Glory in the Air

A task took me out of the office and into the hallway right outside my door last week. The lights were out. There was a stillness not normally found in a primary hallway during the middle of the day. A door opened somewhere out of sight and a warm, loving refrain echoed down the hallway and caught my full attention:

“We give you all the glory, we give you all the glory, Christ the Lord.”

The simple melody and repeating words pulled at my heart and caused me to push aside the tasks of the morning and just stop and listen. Students were practicing in the gym for our Christmas Concert and their love of the message they were singing was tangible. What a wonderful words for our students to dwell on in this late advent season as we approach the manger gift of Immanuel – God with us!

I am not a shepherd and don’t make my living among sheep, but I think I shared something in common with those herders of long ago as I paused. For just a brief moment, in a quiet hallway, I was being drawn out of the immediacy of a task to consider and reflect on something incredible. God of heaven come down, here on earth, for us. Hallelujah!  I wonder what it must have been like to be surprised by a sky full of angels singing a song about the glory of God on that Bethlehem night long ago.

May the glory of Christmas and majesty of God’s greatest gift fill us with joy and gratitude. On behalf of the LCES Board, staff, and students we wish you a wonderful break celebrating with family and friends.  SJ

Who's coming? How will they know?

While the winter snows are starting to swirl, the warm month of August 2017 is on my mind. I’ve shared with a few people in the last week that work is already beginning on the very first pieces of planning for the next school year. A key part of that is anticipating how we will connect with our new families. We are eager to ensure that Christian families know about us and the option for Christian education that we offer every day. I hope to be busy in January and February talking to future LCES families that will join us.

Our Promotions Committee has been active in the last year in working on several things to ensure that we are known in our community. A new printed package has been made for inquiring parents. Promotional handout materials have been redesigned. Different road signage is under review. Intensive work with the school’s website has taken place since we have come to realize over time that an electronic presence is one of our best ways of representing ourselves well. We do have some parents who inquire as result of doing an Internet search only, with no other connection to us.  Changes to our school's foundation and the results of the Bright Futures capital campaign will, in part, support the amount of financial help we will be able to offer families, both new and returning, each year.

While those are vital areas not be overlooked, a major and more common theme of inquiring parents who eventually enroll their children is a story of someone in their life who has nudged and challenged them to look intently at the option of Christian Education for their children. They have shared the difference LCES has made to their family and how the Lord has blessed the choice they felt called to make.

Here’s a few ideas of how you can help:

·         Pray for clarity and provision for the parents we don’t know yet as they deliberate and discern their way to us.

·         Try summarizing in two minutes what LCES means to you. I’ve been surprised where opportunities to speak about our school suddenly presented themselves and was thankful I had some quick key ideas in my memory for the brief moments of a captive audience. 

·         Write up a review of our school on Google and Facebook. Increasingly, this a frequently used tool our younger parents use that speaks convincingly to them as they make choices.

·         Like and share the school’s facebook posts often.

·         Invite people to attend school events with you like the Christmas Concert next week, the May Soiree, Track and Field Day, Graduation, etc.

For our school, and our future LCES parents. SJ

LCES at 75: A Bright Future

I recently talked with someone about the theoretical 75th anniversary celebration of LCES in 2037. It was a fun idea to consider, both in the unknown of what will yet happen before then – like who will work at and attend our school, and also in recognizing some of the tremendous blessings the Lord has given to LCES since our 50th almost five years ago. I firmly believe that the Bright Futures capital campaign will be one of the items on the list of blessings received. I can hardly wait to tell the stories.

To their great delight, students and teachers in three classrooms walked into classrooms this morning with fresh new whiteboards installed over the weekend. They are the most recent investments in our physical learning environment that follow things like chairs, carpet, and Chromebooks described earlier in the fall.

Our committed and resourceful teachers and educational assistants are our first and greatest resource in educating our students. Their exceptional work is amplified with additional resources help us to keep up excellent learning facilities and consider new ways of helping students learn and grow. As principal, it has been so exciting and invigorating to see how small, carefully chosen additional capital investments are changing our students’ experiences and helping our teachers to consider new horizons and possibilities. We have many more project ideas we can’t wait to explore.

A very committed group of present and former LCES parents have been busy in the last 15 months working on this significant capital campaign which is heading toward completion at the end of this month. The circle has been widened significantly by extending the opportunity to participate in giving to more than 1400 present and former parents, alumni, and friends of the school. We pray for God’s provision in their response as we seek to “educate children, equipping them for a life of faithful, Christian discipleship.” [LCES Vision statement] SJ

Momentum and Direction: Advent at a Christian School

A Christmas tree was put up in the main hallway this morning and the calendar turns to December on Thursday. A forward thinking person has placed shovels at all entrances of the school and the lost and found now includes an assortment of orphaned mitts and gloves. Audible evidence of Christmas songs has been heard in the hallways now for a few weeks, first seeming out of place being so early in the fall but now fitting right in with the growing momentum of Christmas less than a month away.

