Truth

by Dick Buckingham
Administrator

I am a 50s something guy who has spent most of his adult life working with and teaching the young people of our society. Over the years, I have seen some very serious things creep into the thinking of our youth that cause me great concern. Some might suggest it is because I am such an old fossil that I couldn’t possibly comprehend the progressive ideas that are sweeping through our land. I think it is something else entirely.

We have become such an accepting and tolerant society that we have come to accept truth, at least some truth, as being relative to each individual. Each person can decide what works for them. If they are comfortable with something that they believe to be true, it is OK, even if someone else believes something contradictory to be true. In many ways we have begun to confuse the difference between truth and opinion.

For example, is the following statement truth or opinion? "Dr. Pepper is the best soft drink in the world." Opinion, right? It may be that someone prefers Dr. Pepper to all other soft drinks, but they would not be able to prove in any fashion that their preference ought to be the preference of every other individual. Similar statements like, "The Green Bay Packers are the best football team ever," or "Batman is better than Spiderman," are clearly opinion and not a statement of truth. Because we all have opinions and one opinion is just as valid as the next, we may begin to view all things in the world this way.

What about this one? "The sky is blue." Is this statement a matter of opinion? Do we put it up for a vote or conduct a survey to see what the majority think is the color of the sky? No. We all agree that the color of the sky is blue. This is a universal truth, not subject to opinion or discussion. How is it then that there are some things that are open to objective opinion and other things that just are? The reason there is no debate over the color of the sky is that it conforms with fact or reality. The reality is that each and every person who looks at the sky sees the same color. Our eyes have been made in such a way that they perceive the light of the sun as it passes through our atmosphere (which, incidentally, filters out all the colors of the spectrum except the colors that make up the blue we see), the nerves transmit that information to our brains which in turn translates to us that the color we are seeing is blue. We know when we see that color it is blue because someone (most likely our parents) taught us when we see that color, we call it blue. The bottom line for all of this is that there are some things that are truth. Not everything is a matter of opinion.

Anyone who would make the claim, "There is no absolute truth," has committed logical suicide. They have made a statement of absolute truth which the statement itself says does not exist. The statement is false if it is true and only true if it is false. It doesn’t matter how often a person says it, or how loudly they proclaim it, or even which celebrities endorse it, such a statement is categorically false. The reality is...truth exists.

Think for a moment about this one:  "God is."

Is this statement truth or opinion? Many today would immediately say opinion, and we must accept other opinions about the existence of God as valid and give just as much validity to their opinion as to this one. However, the reality is that everything we perceive about the world around us says God does exist. Psalm 19:1 says, "The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim his handiwork. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge." While man has tried his best to silence and nullify the message of all creation that is daily around us, it screams, "God is, God is!" To look at and examine the complexities of the universe and proclaim that such a design is the work of chaotic chance is foolishness and not knowledge. It is as foolish as proclaiming the sky is green and not blue. It doesn’t agree with reality.

There are other important truths that our world would like to marginalize or deny.

"Man has been created in the image of God."

"Man has fallen and now has a nature of sin."

"Man’s only remedy for sin is faith and trust in Jesus Christ."

All of these are true, not because we took a vote, or because one opinion is better than another. They are true because they have been revealed by the One who created us all and knows us completely. They are His opinion. And His opinion trumps my opinion and your opinion and every other person’s opinion every time.

It is critically important that you and I teach children about truth. The false attitude of our society regarding truth is affecting more and more because they focus the message on our young people. The youth of the world today need us to teach them the absurdity of the logic our society is using regarding truth. They are going to need to stand firm against the rising tide of mutually accepted absurdity.

One thing you can do is share this blog with others in your sphere of influence on Facebook or other social media. Please take a moment to pass this message on to others.

When It Rains It Pours (And Sometimes Floods)

by Meridith Borta
Elementary Principal

I would bet that we are all fairly familiar with the little quip “when it rains it pours”. Most could probably readily recall times where a chain of events has made them feel like they are in the middle of a downpour with no reprieve in sight. Ah, yes. Travel with me as I relay, not so fondly, the latest super storm to hit the Borta household.

Drizzle

It was time. I could no longer put off the repairs that my car so desperately needed. I was hesitant to take the car in knowing that the repairs could be costly. However, with the air suspension failing each morning, I was literally bouncing down the road in my car, holding on to the steering wheel for dear life. It was so severe I almost started wearing my hat backwards and blasting music as loud as possible to fit in with the gangstas who do this to their cars on purpose. I finally settled on a repair shop and crossed my fingers. It would have been too easy for the car to just be fixed and for that to be that. After spending $750 on the repair, I got a call that there was a bigger problem that would cost an additional $1850. Everyone has that lying around right before Christmas, right? Thus began the car saga that has yet to be resolved. That’s right. You may still have the privilege of seeing me bouncing down the road if you are lucky enough to cross my path on a given morning. Don’t be offended if I attempt to hide my face.

