techincally they've given us their car that they let him drive...) and he's been doing alright. I just always hope that this could be a wake up call to live a more healthy life style, but that has not been the result at this time.
In more light-hearted news, I decided to allow my students to add me as a friend on facebook. Previously I had denied them all, but I figured this will be one more way for me to get them in trouble, and that keeps life interesting. I was excited to see that they had posted a video they had taken at school (with a contraband cellphone I believe) but it turned out just to be one of my more vocal students eating cake and beans at the same time ("eewwww" was squealed by about a half dozen other students). So tomorrow I will get on to them about that... or maybe I'll just make them all eat cake and beans at the same time. Or they can get out of it if they buy me ice cream. Bribery goes a long way in my class.

2008-03-14T19:24:00.000-07:00

If you all could pray for my brother, I would greatly appreciate it.
He had two seizures on Tuesday of this week, which, needless to say, really threw a wrench in a lot of plans. It's amazing how quickly you can drop so many things that seemed vitally important a few minutes before. I took the afternoon and next day off of school, and my parents drove down that evening. While he has been fine since, the most disturbing thing is that we have no idea why he had them in the first place. The first one happened in the morning, and while we were in the hospital that afternoon, they took a blood test and a CT Scan but both came back normal. We left and I figured the best thing to do was get him a good meal in his system, but when we sat down at the restaurant, the second one hit him. I've never seen a person have a seizure, so it was pretty disturbing. We got him back to the hospital and were promptly told we were the problem since we didn't immediately go and get him the prescribed medicine. I thought this was a little harsh since we had just got there, and probably would have needed the same amount of time to get the drug in the first place (plus I was just annoyed that they let him out with a, "It all looks okay" and had no explanation for any of it). By the time we got out late that night, we found a 24hour Walgreens and ordered the pills. I got to bed around 1am and had already requested a sub. Anyway, the week has gone okay since then. It has been good to see my parents and more of my brother, but there are a lot of unanswered questions. 1) Why? 2) Can he still drive? 3) Can he still work at his present job? etc. We just have to wait and see.
At least now it's the Sabbath and we can rest.
Please pray that God's will be done for my brother. I hope he can start to learn to lead a life more pleasing in God's sight (something you could pray for me too while you're at it!).
Hope you all are getting ready for the Spring Holy Days!

2008-03-06T18:12:00.001-08:00

Do you know what the capital of Assyria is?

2008-03-02T19:26:00.001-08:00

The beard is gone.

2008-01-10T17:49:00.000-08:00

Growing out a beard around a bunch of seventh graders has two main effects: First, the boys envy the maturity it requires to grow a beard (some have apparently been trying themselves) in two weeks. Second, they play a look a-like game. So far, the top 5 people I have been compared to are:
5)Santa Claus
4)Noah
3)Moses
2)Jesus
1)Abraham Lincoln
I'm not sure if this is their way of insulting me, because I don't think of Abe Lincoln as a particularly good-looking man. So long as they don't shoot me in the back of the head I guess!

2007-12-24T10:04:00.000-08:00

Did Israel ever keep the Year Of Jubilee?
As far as I can tell, the answer would be no. In fact, reading through the section concerning it, it almost seems more like a prophecy than a statute. I think it is insightful to God's thoughts on society:
1) Agricultural basis. When people buy property so much as buying harvests. Since all the land goes back to the original owners every 50 years, a person is buying profits from harvests, not permanant farm land.
2) Middle Class. God avoids perpetual poverty and extreme excess by balancing everything. If your family has it either really good or really bad for a couple decades, the debts are erased and land returned twice a century.
3) Complete Trust in God. Being willing to turn back peoples land, cancel debts, and not plant food all takes faith. My guess is ancient Israel did not ever do the Jubilee because of a lack of faith. Modern Israel is not too different.
Can't wait to try this rule out in the Kingdom!