The lead up to Christmas is often filled with the wrong things. I was reminded by a staff member’s advent devotions this morning that one of the first things I ought to start with is not the dusty box of ornaments, or the sequencing of holiday plans, or even the gift frenzy – but sober recognition that I need a Saviour. The cozy feeling of Christmas food, lights, music and ritual might be the direction we are first drawn to, but that is an incomplete picture of what Christmas is about and launches us toward an impoverished participation in a critical part of our faith: recognizing that God become man to save people like you and I.

We know this, and yet we even grow weary of the repeated phrases “the true meaning of Christmas” and “reason for the season.” Habits and traditions, media, and the world of retail seem to try to propel us to a level of hype with so much momentum toward Christmas day that we end up exhausted and disillusioned at the manger on Christmas morn, rather than consumed with awe as Mary was when she sang “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour.”

If you were part of the LCES community last year you may recall the Christmas program presentation of
our students that told the story of Christmas razzle-dazzle and spectacle that was a long way off from where we ought to be. This year our Christmas concert on December 21st has the goal of expressing where we ought to start, worshipping, glorifying and praising God for Jesus born for us. No tinsel required. See you there! SJ

[Not] Me First! : Modelling, Service, and Learning

A relative of mine once told me that life is one long process of learning to forget about yourself. I believe what he meant was that we start out as children with a very me-centric way of thinking and acting. As responsibilities get added through life and others become more dependent on you, it certainly changes your perspective. Ask a first-time parent of a 6 month child how they have been challenged to put themselves second!

With joy I watch the “me first” of our youngest learners transition toward “consider others first” as the stretch of years from JK through grade eight unfold. Our students are given many opportunities to realize the benefit of acknowledging that life isn’t actually all about them. They are given many opportunities to learn to seek out the “feel” of the rich blessing and reward of serving others and to call that “normal.” There is much more going on than simply sweeping up after a SK lunch, collecting stinky compost, or tying skates of younger students. Habits of faith are emerging. I’m convinced these are formative experiences that make lasting impressions about their identity as God’s children, called to love and serve.  

Here is an example: This morning, our Leaders in Training team (LIT), all grade seven and eight students, took ownership of an anti-bullying message that they wanted to share with the all students from JK through eight. They created and acted out real life bus, playground, and classrooms situations that they could role play in front of 15 students, showing the right and wrong way to deal with conflict. Groups rotated around the gym to take in three mini-lessons on relating to peers well. Watching a particular session, I marveled at how serious they took this task and how closely their young audience watched and listened.

 I’m thankful today for student leadership and growth in the lives of our students. May the mindset they are challenged with today shape the way they respond to choices they make in the future – tomorrow, or decades from now. SJ

Wanted: Faithful Parents in the Maze

Phones, tablets, gizmos and screens. They are part of our life and certainly part of our everyday reality for most parents, employees, and students.

I’m sure that you have been part of a conversation at some point in which mention is made of what you did or didn’t have yourself as a child in terms of “things with screens.” Perhaps you’ve even laughed about what an adult can’t figure out themselves on these devices, even though a three year old in their life can figure things out on their own. Perhaps the fact that children can use a tablet at a young age isn’t actually an indicator of being “smart”, as much as it is the skill of software designers in making use of navigation that is repetitive and predictable. They have, after all, just memorized a short sequence of actions to get what they want. That is not wisdom by definition.  

Most mornings this fall I have been walking to school with two of my children. We have to cross streets, use traffic lights, gauge traffic speed, and assess driver’s abilities to see us. When reasonably safe, I allow them to make these decisions – hovering close by to trump their decision if it is unsafe or unwise. They are clearly not ready to take this task on entirely by themselves, but I hope I am planting seeds of safe pedestrians in the future.

This example is, of course, rather ordinary. I name it only to make the case that there is a parallel for an immediate and pressing need for parents to enter the maze of these devices alongside their students. Your faithful presence, rather than silence is needed in this area too. There is rich potential for good in the form of innovative and expansive learning, communication & collaboration, and personal participation is immense in using devices. They also are concerning in terms of forming habits, changing the nature of relationships, and perhaps most concerning - wasting God’s gift of time and opportunity on things of little or no value.

In the same way that it would not be realistic or appropriate for our children to transition from first time walkers directly to independent pedestrians without help, our children need adults working with them to seek out balance and know what it feels like. They need close guidance to sort out what is true, right, and honorable as they use them so they eventually do that on their own.  Let’s enter the maze, and take God’s Word with us. We’ll learn on the way.

SJ

P.S. Two resources:

1. LCES E-Devices Guidelines
2. Questions about tech for parents to consider

Time Change: So What’s New?

My first task Monday morning was to set the school bell system clock to the new time. It reminded me that much of what happens in a school setting follows a predictable rhythm. Bus/car trips to and from school, class schedules, outdoor recess, devotions & prayer are examples of things that give predictability to our life here at LCES. I think that students (and adults) actually appreciate routine in a good part of their life, with a portion of spontaneity liberally mixed in. A presenter I heard once proposed that without routines, or as he called them - habits, every decision all day long would be processed as if we had never faced it before. Sounds exhausting!

