posted Feb 03, 2012 by Daniel Dunbar
I cannot believe that an entire month has passed by without my writing a blog entry. Such neglect on my part! I apologize to any of you who have been waiting for a new post. Today I will make amends by writing about something dear to my heart - our GGCA students
First and foremost, understand that each GGCA student is an inestimable treasure, most certainly in your eyes, but also in ours, and we thank you for entrusting your treasure with our school. It is like you have entrusted us with your treasure and we are the stewards working to produce a return on your investment by investing in each child ourselves. We aren't going to be like the steward in the parable who wrapped the talent entrusted to him in a napkin and buried it. No. We are going to do our best with all we have to work in partnership with you to help bring you child to his or her full potential.
Of course, the difference between a financial investment and a human investment is that the human investment has a mind and will of its own and must actively participate to bring about the desired outcomes. Simple dollars and cents passively submit to whatever we choose to do with them and are more predictable than any complex, living, breathing child. As parents and educators, we have a great and wonderful challenge before us to train up children in the way they should go in the hope that when the children are older they will not depart from the character and truth we have tried to instill them.
We have come to that time of year where some students have become weary of school and have stopped actively participating in their education. For some, their poor habits have caught up with them and they are now experiencing the consequences of what they have and have not done. I was reading from 1 Samuel this morning about the coronation of Saul and king of Israel, and the people realized that God was displeased with their decision to have a human king reign over them, and they were unhappy and afraid. Samuel stood up and told the people that they had a choice; Either to turn their backs on God or to follow Him. We all have the same choice in our lives when faced with our failures and shortcomings: Do we get angry with God, our boss, our parents, our teachers, our spouses and turn our backs on them to pursue empty ways that cannot deliver us? Or do we humble ourselves under God's hand and serve Him with all our hearts and watch Him do great things for us?
I love it when I see a student who owns his mistakes and has a change of heart and spirit and allows himself to be taught the good and right way. That is what we are working to instill in every GGCA student - the Christian character that rebounds by grace and wholeheartedly strives for great things through Christ. I believe that GGCA is a place where lives can be changed - transformed - by the quality of academic, spiritual, creative, and physical education that is provided here. You have made a wise decision to place your child in this school and only heaven will show the eternal fruit of that decision. God bless you!
posted Jan 03, 2012 by Daniel Dunbar
Pastor Schaller has been teaching us about how our God knows us and loves us deeply. John's gospel tells us that the Maker of the world came into the world, but the world did not know Him or receive Him. Pastor Schaller spoke about how how Joseph's brothers did not know him when they met him in Egypt, and how we, too, may not recognize God when He is right in front of our noses.
My desire for this new year for me, the staff, and the students of Greater Grace Christian Academy is for us to see God through the eyes of faith and desire to know Him much more. I would love for us to experience His thoughts and walk in His ways and become that much closer to heaven this side of heaven.
posted Dec 19, 2011 by Daniel Dunbar
Yesterday baked cookies for the staff. My Grammie Manzo's Ginger Crinkles and a recipe I got from America's Test Kitchen on PBS for Brown Sugar cookies have always been popular whenever I take the time to make them, so what better time to do so in order to show my appreciation for my staff than Christmastime? I was surprised this morning to discover that another Dunbar, someone in my brother Doug's family, perhaps Doug himself, had baked some Ginger Crinkles and other Christmas treats, because I found them on my desk with a photo Christmas card when I came back to my office after greeting students as they arrived at school. I should give you the recipe for these, but I can't remember what it is at the moment. Tonight I will be making a big batch of soup and cornbread to feed the staff lunch tomorrow. One of the keys to getting your teachers through the days before Christmas is keeping them well-fed, and fortunately, I like to cook and bake.
There's something about this time of year that is bittersweet for me. I am really looking forward to a little time off to be with my family in Maine, but that means leaving my school and church family, along with my brother Doug's family behind here in Maryland. And when it comes time to return from Maine, it will be hard to leave my parents and my sister Beth's and brother Tim's family behind there. I suppose I should be thankful that I have so many people to love and be loved by, but sometimes it makes me sad that we are not altogether in one place. Maybe that's one of the things that will make heaven such a glorious place to be. There will be a family reunion there and I will get to see my Grammy and Grampy Dunbar and my Pappy Manzo who have gone on before me, along with all the others God has taken home to be with him who have touched my life.
I hope at this season of the year that you find yourself with folks to love nearby and folks loving you in return, celebrating the birth of Jesus, the One who made a way for all of us who believe in Him to never be separated from each other for all eternity. Sometimes at night I pray, "God, you know I won't mind it one bit if you decide to call me home. There's nowhere I would rather be than with You." I think that's a sort of a spiritual homesickness that we as Christians can feel, knowing that as nice as our lives can be, by the grace of God, this world is not our home. Christmas is when we celebrate the moment when God took on human flesh and came into our world for a brief time. But the true gift of Christmas is that what he did for us, as us, here on this earth, has made it so that we can put off these bodies of sin and death and enter into His world forever.