2007-12-07T17:22:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I tell my students that my job is to get them in trouble. For example, this week many students were pulled out of class for choir practice. The choir picked one block to have all the girls, and another to have all the boys. Finally, she had one practice where she had the girls wait to sing with the boys to have everyone together. So the girls were coming to class about 10 or 15 minutes late. I had four from my class and all of them made it back on time which made my life a bit easier. Then another girl needed to go to the bathroom, and made it back in about 30 seconds. When I asked why she was so fast (although I appreciate them hurrying) she said there was a line. Well that caught me as a bit odd, so I told the office that they might want to check on why there would be a 'line' of girls in the bathroom in the middle of class. Sure enough, three girls had decided since they had missed the first 15 minutes, they might as well wait the last 30 minutes out of class (science class as it turns out). And amazingly, all three were smart, typically well behaved girls. Now maybe they have me snowed and are not good girls, but I think there is another issue.
The science teacher is known for being very VERY strict. While there are times that I envy her abilities as a classroom manager (my classroom probably looks like organized chaos compared to hers), her tough stance on discipline almost creates as much rebellion as it squelches. Ironically, her rigidness and toughness means that many of the students who tend to run the wrong way in classes where they have more rope (like mine) don't give her issues, because they have no rope! On the other hand, some students who are mature enough to make good decisions end up making bad decisions just because they are rebelling against the rigidness of class. If I could have picked three students who give me headaches everyday, these three would not have been on the list (unless the list included all of my students).
Anyway, it's an interesting lesson to me that it is a very difficult balance to have the appropriate amount of rigidness and looseness. I probably err on the side of looseness, which means I lose some battles, but I also now see that erring on the side of rigidness also losses some different battles.
Being a teacher is fun because I get to keep learning!

2007-11-08T16:26:00.000-08:00

Not to be too political, but this story made me smile:
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=58255
Texas Rangers and Arkansas Governors Unite!

2007-11-07T19:06:00.000-08:00

When I was first student-teaching at the Middle School, my mentor-teacher told me that one of the fun things about teaching 6th or 7th grade students is that they seem to think that you're a small scale celebrity. This was brought to mind the other day when we had an assembly and they invited teachers to come up on the stage and dance. I decided to grab one of my fellow teachers and try to swing dance on stage. This was not as successful as I hoped, but now I know what it's like to have 1000+ preteens cheering me to the stage (and a couple who stole my meterstick named 'Motivation').

2007-10-22T15:53:00.000-07:00

There are two great opportunities to come and see us (and many others) in the next few months.
1) Little Rock Family Dance -- November 10th
2) Joplin Family Weekend (Dance and usually some sort of organized sports) -- February 2008
Both offer free housing to any who can make it. Joplin also usually provides a fair number of meals (the last time they hosted a weekend like this the only 'sure' cost for a person was getting to and from Joplin). Little Rock does have a price to cover the band: 5$ per adult (or 20$ max for a family). If you want any information on either of these, let me know!

2007-10-19T18:02:00.000-07:00

So I need to either post or delete my blog. Pray or get off your knees as I once heard it. Okay, actually that wasn't it. It was something about going to the bathroom or moving on, but it doesn't translate real well after college...
It's truly amazing to try to get back to 'daily' life. My students are good kids, but they don't know the truth. My brother is a nice guy, but he has no idea about God. My coworkers are great teachers, but can't back up their teachings with Christian (or even religious) morality. Fortunatly, God has decided to be very encouraging these last few weeks and answer many of Amanda and my prayers: (1) My brother is moving out which should make life simplier if not easier; (2) My dad found a new job and is moving which takes a major stress out of his life; (3) Amanda found a job; and (4) My best friend from college (and his wife) had a successful delivery of their first baby.
But beyond all these personal things, I find it very encouraging to see what God is doing with His work. It seems like pieces might start to come together in very dramatic ways. While it was very saddening to hear that many were still offended and being offended, I guess that has to be expected given what Christ said in Matthew 24.
At any rate, it was a great Feast, and I hope others had the same quality that I did. I'll try to post more often and not be boring (as Jake is worried about!).