Sprinkle

Maybe it was stress-induced or maybe it is a hazard of working with little ones day in and day out, but it was my turn to catch the cold that keeps on giving. It was nothing big, but making itself at home in my nasal passages on the last week of school before the Christmas break was not quite appreciated. I powered through though and even continued with my training schedule for the half marathon I’ve been preparing for. (Don’t ask me why I have continued to train for this half marathon even after receiving the unexpected news of a 4^th little Borta on the way in early July. People say that once you start running you fall in love with it. I must be missing some vital piece of this puzzle since I can honestly say that running 4 miles at 5am in 35 degree weather—and with a cold to boot--has never once invoked a feeling of love.)  The weight of the world and the various items I was collecting on my plate were getting a little heavy.  

Rain (or should I say flood . . . literally)

Christmas break was so close I could taste it. With the cold and sinus infection making its exit none too soon, I was looking forward to having time to relax and enjoy some peace and quiet at home. It came as quite a shock on that Friday morning (the last day before the break) when we came downstairs to find water coming out of our walls and up through our wood flooring (that we laid less than a year ago and were paying off THIS month). Little did I realize that the sound of someone cutting into our walls four days before Christmas was just the opening act to the headlining show—the industrial fans that would turn our house into a wind tunnel for the next five days. Surely God was trying to teach us something, but what? As we headed out of town the day after Christmas, the workers moved in to tear out walls and our beloved floors.  We couldn't wait to return home to see what Santa’s helpers had left us! As we were told though, it could have been much worse.

Downpour

Of course things can always be worse. We know it in our heads, but we don’t usually anticipate that things actually will. We just knew God was going to work things out and we praised God for the joys we were able to experience during the holidays. What else could possibly happen? The first mistake was asking.

Paul and I came down with some mutant cold/flu that knocked us flat on New Year’s Eve and we rang in the New Year (at 8pm) with a box of tissues and a lot of fever-reducing medication. Life doesn't stop when you are sick though, right? We had big plans. In hindsight, maybe the decision to keep our plans and take the kids to the snow the next day may not have been the best idea. But how harmful could a shopping trip to Walmart be?

We realized soon after starting our shopping adventure that it was going to go downhill fast. Cadynce was starting to get sick and the other girls were tired, so I decided to take one for the team, send Paul home with the kids, and I would just shop by myself and get it done. There I was, perusing the spices, when the call came. “Honey, how is our insurance? I just hit someone.” That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. As I stood there in disbelief, trying not to have a total breakdown in the middle of the Walmart aisle, I finally had to laugh. “LORD, REALLY?”

Each of you could probably share a story similar to mine. All of us have had those times in our lives where we wonder what God is doing.  What else can possibly go wrong? Lord, what is your plan in all of this?

Sorry, everyone. I don’t have the answers, but I know a God who does. I have a car that is not fixed, holes in my kitchen walls, wood floors that are ripped up, a car with a crunched bumper, and a lingering cough that won’t quit. I don't have the solutions to each of the things I’m dealing with or know why they seem to have come upon me all at once. But God has a plan and purpose. We may not know what that plan or purpose is, but our confidence is in Him, His goodness, and ultimately His love for us. I know who is in control and I know that He will work all these things for good. 

Proverbs 19:21 ESV - Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.

Jeremiah 29:11 ESV - For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

The next time the rains are coming down as the floods are coming up, check to make sure your house is built on the rock and you can be sure it will stand firm. 

Matthew 7:24-25 (NIV) - Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.

Wholly Surrendered

by Jennie Smith
Secondary Assistant Principal

Happy New Year!  It's 2013 and many are making their New Year's resolutions today.  Some decide on one word to focus on for the year. Others resolve never to make resolutions.  As a teacher, my life is full of setting goals and objectives.  Goals are what you hope to accomplish; objectives are the way to get there.  I love to set a goal for the new year.  While resolutions are designed to be broken, goals are designed to be met.

I've been pondering my goal for this year and God has impressed upon my heart that my goal should be:  wholly surrendered. I desire to live this year in complete surrender to what God wants for me.  I have begun searching His word for the way to get there - and while there many, many verses in Scripture that show us the way to a life a surrender, I have been most impacted by Psalm 143.

In verse 1, it tells us how to begin.  "O Lord, hear my prayer, listen to my cry for mercy."  Isn't that the way to begin any endeavor?  First, beseech Him for His help - it is only through Him that we can meet any goal.