We find ourselves at LCES in that delicate balance of managing routine and new things all the time. Structure and habits cease to become valuable to us when we too infrequently circle back and evaluate - how is that working for us? Here are a few routines I see being challenged here at LCES right now:

Grade seven, with Mr. Hosmar as guide, is trying out a very different classroom arrangement. They have replaced most desks with multiple areas to work at depending on what the learning task at hand is.

Sometimes they sit in a stadium style arrangement, other times it looks more like a family living room, other times it looks like a research lab.  There is nothing permanent about the configuration, but it has been fascinating to watch how space changes learning.

Our JK and SK classes are developing differently as learners in how they shape their own learning. In addition to teacher directed learning activities including prepared materials, allowing students to shape their own learning based on what they want to do, learn, and share in lessons shaped by inquiry based learning. Students pose questions, answer them, investigate, and collaborate - with the teachers supporting them every step of the way. It is exciting to watch their progress. Building bird feeders out of pumpkins is an example I saw recently - research in action!

Adding Chromebooks to our toolbox of learning tools has been fascinating this fall. These very mobile, simple computers have been used from JK all the way to grade 8 in many subject areas. What’s interesting to me is that when they are the right tool for the learning underway, using them causes the tool to become less important than the learning that is happening with them. They are not “doing computers”, they are learning and it happens to be on a computer in their classroom.

At LCES, I’m thankful for both routine and new things to challenge us. SJ

Smiling Young Faces: In Whose Image?

Picture retakes took place today, offering some students or staff who were not pleased with the original image captured to “try again” at striking their best smile for posterity.  A blink, a crooked smile, or an awkward head positioning is hardly how we want to be remembered after all.  The photo company provides me with a “principal brag book” which has class pictures of each grade and includes the staff group shot. I look through it from time to time throughout the year and can’t help but smile when I do. Tracking the growth, inward and outward, of our students is part of what makes a school a wonderful place to be.

High-tech camera gear captures their image, but it is worth remembering the author of that image.  Genesis one reminds us that God man people in his image, one of the key things that distinguishes us from the rest of creation. So what does it mean that our students, your children “bear God’s image?”

To start, here are few ideas. It means our students:

·         have as their life-long goal (like us) to glorify God and enjoy his goodness forever

·         are tasked and equipped by God to be captivated by his world and care for it with  a love modelled by its creator

·         are more than the sum total of their emotional, physical, and spiritual selves. They are dearly loved, intimately known, and have a specific purpose – all known by the creator they reflect.

·         are able to create things in ways that reflect the way our creative God who fashioned the universe

·         are in relationships with many people, in the same way God connects with his world and his people every day

As I enjoy the picture records of beautiful smiles, carefully chosen clothing and groomed hair for years to come, I’ll be sure to appreciate the picture, but more importantly I’ll praise God for the image-bearers I had the chance to be with every day.  SJ

But Do You Love Me? : Aiming For More Than Obedience

I may be dating myself, but I can clearly recall watching the musical Fiddler On The Roof about Russian Jews at the turn of the 20th century. The main character, Tevye the milkman, asks his wife if she loves him. Her rather dry, irrated response was to name all the things she has done for him: milked his cows, cooked his meals, cleaned his house, had his many children, ate with him, starved with him.  “If that isn’t love what is?” was her quick answer in a dismissive tone. What Tevye was asking for, and eventually got, was an answer that communicated love was the first, rather than the last, principle that defined their relationship.

Teachers will become students this Thursday morning as they travel to Ancaster to be part of a gathering of hundreds of Christian educators for a two-day conference held at the Redeemer University College campus. This annual conference has always been a highlight for me as an educator. It comes after about seven weeks of school and offers a chance to leave the classroom to be challenged, encouraged, and energized for the return back the following Monday. Being with that many educators in workshops together affords us times of collaboration, innovation, and professional networking with people from across the province and beyond. It is a wonderful time of growth and learning. The singing is often a highlight for many.

“Leading with  Love”  is the theme chosen for these two days this year, with two presentations husband and wife team Steven & Joanna Levi. Their message will remind us that Jesus became the new covenant and declared that he was making all things new, and that “in him all things hold together” ( Colosians 1:15-17). Believing that everything we do finds its purpose in God, and in light of the new covenant of God, we wish to challenge ourselves to go beyond obedience and toward love.  

What does this mean for us at LCES? We want to challenge students to go beyond simply following in obedience and be compelled to do what they do because love takes over. Love for Christ, love for God’s amazing world, and love for each other. When love has taken over and “we have to”  is replaced with “I want to”, we know we are getting there.

Praise God for an opportunity like this for our teachers. SJ

A New Playground, 15,000 kms Away

If our students graduated after grade eight believing that every other school-aged child in the world lives exactly as they do in their school-home-church universe, we would be missing an opportunity. Similarly, if the only mention of money and fundraising in their elementary years at LCES were efforts to direct funds back toward themselves and/or their school, something would be missing. 