2007-06-28T20:12:00.000-07:00

1st major trip of the summer down! Amanda and I got to travel through 11 states, visit (briefly) 3 national parks, talk to dozens of brethren, and see one wedding. I think Amanda will write a huge post on the trip, so if you want to see it, go to her blog.
Now we have 2 weeks to cool down in Arkansas. By cool down I mean read the new textbooks for next year, work at Outback, exercise with my brother, and figure out the singles event in Texas this year. Any suggestions from those of you going to Texas, especially those of you who are single, is appreciated.
Reading through Paul has always been hard for me. I can read history books (Genesis, Joshua, Nehemiah, Luke, Acts, etc.) with little problem keeping up and hopefully gaining some spiritual meat. Paul on the other hand takes me days to work through small books to get the same quality. It's almost like when I read them I think of all the arguments protestants use based off those scriptures and I just want to hurry through and not to get too confused. But if I am really willing to study, then God can help me through, I just have to really commit myself and be diligent. It can just be frustrating when it takes me the same amount of time to read one chapter in Ephesians as it does to read half of Judges. I guess I just have to accept that those things that don't just jump at me are things that require extra focus... perhaps pure ole spiritual elbow grease or something.
I am really looking forward to camp, and I hope to see many of you there (and hopefully before we see each other we will know what we are doing there!).
Mark

2007-06-08T10:49:00.000-07:00

Okay, so Amanda and I are going to plan the River Walk activity at the Feast in Texas this year. It is going to be Sunday the 30th and is primarily a 'singles' activity, although after talking with Mr. Sena, I would use that term very loosely. We are basically planning to let everyone do their own thing in the afternoon: See the Alamo, watch whatever is playing at the IMAX, go shopping, visit one of the museums, etc. Then we would all meet up at 6pm or so to do the River Walk (charter a boat and get the whole tour). That boat would then drop us off at a restaurant for a nice dinner overlooking the riverwalk. Hopefully it will be a fun and relaxing little trip.
I am waiting to hear back from the restaurant. I want them to say something like "Yes, we can accomodate you, and don't worry, we'll burn all our unclean meats before you arrive."
Anyways, I will post more Texas propoganda when I have the chance.
So the students are gone, and next week my brother moves in. I'm a little anxious about it. He's a good kid, but he really does not believe in God. It's not to say he won't respect the Church, but he comes from a completely different perspective when it comes to looking at things. Still, I am really looking forward to having him around, I'm just wondering if living in the same appartment is going to be a bit too much 'aroundness.' But hey, if I see my brother's in need and I do nothing, what type of religion do I have? Right? That's in James somewhere I think...
Mark

2007-06-01T15:39:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!
This is going to be a great Sabbath! First off, I can rest with the knowledge that I have completed another year of school and my students are off to the 8th grade (in a few months) and I can focus on getting ready for next year and other studies.
Also, it is the five year anniversary of my baptism, which makes me reflective. I don't feel that I have grown as much as I should have over the past five years (but who does?). On the other hand, I've definitely grown. But the main feeling is just thankfulness. God called me. He gave me understanding. He's let me come into a church that teaches the Bible as it is. He has allowed me to meet many wonderful people along the way; people who I might rarely see, but will reign with soon enough.
Truly, this is going to be a great Sabbath! I hope yours is wonderful too!
Mark

2007-05-16T16:45:00.000-07:00

11 Days left! My students are basically completely ready for summer, and they are making me that way too. They just have more energy and are getting a bit too familiar. Still, many of them fear 8th grade (which for mine means going from Middle School to Junior High), so they try to soak up all the good memories they can these last few days. Or whatever good memories can be had in 7th grade.
I find it a bit ironic that my least favorite year in school is the year I end up teaching. Hopefully they are having a better time than I did, but its such a time of figuring yourself out ... they're simply really confused about a lot of things but they don't want anyone to know they are confused.
I am going to take a group of them to Outback to eat lunch on Friday. I hope they enjoy it. I picked the ones who have had good grades and good behavior for me all year long. Next year we are changing curriculum from geography to Arkansas History (fall) and World History (spring). That means I can hopefully plan trips to the local Civil War battlefields and Indian restaurants (I think there's one in the area...).
Okay, Amanda wants to buy a computer, and I, apparently, need to do more Bible Study because I did not write a thing here about anything spiritual. I am ashamed.
Mark