"I remember the days of long ago;  I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done" (verse 4).  If I'm going to surrender to someone, I need to trust them.  When I look back at what God has done over the years, I gain confidence and remember that He is real, alive, and active even in the small events.

One of the most important works to remember is what was accomplished at the cross. Jeremy Riddle's song "Sweetly Broken" responds to the event of the cross in this way:  

"At the cross you beckon me
You draw me gently to my knees
And I am lost for words, so lost in love
I'm sweetly broken, wholly surrendered".

Verse 5 of Psalm 143 says:  "I spread out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land."   Whenever I'm thirsty for the Lord, I worship.  I love Pandora and I turn on my praise and worship channel and just sing to the Lord.  He meets me there.  I know a life of surrender is not easy, so worship is going to become one of my objectives - it will be an important key to accomplishing my goal.

"Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love,  for I have put my trust in you.  Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul" (verse 8).  Living a life a surrender is going to require the Lord to show me the way.   He will be directing my path; I must relinquish control, so I certainly need to be tuned into what He would say.  Daily Bible reading and increased Bible study are important objectives to meeting my goal of full surrender to the Lord
.

As the new year begins, verse 10 is my prayer:  "Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground."  On this January 1, 2013, what goals might you be setting?  What is God calling you to this new year?  Would you be willing to  share ideas below - it may really encourage someone else!  May 2013 be a year in which we all live a life worthy of the Lord, pleasing Him in every way; bearing fruit in every good work, and growing in the knowledge of God (Colossians 1:10).

Merry Christmas!

The Manger and The Cross

by Dick Buckingham
Administrator

If your home is anything like mine, you probably have a nativity set or two set up to celebrate and remember the birth of the Savior of the world.  In my home, we have three.  The first is just a large Mary, Joseph and Jesus made out of plaster.  These were decorated by our sons a number of years ago and given to us as a precious gift.  They still find their place underneath the Christmas tree.  

Another is a hand-painted ceramic set that my wife carefully crafted for our family many years ago.  It is fragile and shows the wear of many Christmases.  The donkey’s ear is broken off and one of the kings is missing his hand.  Yet it is a wonderful set that I greatly enjoy putting out each year as it is unique in that the camels are large and beautifully ornate.  It is given the honored place of the mantle of our entertainment center, easily viewed but not likely to be bumped.  

The final set we found a few years ago is made of plastic and is specifically for little hands to pick up and examine and enjoy.  If you press down on the angel atop the manger, the strains of “Away in a Manger” are played.  This one we display at a level where the grand kids can see and feel free to explore.  We have this one on the bottom shelf of a table we have in our living room that is in full view.  It is one of the first places our grand kids visit when they come to our home at Christmas time, because it is there for them. 

Each of these sets is special and precious to us.  The last two, in addition to the holy family, are complete with heavenly host, shepherds, sheep, a cow, a donkey, camels and three kings adorned and bearing gifts.  The one for the children even includes a border collie and a west highland terrier, the two most recent pets we have had in our home.

But there is one thing in our manger scenes that you don’t typically find in most manger scenes.  Each year, after I have arranged all the pieces just so, I add the final piece to our scene...a cross.  Yes, a cross.  Now I am fully aware that we most often think of the cross at a different time of celebration: at Easter time and specifically Good Friday.  So why put a cross in the manger scene?  The manger seems so lovely as we celebrate the Infant’s birth.  Why put a symbol of death, and a particularly cruel death at that, in such a wondrous scene of joy?

I think that Christmas is a very appropriate time to think of the cross.  After all, why else would the world celebrate this birthday?  The church has not set aside December 25^th to commemorate His birth just because he was born in a lowly manger.  Nor is it because a host of angels attended or that he was visited by humble shepherds and wise men from a distant land.  We do not sing carols of this event because He lived a sinless life, even though He did, or performed many miraculous signs and wonders.  It is not because of His incredible teaching that we recognize the One in the manger.  

There is one act and one act alone that is the reason we celebrate this birth.  The angel announced it to Joseph (Matt. 1:21) and the host proclaimed it to the shepherds (Luke 2:10-12).  This One’s birth was important for one and only one reason.  This Baby born to the virgin Mary would save His people.  Save His people.  And this He did on that cross.

And that is why you will find a cross in my nativity scene.

We at Faith Christian School would like to wish you the most blessed and wonderful season of celebration this Christmas.  May you come and adore our Savior, Christ the Lord!

