Mondays in my classroom are unique. First of all, it’s wall-to-wall Monday. What that means in my teaching world is I have only a few breaks until the end of the day. I’m with students most of the time. Not all bad, but….

It’s also Prayer Request Monday. What I do first thing in the morning is gather from my students prayer items – concerns, things of thanks, things like that. Then we pray. This has been the routine for the year. It flows rather nicely – review the requests then pray and then begin the day… over and over again… until this Monday.

I don’t think anyone noticed, but there was just a small pause before I began praying, a slight hesitation. The first words stuck in my throat. They couldn’t quite make it out. It was like a pause for a punctuation mark at the end of the sentence, except this was at the beginning. I bit my lip and continued, holding back the emotions. I knew before I started that there might be trouble with this prayer this morning.

You see, at our faculty devotions for the week we were given an update on a colleague’s husband who is dying of cancer. Maybe just a few days left. Tough stuff. She and her husband have been on our prayer list all year. So here I am in my class taking prayer requests from students – my babysitter is having a baby soon, my dog might need to be put to sleep, the softball game went well, getting a new dog in July… Piddly stuff really compared to the horror of cancer and watching a loved one slowly, painfully pass from life into glory.

But here’s the catch… in my throat that is. Strangely, to God Almighty, creator of the universe, it’s all important – sick dogs, pregnant babysitters, dying husbands – all of it, nothing piddly about it! That’s what I realized as I began my prayer that morning. God has it covered, big or little… before we even ask… or know how or what to ask.

That was Monday… Wall-to-Wall and Prayer Request Monday. What the Spirit helped me realize once again is that for God it’s Wall-to-Wall Everyday – no breaks from his children. Doing what’s best for us. All good… Thank you, God.

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Philippians 4:6,7 – Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Friday morning I heard from a friend that the sheep were out! Not escaped ‘out,’ but out it the pasture! So… after school on Friday a decision had to be made. Sit behind my desk and attack the pile of papers that I had collected that day … OR… grab the camera and go. The following photos show what I decided… And there ain’t one picture of a corrected paper, either!

(Click on the individual picture to get the full size version.)

I have to admit that I’ve been out of sorts pretty much since spring vacation ended a couple of weeks go. I figured that it had to do with not really wanting to go back to work after a fun week with family and friends. You know how that goes. My past experience has shown that as time moves on the post-vacation blahs usually go away. Not this time, and I didn’t know why.

Last Wednesday I discovered the answer. As I was getting my clothes ready for the next day, Thursday, I looked in my closet for my Lee’s Classic-Fit No-Iron Navy Blue pants, the next one in the wardrobe lineup for the week. You know, Monday the black pants, Tuesday the tan ones and Wednesday the gray Lee’s; then, of course, Thursday,the navy blue pants and then flexible Friday when anything goes.

Something was amiss, as it apparently was the week before and who knows how many weeks prior to that. I was missing, you guessed it, my Lee’s Classic-Fit No-Iron Navy Blue pants, an integral part of the wardrobe rotation. It was no wonder I’d been a bit ‘off’ since spring break. Unbeknownst to me my whole wardrobe rotation was as mixed up as I felt.

So, I searched the whole house. No sign of the pants. Where could they be? How does one go about losing one’s pants? Mentally, I retraced my whereabouts over the last weeks. AHA! Lost in Boston? Missing in Massachusetts, perhaps? One quick phone call confirmed that the missing pair of pants had been left behind, hanging in a closet, at my daughter’s house in Massachusetts. Whew! Mystery solved…

Right now, as I write, I’m on the train, heading home from New York after a delightful family reunion. The train is pretty much on time. The car I’m in is pretty much empty. No big hairy guy got on in Cleveland to sit next to me. Once again, somewhere the sun is rising, as it always does. Things are pretty good…plus… the Lee’s Classic-Fit No-Iron Navy Blue pants are on their way to their rightful place in the rotation. All is well. Life is good. Things are once again set right …and now next week should be a better week. That’s a good thing:)

So then… where did I put that Arrow Permanent Press light blue shirt that goes with the Lee’s Classic Fit…?

A Toledo Sunday Morning

Right now I’m sitting on the train somewhere in Ohio, heading east. Since Stu, my seat-mate since Elkhart, is plastered against the window using it for a pillow, I’m enjoying the sunrise over fields and farms from the aisle seat. I don’t think I’ll be sharing my snacks with him.

Since I’m traveling once again it’s a good idea to review K—-g’s Rules of Travel.

1. Generally, the time traveled is less than or equal to the time stayed.
2. Always live in the time zone you are in.
3. Pack what you will use and use what you pack…ordinarily.

How am I doing?
Let’s start with Rule Three. I’m a bit embarrassed by how heavy my bag is considering the short duration of the trip…36 hours total for a 900 mile round trip. Camera gear fills most of it, so I’ll be taking some pictures. Snacks? Working on them… and Stu, no M&M’s for you.

Rule Two. This is an eastern time zone trip only and I love my time zone. No problem here.

Rule Three. OK… Let’s do the math and see how we’re doing with this one.
-Grand total round trip travel/stay time, home-to-home, will be 36 hours.
-Total travel time (train and car) will be 24 hours.
-Let’s see… 36 total hours minus 24 traveling hours leaves 12 hours of time stayed!

Yikes, A grievous Rule One violation! “Revoke his passport! No more train for you! A three month travel ban …”

Oh, wait! There’s one more calculation…. Time stayed (12 hours) times three precious grandsons equals all the reasons in the world for breaking the rules and making the trip:)

I’m glad we cleared that up. Time for some M’s. Sorry Stu.

“I know! Right? I hear this a lot. It’s kind of like an ‘amen’ or a ‘you got that right’ kind of affirmation. For example, “The sunrise over Lake Erie is stunning! – I know! Right?” or, “That was some change in the weather! – I know! Right?”

One thing I know after almost 40 years of teaching in Christian schools is change happens. At the Christian school where I teach there have been a lot of changes in the last several years that have been good. Good for the school. Good for the families and staff. For example, we are enjoying a fine new building. Babies and grand babies have graced families of staff members. New relationships have been formed, lives enriched. Good changes.

Some changes have been unsettling, disappointing, cutting people to the heart. Lower enrollment than anticipated plus more debt than hoped for leads to cuts in staff, loss of jobs. Challenging children at school and at home and aging parents that need more care create more stress. These are changes that can be disturbing, leaving good people to wonder in their prayers, “Why, God?”

With my students this morning, I read from the book, “Streams in the Desert for Kids” by L. B. Cowman. He stated, “Sometimes it’s hard for us to see beyond the sad events that are right in front of us. We have hopes and dreams, then something happens and it feels like nothing will ever be the same again. Our dreams have died. That’s one of God’s favorite times to come alongside and whisper in our hearts, ‘This isn’t the end; it’s just the beginning of my bigger plans for you.’ What may seem like the end may really be a new start that God has been planning all along.”

That caught my attention today and I thought I would pass it along. I know! Right!