2007-04-18T15:44:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,
I hope you all had a great Spring Holy Day Season. Amanda and I have been very busy, especially since school has had both parent teacher conferences and the Benchmark exam these last two weeks. I do wonder if I make a truly effective teacher. It seems to me that the best teachers are the ones who have teaching and their students as their top priorities. Mine are never since those spots belong to God, the Church, my wife, etc. So am I really doing them justice? It's something I debate from time to time.
One thing I've been thinking a lot about lately is us younger people in the church. I really hope we are grounded in the Bible, growing in love for God and for each other. God has called us to feel each others pain and joy in the way that a body or family does. We have a lot to stand together for. God has a work to do in these end times, and I hope we do what we have to so that we can be instruments that He can use. I think a big part of that is edifying one another, which many of you do for me regularly.
I love you guys! Hopefully we will see each other soon!
Mark

2007-03-08T15:50:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,
So this weekend the movie 300 comes out, and I really want to see it as I have always enjoyed the story of the Spartan defense of Thermopolyae (sp?) and the Persian War in general. Of course, I know how the story ends... if it sticks to history that is. I have debated whether it is good to see a movie with lots of blood and guts (and maybe sex), but then I remembered I could always stay home and read the book of Judges which also has lots of blood, guts, armies of 300, and sex. So I will probably give it a try: I can always walk out if it is trash.
Amanda and I are hosting Mr. Stafford this weekend, so I better be going! In fact, he's here!
Mark

2007-02-02T09:52:00.000-08:00

So the bears are in a great position for this weekend. Basically most of the country believes that they will lose, some seem to be expressing wonder that they even got this far in the first place. Being from Chicago, and a life-long fan, I am in the minority who will be cheering for the Bears this weekend. Fortunately if they lose, than that's just what's expected. If they win then it is considered a great underdog story. But I can't help but think a month back when everyone was SURE that Ohio State was going to dominate Florida in the NCAA championship, and that story did not go at all the way it was prophesied to go. So I am hoping the Bears will do the same. It might not happen, but here's hoping!
So I am really starting to become a big fan of John the Baptist. I'm not sure the man gets the props he deserves. He laid the groundwork for Christ's ministry, going so far as to confuse people about Christ's own identity (ex some thought Christ was John resurrected). He also took on the Pharisees, pointed his disciples towards Christ, and received incredible compliments from the Son of God. And yet he died one of the most incredible deaths in the Scriptures (in my opinion). I mean, Christ was not only ON THE PLANET but basically in John's backyard and still he is arrested and executed. Not only is he executed, but he is executed because some girl managed to shake her hips real well in front of the king. What a ridiculous way to die! Where was God?! Physically and spiritually speaking He was pretty close. It's almost hard to wrap you mind around, or at least it is for me.
Hope everyone has a great weekend! Cheer for the Bears! More importantly, cheer for God! We get to do a work like John, just hopefully minus the decapitation part...

2007-01-15T14:16:00.000-08:00

The Bears Win! Not pretty, but it never is really...

It is definitely interesting catching up on the blogs. Unlike some other men who can shoot their own food, I find that most of my talents have very little practical value in true survival situations. While I don't really have any desire to learn how to hunt, I must admit that it really frustrates me that I really know nothing about guns, cars, and other things. For example, Amanda and I were told that our break pads are getting worn out and need to be replaced for a nice chunk of change. Since I have no clue as to whether they are truly worn or not, I almost have to side with the 'play it safe' philosophy and get them changed. On the other hand, I am full of useless knowledge, such as when I see a comerical for a movie titled "300" and see guys waving swords I immediately know what historical battle they are recreating. Now that's talent, right? At least I know how to cook thanks to a few years at Outback. So while Aaron, Ben, and the others go out to hunt, I can stay home and cook for the church family. It's kinda like they can be Esau, and I can be Jacob. I'm not sure that's a compliment for any of us though... And as a sidebar, was Esau's story kind of a Biblical redneck joke? I mean look at his name and what he does! It's almost like you're waiting for some guy to show up and tell him, "Here's your sign."