Urgent!

by Meridith Borta
Elementary Principal

With Christmas sneaking up on us and the hustle and bustle of the season beginning to swirl out of control around us, you can literally feel the sense of urgency in the people around you. In the stores, shoppers are searching anxiously for the perfect gift for their loved ones while others scurry frantically about gathering food and other trimmings for their holiday parties. These observations got me thinking about how often we are led by that sense of urgency—by something that just has to be done right now.

(Now if you have been reading my past blogs, you know that I have written about STRESS, HURRYING and WORRYING, and TIME. You may be wondering if this blog entry is going to be much the same. While this holiday season definitely has a place in each of those blogs, don’t worry, this is something new.)

First, what should we really have a sense of urgency about? We rush and rush trying to find gifts that our loved ones may or may not even need, when as Christians we hold the key to life! We have the good news of a Savior that should create in us such a sense of urgency to tell others, that we can hardly contain our excitement (like the anticipation we feel when we know someone is going to just love the gift they are unwrapping.)

Why should we feel such a sense of urgency to share?

James 4:14 (ESV) states,  “yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.”

Psalm 39:5 "You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man's life is but a breath."

Proverbs 27:1 "Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth."

Knowing that we are not guaranteed tomorrow, how important it is that we tell people the good news while we (and they) still have breath. What greater sense of urgency should there be than to tell people about our indescribable Jesus.  While we may not know how God will move in the lives of the people we share with, we DO know that we cannot stay quiet. We can tell dying people how to have life!  That is something that calls us to act.

If we truly lived like tomorrow was not guaranteed, we would surely live our lives proclaiming God’s love to the people around us. This holiday, as you feel yourself getting swept into the hustle and bustle of all of the urgent things you need to accomplish, remember the urgency of sharing the good news of Jesus Christ to those around you. After all, Jesus IS what Christmas is all about.  

The Meaning of Advent

One of my favorite things to teach in English class is etymology - it is the study of the parts of words.  If you know your etymology, you can define a lot of words without ever looking them up in the dictionary.  So, how would we define "advent" with etymology?  "Ad-" means "to or toward" and "vent" means "to come" - therefore, "advent" means "come towards."   Advent is a very special time as we "come towards" Christmas.

However, because our society can be so materialistic this time of year, it can be difficult to keep our children's eyes and hearts focused where they belong: on the celebration of the birth of our Savior.  Here are some ideas that will remind your children of the reason for the season throughout the month of December.

Many make a paper chain that kids tear off throughout the month.  Why not make a paper chain of Scriptures?  Read one each night.

Implement a family devotion every night you can (and don't ever feel guilty about the nights you can't).

• My family is doing Max Lucado's "Celebrating Christmas with Jesus" - a devotional I found on sale after Christmas last year.  They are very short and one of us reads it at dinner each night.  
• If your family likes music, a friend of mine recommends  the "Behold the Lamb of God" CD by Andrew Peterson. Her family has done their own advent with different songs each night and this year they have the new advent book that goes along with it. On Christmas Eve they usually watch the whole concert on DVD.
• If a devotional isn't handy, read one chapter of Luke each night.  It has 24 chapters - perfect for the advent season!

One year my grandma made a tree full of Jesus symbols.  If you have an extra small tree laying around, make it your "Jesus tree."  Have your children make ornaments that represent the names of Jesus or symbols that represent them.  Here is a link I found that shows you how to make easy names of Jesus ornaments: 
http://www.biblestoryprintables.com/BibleCraftsChristmasNamesJesus.html

I was researching what "Elf on a Shelf" was as many of my friends were talking about it.  As I did, I came across a Christian elf on a shelf tradition. Cyndi Spivey would hide Mary and Joseph somewhere in the house for her children to find - they are on their way to Bethlehem, but make various stops along the way.  Come Christmas morning, they should be found with Jesus.  Here's the website if you want to read more about it:  http://cyndispivey.com/2011/12/02/my-christian-version-of-the-elf-on-the-shelf/#comments

Another of my friends had a wonderful idea centered on the nativity set.  Don't set out the nativity all at once.  Wrap each piece and count down to Christmas by unwrapping one piece each night.  Attach a scripture about that piece to the outside and read it before unwrapping.  For example, attach to Mary a verse about her, such as Luke 1:30:  "Do not be afraid Mary, you have found favor with God.  You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.  He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High."  Save Jesus for Christmas morning!

As Christmas cards come, open them over dinner and take turns reading them.  Then pray for each person or family.  We have just started this tradition with the first card that came last week.  It was a very sweet time praying for part of our family that we never get to see.

Does your family have a unique tradition that helps keep the focus of Christmas on "coming toward" Jesus rather than a bunch of presents?  Share them in the comments below!