With the LCES goal of facilitating a grateful response to God by using mind and body to serve others, we challenge our students to be a faithful presence in a broken, but dearly loved world.  As an expression of thanks and in response the instruction to be a blessing to “all nations” (Genesis 12:2), students participate in a Student Service Project each year.  Each class invests time and effort in some kind of initiative that generates funds that support the chosen project. Examples of this include selling smoothies, a fun fair, ice cream refreshments at the Shakespeare play in May, and much more.

We’ve chosen to continue with the organization we chose last year, Compassion Canada, who links us to “..the developing world to end poverty in the life of a child, in Jesus’ name.” 

 (www.compassion.ca)  Two specific projects we have chosen for 2016-17 are in the country of Indonesia. One goal is to equip a classroom with the books necessary for learning because they lack these basic tools to study God’s world. The other project is to create a play structure for students to use, allowing them the joy of play (a child’s community) and the refuge of safer place to play than the playground of the city streets.

It has been our experience that these service projects offer unique opportunities for learning. Students are challenged to meet the brokenness of this world in ways that are not otherwise familiar to them.  They can see themselves as part of returning this world to the way it was intended to be by God’s design and for his glory. Economic, cultural and geographic differences that become clear in unique ways and empathy for others and recognizing the call to be of Christian service (see LCES Graduate Profile) are valued outcomes.

I’m thankful for the opportunity to witness belief shape action in the lives of our students. May God be praised and may his kingdom come. SJ

Spider-Man and Pine Cones: The Joy of Lists

“Joy is the simplest form of gratitude.”   K.Barth

I’ve commented many times in my years at LCES that having an office across the hallway from the JK and SK classrooms is often a helpful experience for me. I remain convinced that while our youngest students have much to learn, they also have much to teach us about how to respond to God’s world. Their joyful response to a world of discovery can cause us to stop and take stock of what actually lives around us and what is important.

Last week the JK class spent some time working on expressing what they are thankful for. Here is a combination of a number of their sentences:

I’m thankful for all of the kids in my class at school today.

I’m thankful for a drink.

I’m thankful for Spider-Man.

I’m thankful for going outside and play.

I’m thankful for laughing.

I’m really thankful for mom and dad.

I’m really thankful for school.

I’m thankful for pinecones.

I’m really thankful for that it could be winter.

I’m really thankful for my mom.

But most of all I’m thankful for God.

Indeed, we have so very much to be thankful for. I’ll take my cue from our students and create my own list of things I am thankful for:

I’m thankful for committed, industrious, and innovative staffs who work at LCES.

I’m thankful for the Psalms we read every Monday morning before the students enter.

I’m thankful for the freedom and opportunity of Christian Education in Ontario, and for the exciting larger picture of organizations like ours across Canada and the world.

I’m thankful for missing-tooth smiles and birthday treats students share with me.

I’m thankful for the symphony of colour I see this morning outside my office window.

I’m thankful for the abundant blessings received through the Bright Futures Campaign.

But most of all, I’m thankful for continual reminders that God is at work in our school.

May our thankfulness turn to joy every day. God is very good to us.

SJ

Carnivals and Kingdoms

Thankful is a word on my mind this morning. We were blessed with a break from the wet, cool weather on Saturday long enough that Fall Fest was able to proceed as planned. The hallways and gym were places of delight as students revelled in their jar room finds and our community took in the sights, sounds, and smells of the event that reminds us it is truly fall.  It is a wonderful thing to see people chose to come together around not only an interest, but an underlying commitment to the value of living in connection with neighbor, and the great worth of Christian Education. I’m thankful for the countless hours of work completed by willing hands. Beyond the funds raised, we were immensely blessed with opportunity to connect.

I’m not sure carnival is the right word, but certainly the atmosphere of the day is tangibly different as everyone arrives and is caught up in the activities of the day.  It is still the same building, many of the same people, but of course all seen in a totally new way.  Furniture is moved, rooms are re-purposed, and decorations go up. Everything is different enough that we stand up and take notice.

This connects well to our chapel this past Monday Build you Kingdom Here.  A primary student proudly recited memory work to me last week. “In God’s kingdom, here is what matters:  a right way of life, peace and joy, all from the Holy Spirit.” We are blessed with these gifts of the Spirit every day as we learn and grow along with our students. God’s Kingdom is coming, and is already here.  God has done the work; our job is to stand up and look around us and see how all things are being made new again. What do we see changing? Our task is to share the good news of what see!

morning which took us deeper into the concept of our school theme,

I’m thankful our student’s eyes can be challenged to see God’s kingdom every day at LCES. May we never cease to notice and give voice to our gratitude.  SJ

Coast to Coast: The Big Picture of Christian Education in Canada

I had the opportunity last week to travel to Alberta to be part of a Christian Schools Canada conference where two hundred leaders from all over Canada gathered to encourage, challenge, and support one another. It was a significant blessing for me in my position as one of the leaders of LCES, both in recognizing God’s greater story of Christian Education across the country, as well as being challenged to consider new goals and pathways for a school to achieve its mission and vision. I can easily say that the story of Christian Education in Canada is dynamic, exciting, and led by passionate people. 