Alright, I should be lesson planning. Oh, and I'm not saying that Ben and Aaron are rednecks. They might be, but I'm not saying that, or at least I don't think I'm saying that.

Oh, we need to figure out how we can play more basketball in the church, that was really fun in KC, but we should do it more often!

2007-01-05T10:37:00.000-08:00

Wow! So it has taken me a while to find time to get to the library to post. Amanda is in the process of shopping for computers, and we might have found a winner which would be awesome, although I am still hestitant to commit the money to it until we (1) pay off the credit cards and (2) have the money. But still that could all happen in the next few weeks.

I hope everyone has had a great break (if you had one!). I am looking forward to getting back with my students next week, and hopefully they won't be too crazy. Usually 3rd nine weeks is one of the best because they know you, your system, what to do, but have not yet caught spring fever. Either way I will keep beating them with work and my meter stick.

This last weekend Chuck asked me what I have been studying recently and I think I gave him some sort of answer that pertained to school or geography. But what about Bible Study? Well, these last few days I've been going through a paper written by someone in a different organization as he attacks what Living states are mission is as a church, in particular to how that pertains to the gospel. It has been an enlightening experience because I am amazed at the lack of sound logic and scripture this man puts forth. He basically accuses Living of being Protestant because we say that the gospel includes the story of the life, death, and ressurrection of Jesus Christ. According to him, the gospel is ONLY the good news of the coming Kingdom of God. Now while it is indisputable that the Kingdom is the focus of Christ's messsage and much of the New Testament, how can one separate that from Christ? To me it's like trying to separate the Holy Days. You can't fully understand Tabernacles (the KofG) without all the ones that came before it. In the same sense, Passover and Unleavened Bread (life and death of Christ) cannot be completely understood without the Kingdom. There's no point to de-leavening yourself if you aren't working towards something -- the Kingdom! And you won't make it into the Kingdom without accepting Christ's sacrifice. Mr. Armstrong taught that all kingdoms had four unifying traits: (1) a king, (2) territory, (3) subjects, and (4) laws. How can you talk about God's Kingdom without Christ?! You've suddenly taken away the King AND the subjects since none of us are getting there without him! Absolutely absurd!

Basicaly this man tries to accuse Living of being Protestant because we talk about Christ as being part of the gospel. As a man who was raised for the first 20 years of his life in a mainstream Protestant church, I will declare this: THE LIVING CHURCH OF GOD IS NOT PROSTESTANT! But just because the Protestants talk about Christ and what He did does not mean that suddenly those scriptures are any less inspired than the rest of the Bible.

Very frustrating and very stupid. I have just finished reading most of the OT histories, which I love since I'm a history nut/major/nerd. To put it in the language of some of my students, "Those books are my boys!" (correct pronuciation would be 'boizzzz') But now it is time to go back to the NT and review all these issues that have come up lately.

It was great seeing a lot of you last weekend, and hopefully the rest of us will run in to each other soon!

Mark

2006-11-23T19:26:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving!
So what are we thankful for? After a long talk today, I have been brought to a new level of thankfulness for my parents. I've talked with some of you about them occasionally... I mean, how much do we just randomly talk about our parents? Today as we drove home from the hospital (which is another story in itself), my youngest brother, Amanda, and I quizzed my parents about what it was like growing up in their houses, how they met, major family events that occurred before we were born, etc. It was rather eye opening. Neither came from a perfect house, in fact, in many ways it was far from that. What is most surprising is how both of them overcame the different family weaknesses and became great parents for my brothers and I. Obviously, my parents are not perfect either, but the more I learn about parenting, the more I learn that I just need to imitate them if (or hopefully when) Amanda and I are blessed with children of our own.
It's hard to put it exactly in words... but I think here it is sufficient to say that if you no nothing else about my parents, then know that I deeply respect and love them.
I did not really intend to write all that... but there it is. Maybe the question of the day should them be this: What do you feel thankful for during this time?