Merry Christmas everybody!
posted Dec 14, 2011 by Daniel Dunbar
Christmas can be a stressful time of year for a child, especially at school. I remember being really nervous about Secret Santa or Secret Angel gift exchanges.
What if I draw the name of a girl? Argh! How do I know what a girl wants? And what if the girl likes the presents and thinks I like her for some reason? Double argh!
What if I get the name of someone who doesn't like me? Do I have to get that person good presents?
And what if my name is picked by someone who doesn't like me? Will I get anything?
What if my name is picked by a girl who likes me? Maybe I'll get good presents, but how embarrassing is that, huh?
Maybe I will be lucky and draw the teacher's name and my best friend will pick my name. Yes! Oh, please, God, make it so.
As you can see, Secret Santa or Angel time produced a lot of anxiety in my schoolboy soul. Added to this stress was the keen despair that occurred when (unknown to me) my Secret Santa was absent or broke and I did not get a gift on the first day. The thoughts that ran through my mind then!
Does my Secret Santa hate me? Am I going to get nothing at all? Should I act like I don't care?
Should I complain to the class at large to make my delinquent giver feel guilty? Am I going to be the student everyone feels bad for, the one who gets the pity gifts from his classmates like unwanted candy canes, fruit center chocolates, and Chips Ahoy cookies?
Or should I delude myself with false hope that my Secret Santa is saving up to buy me just one expensive, incredible gift in the end?
It's sad that we can derive so much of our happiness and even our identity from the giving and receiving of gifts. I am glad that I am old enough to get beyond the gift trip that the world, my flesh, and the devil lay on me. Nowadays, I am happy to just be able to spend time with my family at Christmas, eat a good meal, and bask in the comfortable warmth that is family. I love to give gifts, but I am glad that my family and friends would love me just the same even if I could not give them anything but my love and friendship. What does the verse in Hebrews 13:5 say? "Be content with such things as you have." I hate how the devil has twisted Christmas from a season of joy, peace, and goodwill into a season of discontentment.
It is my hope that we can teach our children divine contentment, the kind that comes from the second part of the aforementioned verse which says, "For He himself has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.'" With Christ, we experience godliness with contentment and that is great gain - what more do we need to satisfy the true needs of our souls?
posted Dec 06, 2011 by Daniel Dunbar
I'm a bit confined to my desk today, because I am suddenly overcome with dizziness and altered vision. I was trying to read a portion from a book and found that I had little spots before my eyes like you get when you are out too long in the sun on a white, snowy day. Those of you who have been to my office know that it is not brightly lit, so this phenomenon confused me, and when the dizziness began, nausea was right on its heels. I went to the GGCA prayer room and lay down for a while and felt a mild headache build behind my right eye. I feel as though I have a migraine headache without the pain. Whatever it is, I am taking it easy here in my office and taking some time to write to you.
The weather has been unseasonably warm for December, but that has not stopped the younger students from asking almost daily, "Is it Christmas yet?" and singing songs like Jingle Bells as they trail along in their teacher's wake each morning from the Family Center to their classroom. The lower elementary child's sense of time is not highly developed. In their minds, December equals Christmas, and the idea of the holiday arriving nearly three weeks from now can mean anything from very soon to eons from now. As a boy growing up in Maine, December and June seemed liked the months with the longest days, for Christmas never seemed to draw any closer no matter how many days I crossed off the calendar, and the end of school and summer vacation were elusive dreams that wishing and hoping could not bring into my grasp.
As someone who works in a school, it can still feel that way at times. The students' longing infects us adults too, and we find ourselves steeling our hearts against the fervent desire for school to end and vacation to begin, because we have jobs and responsibilities as educators, and we're not kids, for crying out loud! As a parent, you see your children grow up and outgrow some of the seasonal antsy-ness that come with Christmas, but as a teacher, especially an elementary teacher, every year you see the same excitement and anticipation, because you are always teaching students that are 5 or 6 or 10; the names and faces change, but the childlike thrill of the approaching holiday remains the same. It is one of the blessings of being a teacher.
Teaching is a hard job. If you are not called to do it, it can be an almost impossible job. It requires so much energy and creativity and enthusiasm to do it well, and love is a big part of it. You have to love middle schoolers to deal with all of their changes and moods and aromas, day after day after day as you try to help them learn to do math, understand science, appreciate history, and love literature and writing. You have to love first graders to help them learn to read as they learn the art of being good citizens and classmates and to not push and to share and play together nicely. Teaching can be so, so, so draining, but when you are a teacher, you can hardly imagine doing anything else for work, because there is such joy in the annual journey, shepherding students from September through June as they grow and become.
I could go on, but I have to weave my way down to the staff meeting now. I hope my dizziness doesn't send me lurching into a wall! By God's grace, all will be well. Until next times, God bless you.