Here are few of my notes:

Christian schools are becoming increasingly complex. The diversity of families and their needs, the educational realities of pursuing excellent, meaningful learning, and the operational demands of working in a positive and compliant way with the organizations around us push us to complexity and intensity. Clarity of purpose and direction becomes increasingly important as we move into the critical era of the third generation of people carrying the goals of Christian education forward. 

Christian schools are working hard at things like being sustainable in the long term, being correctly understood in the public eye, and inwardly digging deep to examine our core purpose: what should learning look like in 2016? We do this while preserving the best of our past and bringing in new structures, ideas, and most importantly, recognizing that our present parents and future students live in different times than the founders of our schools. Christian schools are aspiring to be a faithful presence at a time where people’s general trust and interest in institutions is dwindling. 

Our keynote speaker, Andy Crouch, painted a picture of people and institutions using God-given power to be a source of immense blessing to those around them. Acting with total authority and simultaneous total vulnerability, allows people and institutions to properly bear God’s image and encourage the kind of flourishing of God’s world that he originally intended. This connects well to our school theme this year of “Build Your Kingdom Here” as we think on ways that God’s plan for a restored and renewed world are visible around us. 

Three paragraphs don’t do three days justice, but I trust this gives you the impression of how rich this time was. Christian Education is tough, but entirely worth the struggle if we think off those who ultimately benefit: children being challenged to know, love, and serve the Lord all their days.   SJ

Faithful Instruction: Patterns and Routines

Classroom teachers have been busy working in classrooms in the last weeks to setup a daily rhythm of school life and learning in their rooms. I often watch our students arrive and greet them in the halls and marvel at how quickly they fall in to routines and patterns specific to their grade.

Many years ago my then two year old nephew, youngest of four in his family, was keen to follow the pattern on his older siblings in reciting a prayer spoken before a family meal:

“God is good, God is great
Let us thank Him for our food.
By his hands, we are fed,
Thank-you Lord, for daily bread. Amen”

Unable to say or understand the words spoken by his siblings, his exuberant version was:

"God is great, God is great!
God is great, God is great!
God is great, God is great!
God is great, God is great! Amen!"

In his mind, he was participating just as equally as his siblings. Perhaps his rhythmically perfect version contained as much meaning and purpose as his siblings well-practiced versions. The repeated prayer became like were well-worn grooves in their minds and hearts, reminding them of the gift of food by God’s provision.

So, how do you instruct children to live faithfully? Reading Old Testament stories at home after supper recently and devoting with school staff over the Psalms (Psalm 78 this morning) make me reflect on this question frequently. It strikes me that one of the loudest “voices” in cultivating faithfulness in young children are structures that gently, but deliberately guide them to recognize that God made them, God loves them, and God knows them “by name.” (Isa. 43:1) What a rich blessing that those “patterns of faithfulness” in even the smallest of things can start at home and continue here at LCES.

Praise God for Christian education; may it bear fruit in the lives of our children! SJ

On Cutting Down Trees

My uncle once started to trim a tree to keep it under control, but was interrupted by a pressing errand and left the scene in a hurry. The saw was hastily left resting against the trunk of the tree. My cousin - wanting to make up for a previous indiscretion - arrived home, saw an opportunity to help, and gave his heart and soul to finishing the job of cutting the entire tree right down to the ground before his dad came home. Excited words and a heated argument ensued over the rationale for the decision. Eventually they found common ground; regardless the tree was down. A year later, the newly landscaped yard was the source of much pleasure as result of new opportunity for design. 

In the last weeks of late summer preparations for the school year I watched through my office window as many tall, stately trees were cut down across the street. A previously empty lot became a construction site. With some sadness I noticed how different and bare things looked. There is something about cutting a tree down that feels so permanent as many years of growth ends so abruptly. 

Perhaps at some point decades ago East London residents had the same observation when the shovel first met the ground to create our original school building in 1961, or with subsequent additions. The trees are gone, but their ending made way for our beginning. 

Some endings hurt, especially so if we don’t see or understand the new beginnings they create. Teachers frequently find themselves trying to encourage students to take risks and move to next steps in their own learning. That may mean making a leap of trust, making a necessary ending,  or creating a new beginning in terms of a mindset they have toward something.

May our students have the wisdom and courage to choose well, and act bravely wherever they are.  SJ

Reaching New Heights

The school was full of happy sounds this morning as we welcomed new and returning students and their families to the 56th year of learning by faith at LCES. We look forward to seeing our JK and SK classes tomorrow on Wednesday when they experience their much anticipated first day of school. Several staff noted how much many of our students had changed and grown throughout the summer. I overheard a student this morning remark “This fountain is lower than it was last year.” May their growth in wisdom and knowledge match pace with the centimeters they add to their height this year.