2006-11-11T09:02:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone,
My school has decided that blogs are now against our AUP, so I can't see anyone's anymore, so once again I am cut off and have to rely on Amanda to relay news to me. But apparently all I've missed is a bunch of flirting.
We've decided that we are going to try to get to as many other church activities as we can. So this week we are down in Little Rock for a dance and staying with the Stifflers. Steve and I have decided we will be in charge of assigning caves at the Place of Safety. Basically this means you will have to be very nice to us or we'll put you next to someone who has smelly armpits.
I hope everyone's Sabbath is going great! We had a great meal, but now it's time to get hungry spiritually and go to services!

2006-10-17T17:44:00.000-07:00

Wow! What an amazing Feast! Where does one even begin to talk about it? The spiritual meat was great, especially since we had so many excellent speakers in Texas. Mr. Bryce started us off and Mr. Winnail came in at the end, and we had Mr. Sena, Mr. Smith, Mr. Solomon, and Mr. Reynolds in between. Simply great messages. Perhaps we need to come up with a site to put our Feast notes on for all to see (I would enjoy reading the ones you heard in other sites!).
I was not sure who would be at Texas in Amanda and my age range, and was pleasently surprised by the number of young couples there, even though most had children which meant they had to be in by 9! We did get to hang out with Ben and Summer quite a bit, although it does get a bit old having to remind Ben that the south lost the Civil War (apparently he was singing Dixie instead of Battle Hymn of the Republic one day...:-)) Speaking of which, I should post a picture just for him. There it is!
Alright, simple question: What was the best message you heard at the Feast this year? Or perhaps more to the point: Which message do you think will help you change your life for the better?
Ok, time to go and get working on some studying!
Life is great celebrating and serving our God, is it not?!
Mark

2006-09-08T19:18:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I have two general questions for discussion, providing anyone is actually aware of this blog.:)
1) Is it okay to challenge a friend who is going to seminary (Baptist) to ask her to prove why the Baptists believe in Sunday instead of the Sabbath?
2) Who are heros in this day in age that we could teach our students about?
The second question is based off of a discussion we had this week at school after Steve Irwin died. We were trying to find a hero who fit the following criteria: not sports related, not music related, not a religious figure, and finally, alive.
One month till the Feast!

2006-08-25T19:21:00.000-07:00

One week of school is done, and I am pretty happy with the seventh graders I got in my classes. There are a few ones that will need work, but overall I am pretty happy, especially considering how things went last year. I was very concerned about the number of boys I have, and the wierdness of my class sizes (the extremes are one class of 2 students, and one of 28), but so far so good.

But more importantly: who's going to be in the Kingdom? After reading through Genesis, it is easy to make a short list of those I feel fairly certain are going to be there: Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph with maybes going out to Lot and the other 11 sons of Jacob. On the women's side, though, it is harder to tell. I would definitely go with Sarah, but then there are a ton of maybes: Rebekah, Leah, Rachel, Tamar, and the wives of most of the rest of the men listed above. While the Bible goes to length to develop the men's stories, it does not do the same for the women. So while we know that the men overcame most of their weeknesses, I don't see the direct evidence that Rebekah overcame lying and manipulation, or that Leah and Rachel ever forgave each other, or that Tamar abandoned her Canaanite ways for a new way. I think the implication is there in large parts, but the exact wording is not (or at least not in Genesis).

Interesting stuff. Especially as I consider what these men did to prepare for their challenges (Joseph is probably the best example), I wonder what the role of women is in preparing for the times ahead when my wife and I will face the tests coming on this planet. Something to think (or meditate!) about I guess.

Have a great Sabbath!
Mark

2006-08-19T19:40:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure if this is wise. I think starting a blog could be really good, but on the other hand, it might not work at all. Perhaps this will be a great way for friends to keep up with me, but I don't really have any way to access this at the moment. Well, at least not at home or at school. But perhaps we'll give it a try, because we all know that nothing will come from not doing it.

Monday I get a new group of 7th graders, which is a bit nerve racking since 7th graders are by nature nerve racking. I had planned on buying a big stick, but I guess I will have to rely on my height to intimidate them.

Speaking of them, I need to plan at some point, and I am a firm believer in short posts.