The height of students isn’t the only thing that has changed around us as we start this new year. Here are some other noticeable changes:

●     Several weeks ago construction efforts started across the street on a housing development for adults with disabilities. I’ve been in contact with the developers about this interesting new project that will extend into next year. Please be aware of extra construction traffic as you arrive and depart each day.

●     We trust that you have already heard about our 3:25pm & 3:28pm dismissal times. (See last week’s e-mail letter)

●     Thanks for those who have submitted vulnerable sector police checks to the office. Please take care of this task soon so we can continue to benefit from the volunteers that support our school.

●     You will notice that a few things will be different because of the reduction in teaching staff compared to previous years. We have carefully reviewed all the things our teachers do in addition to classroom teaching and reduced and made changes in ways we believe will allow us to preserve opportunities for students as much as possible. Chapels will not be as frequent and we will be offering a few less extra-curricular activities.

●     Technology in our school has continued to move along with continued learning by our teachers in how to use it as one of many tools of learning. Chromebooks in the school will allow us to take the possibilities of learning right to where the learning happens - the classroom. Fewer desktop computers in other places has already freed up space for us to work in different ways in those places. Stay tuned for more later this fall on these developments.

As much as things change, we are elated that we serve a God whose faithfulness doesn’t change as we move into the rhythm and routine of a new year. The LCES staff and LCES Board requests prayerful support from your household as we see to the care and nurture of God’s handiwork, your children.  SJ

Numbering Days at the Finish Line

“Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”  Psalm 90:11

Family gatherings, graduations, weddings, and retirements, and other endings and beginnings  share something in common.  Often they happen in June, and often they cause our perspective to lift up out of the ordinariness of life and think about what is “right, pure, lovely, admirable, and praiseworthy”  (Philipians 4:8). Our staff read Psalm 90 this morning which challenges us to make the first things first and to seek wisdom in all that we do.

In just a few days the 55^th school year of LCES will come to a close.  A student shared with me this morning that they were both sad and happy. Sad that time with classmates and teacher was coming to close. What I expected next was something to the effect of “happy that summer holidays will begin”. Instead, the student remarked “happy that I get to try again next year.”

Was the desire to try again the result of success, or wanting a "re-do" on something important. I didn't ask, but here is great wisdom in what this child shared with me in perspective alone. An ending can create a beginning, depending on how we are ready to number our days and make them valuable as we pursue wisdom. Mistakes, opposition, and even failure are the endurance road of building great things like character, resilience, and ultimately – God’s kingdom.  May we have the mindset of this young learner as we bring a school year to a close and head off toward rest, reflection and renewal.

We pray for a fantastic and safe summer of togetherness for our LCES families as they change routine, travel far and wide in God’s amazing creation, and move toward wherever God is leading them. For our graduates, and for our “gradating parents” who have reach the finish line of LCES, thank you for investing in LCES for so many years.  May God’s provision and love go with you in the new chapters in front of you.

I’m delighted that we get to try again next year. SJ

Being Known: A place to belong at LCES

“I have summoned you by name; you are mine” Isaiah 43:1

At a farewell chapel this morning, grade seven shared some thoughts about our grade eight students who graduate this week. Positive, fun, and yet very personal poetry surrounded words of care and support as “awards” were given to our graduates beginning their last week here at LCES. Being able to mention that someone doesn’t like cucumbers, struggles with a fear of heights, or silently serves others reveals that they have been known beyond a layer of superficial connection. Being known matters.

At a retirement open house this past weekend, former parents and students returned to thank and honour two of our staff with personal greetings. Specific recollections were shared of very clear memories of triumph and challenge on the road of learning, some more than two decades before. Learning has a relational context in which being known sets the stage for students to overcome barriers and cope with great challenges. Being known matters.

Very soon I’ll read over more than 200 report cards which chronicle a year of classroom learning. In addition to valuable data that summarizes effort, achievement, and even attitude, specific words are created that reveal a relationship in which students are challenged, encouraged, and even celebrated with words specifically designed for them. I admire our talented staff who do this well. Being known matters.

Our graduation ceremony this Friday will also celebrate and recognize each student in a variety of ways. Words are prepared that show each graduate is unique, valuable, and capable of serving the Lord in ways he has prepared for them. A “celebration of gifts” is the goal of our graduation event as we praise God for his great faithfulness. Being known matters.

I’m thankful that LCES offers a place for all of our children to be, and to be known. More importantly, through our words and actions, may they recognize that the Lord knows them by name and claims them as his own. SJ

Leaping in Faith

Sleeping bags, fishing rods, mosquito spray, and a great appetite for adventure were all on board the bus early this morning. I had the opportunity to pray a blessing over our grade eight class and wish them well before they left for an adventure of a lifetime. Three days at a Muskoka sports adventure camp in the beautiful “near north” of Ontario started today for them. May God go with them.

Among the many activities they do on this trip, some involve risk. Trained staff and safety equipment ensure that risk is done within a safe setting, but regardless students are challenged to face elements of risk and perhaps push themselves to do things they may first shy away from. One of the most dramatic has the significant name of “The Leap of Faith.” With helmet donned and safety harness double checked, students have the challenge of leaping off the safety of a precarious platform 35 feet up into nothing but empty space to ring a bell or hit a ball that is just out of reach. I’ve made that leap myself years ago at this camp and can attest that jumping into a “free fall” becomes a mind-over-body matter.

While this class trip is underway and details are nearing completion with our upcoming graduation, new risk takers are being organized at the other end of the school. A “test run” portion of a day for our future JK and SK students is being organized. It asks them and their parents to make a “leap of faith” into a new stage of life with so many implications.

Our staff, board, and even the larger provincial organizations supporting Christian education are all

poised to make new beginnings and “leaps”. Before them are new areas and ways of working that

they don’t have experience with or an entirely clear understanding of. Being intimately connected

with the Bright Futures Campaign this year has given me a new appreciation for the “leap of faith” of those who first organized LCES, and for our campaign venture that seeks to also make the equivalent leap into our future that God is showing us.

During chapel this morning I noticed a student’s T-shirt that proclaimed Psalm 145:4 - “One genera-

tion commends your works to another; they tell of your mighty acts.” Recounting the might acts of

God in the past and present allows us to make these “leaps” into the future with confidence. May we

continue to leap forward in faith in all we do! SJ

A Long Obedience in the Same Direction

Do you know these busy LCES staff members?  They are enjoying their last month of working with students at LCES before retiring this summer.

Between the two of them, Janet Holtrop (Resource) and Janet Laarman (Gr.1) they have nearly 50 years of service combined at our school. That is a lot of students, lessons, report cards, field trips, meetings, parent-teacher interviews, and most importantly – teaching! 

Eugene Peterson talks about the concept of “a long obedience in the same direction.” In God’s economy of kingdom building, faithfulness is measured not only by dramatic, highly visible moments of creation, innovation, change, but also by doing the most ordinary and routine of things with care, clearly understanding that “whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus.” (Colossians 3:17)

We thank both of these well-known servants for their part in the story of our school and helping us to with their “long obedience” toward the direction of a school that teaches God’s truth, delights in God’s creation, and guides God’s children to find their place in his world.

A drop-in coffee/tea open house will take place on Saturday, June 18 from 10am-12pm. Feel free to drop by the school, say hello, and share your thanks and celebrate this milestone with them. Spread the word!  SJ

An Invitation From a Student: Will You Stay?

Students entering our building on any given morning is a moment that I greatly enjoy. Their return back to school creates a pulse of energy and clarity of purpose that draws me in.  Whether it is with smiles and laughter, tired faces, or even concerned looks, they leave their world at home and become part of a social situation of learning and growing for the next number of hours.

Last week I was greeting students in the hallway as they arrived and was drawn in to a classroom where students were sharing things they were busy creating. As the class settled toward their morning routine with their teacher, I was prepared to make my inconspicuous exit. Just before I did, a student approached me and asked “Mr. Janssen, will you stay and join us in our devotions?”  There was only one right answer. I quickly took my place on a chair that was moved in place for me. 

“What should we be busy doing until Christ returns?” was the main question the class centered on after reading the Matthew 24 text. I listened to their reflective answers about learning, serving, growing, and waiting. In a communal prayer, students offered prayers of thankfulness and requests for healing, wisdom, and anticipation of needs they saw as real and personal. There is something incredibly powerful about the prayers of children that admonishes adults to pray with greater openness and trust about anything and everything. I left to attend to the work waiting on my desk having been blessed and moved by the incredibly valuable habits of faith being developed in that classroom.

I’ve often been wondering out loud lately if the nature to Christian Education ought to be better described as being invitational more than it is confrontational. In the same way that Christ welcomed little children to come to him, God’s world and God’s community beckons our students to explore, create, celebrate, and share as they take on every day. Praise God that is what our students encounter everyday at LCES.

I’m glad that I stayed. SJ

Mission Statements and Luggage: The Value of Unpacking

A podcast that accompanied me while working this weekend taught me something. I listened to an interview that highlighted the fact that Coca-Cola has a mission statement. Their mission is “To refresh the world, to inspire moments of optimism and happiness, and to create value and make a difference.” All this from a beverage company? I was intrigued. No mention of profit, growth, or creating a thirst-quenching monopoly.

I’ve been thinking about our school’s vision statement lately. “To educate children, equipping them for a life of faithful, Christian discipleship.” The power of these statements is their simplicity and ability to focus efforts. Their challenge is that as simple statements they can remain disconnected from daily practice because they resemble well-packed luggage that is never (or rarely) opened.

Here’s is my attempt to “unpack” our valuable vision statement.

Connectedness We aim for our students to see God’s creation as an intricate, complex, and amazing example of how purposeful God is. God’s world is something to be studied as a whole, as well as in parts. 

Discernment We want our students to develop tools and have opportunities to practice, under the watchful idea of a passionate educator, figuring out what is God’s truth and what is means for them. God’s world is designed around God’s truth.

Servitude We strive to have our students live out the truth of biblically knowing as the study the Lord’s handiwork directs them to love their neighbor in every way, in everything they do and say. God’s world is one of community.

Wonder God’s world is a place of beauty and we wish for our students to meet God in new ways as they learn. God’s world speaks of his greatness.

Big things guide our learning! SJ

Process and Content: Reflections on Genius Hour

Many years ago my brother and I chose to drive 6 hours to witness the PhD defense of my brother-in-law. Our reason for the trip was primarily to show family support and encouragement, not because we expected to necessarily understand or gain anything from the content of the actual presentation.  During the intensive review of his multi-year work, one of the things that amazed me most was the focus on what hadn’t quite worked out, what was unexpected, and what he should do differently as he continued to expand his research. I learned that the process mattered as much as the content.

I was asked to come to grade seven last week to attend “Genius Hour” presentations. Mr. Hosmar had opened up class time for quite a number of weeks that allowed students to commit themselves to investigate something of their own choosing. There were few requirements, but a key objective that was supported was to encourage reflection about the process of doing the work they set out to do. Students planned a wedding, designed shoes, created stop-motion animation, made a butterfly house, and attempted to improve basketball shots with technique. What did it make them learn, perhaps even about themselves, by doing the work?  What do they now want to do? It was a pleasure to have conversations with them after their presentations and have a window in on their own learning. What they shared was less about the content of their learning, and more descriptions of how they had self-guided themselves through obstacles and challenges.

The nature and purpose of learning continues to change as we move through time.  We do not “serve” content in neat ready-made packages to students, we aspire to develop patterns of exploration, reflection, and self-actualization – doing the important work of risking something new to grow in wisdom and understanding about God’s amazing world.  May that learning never end.  SJ

Grit and Resilience: Success at what?

I heard part of an interview recently about these two words and their use as identifiers of future success adolescent students and the life challenges that await them when they reach early adulthood. I found myself both appreciating how clearly these two character qualities or mindsets were being portrayed and simultaneously unsatisfied with what they were to be used for.

Success is a dangerous word since success at what is very important preliminary point of clarification.  Before we take about developing grit and resilience toward whatever success represents, we need to be clear about the goal. Success at self-promotion? Grit in developing ways to get further ahead than everyone else? Resourcefulness in gathering wealth, opportunity, privilege, and prestige?

Our definition of success speaks volumes about what we value and trust in. The vision statement for our school declares success to be “…a life of faithful, Christian discipleship” as our vision statement phrases it. The simplest meter stick for gauging success may be the question “Am I working for God’s kingdom and his glory, or for myself?” Faithfulness in using what we have been given for God’s glory and God’s purposes, is the definition of success we ought to work with.

Take our upcoming field day for example. Our goal is to attempt to acknowledge every bit of effort that every student invests in the day. Rather than give a ribbon only to the top three or four finishers, our field day structure uses the results of all of events that students complete to achieve an overall score for the day. Students receive an overall total which is compared to standards that earn them a first, second, third, or fourth place achievement. Since every centimeter and second counts, we are excited to see students reaching for their best with a sustained overall effort. We also are excited that students look to better their previous year’s achievement as they practice for the event. The grit and resilience we wish to encourage is to use whatever gifts and talents you have to the very best of one’s ability, within a community of encouragement and fair play. Success here is doing your best, not simply finishing first.

Whether it is playing a musical solo on Wednesday night or playing at all, whether it is looking to set a new track record or to make a first successful attempt – we are excited at LCES to give students a platform to take risks and do great things in His kingdom. God has prepared them for just that! 

SJ

Travelling the road in the most excellent way: Perseverance and Dedication

There is more to a race than finishing first.

Just recently I watched a documentary of a group of intense cyclists who raced across the country in the Trans America Bike Race. This grueling and entirely solo venture has riders pushing their bodies to the limit of their physical and psychological limits. The winner in 2015 travelled 4400 miles in just under 19 days, averaging 230miles (370kms) per day riding from the Pacific coast of Oregon to the Atlantic Ocean in Virginia. They often bike alone, right through the night, stopping only for minimal sleep and nourishment. Just finishing that race is worthy of celebration regardless of how long it takes. It is a truly amazing story that makes you stop and consider what one can do when perseverance and dedication are applied to specific goals.

Our students are about to start up mileage club again in preparation for our upcoming Track & Field day. This running initiative at recess sees some students doing laps by choice around our back field at recess. They stop in to get a paper “foot” punched to verify they have completed a lap. Many have in mind to better their personal record of how many feet they gather in the running blitz.

Perseverance and dedication. These two admirable and valued character qualities are a requirement for running or biking, but even more so for life. When those two qualities are matched with an intentional, worthwhile purpose – like easing the burden of those around us, being a faithful presence, an encouraging force, an agent of blessing by choice - then we truly have travelled the road in the most excellent way. In doing so, we aim to “…use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace.” (1 Peter 4:10)

How good it is that we can teach our children in this most excellent way at LCES each day! May we seek the kingdom (Matthew 6:33) with perseverance, dedication, and purpose in all we do and say SJ

this week.