Waiting

I am attempting to be more focused on a personal advent this Christmas season.  As I was shuffling through the boxes of countless Christmas decorations it seems we have, I really thought to myself that this was the year not to be a grump about all of this. I need to direct my thoughts back to the manager, which seems, to be a fading memory in society as a whole.  I need to keep it alive in my heart, not my grumpiness about the work, stress and drama surrounding this season.

This season is driven now more than ever by the merchants who do a whole array of things to create this 'need' for more 'things' in our lives.  So I was thinking what is it I need the most this year.  I have lost count of how many TV's I have, how many different versions of listening to music I have had over the years (reel to reel, 8 track tape players, vinyl album players, Sony Walkman,  portable CD devices, Ipod - only 30 gigs of space, etc)

Really now, do we really, really need more stuff? Really? I guess the economic rebound is all weighed in the balance whether or not you and I purchase more things we don't really need and probably do more damage to us in the long run. Black Friday (though more and more stores are actually hoping you will put down your turkey dinner and show up on their doorsteps on Thanksgiving Day.) to endless email promotions telling me its "Cyber Monday" so get busy buying buddy.

I told Cindy a few weeks ago don't get me anything Christmas.  I have need of nothing.  It works after 25 years of marriage.  If I want something I go get it.  The kids can get me the basics like socks to hats to whatever to practice the art of giving.

What I am giving myself this Christmas is the gift of waiting.  "Actively waiting means to be present fully to the moment, in the conviction that something is happening where you are and that you want to be present to it.  A waiting person is someone who is present to the moment, who believes that this moment is the moment."
 Henri Nouwen

I desire to be a person who waits patiently for what God has in store for me.  To be alert and not numbed into some state of semi conscious missing most of my life as it passes. Paying attention.  Not waiting for an empty wish or not to control my future.  Gaining a sense of real hope as I wait on God.  To focus on the essentials of the season and not get swayed by a twinkling light or stray sale of something I really don't need.

Its a waiting game I am willing to give a go round this season.

Come Lord Jesus, come.

Influence

Its kinda of weird to be writing about this.  How do you write about an award you have been given?  An award of honor yet at the same time humbles one completely to the floor.

Last night I was the receipent of the Educator of the Year award given by the Palos Verdes Rotary Club here on 'the Hill'.  I was one of 10 other honorees at this annual event that goes back over 30 years.  Every year there is a member of CFOT faculty that is nomianted.  I got word of this about six weeks ago and I was floored.

I do what I do because first off God has called me to this. Secondly, others see in me that I have abilities to fulfill this appointment and role for The Salvation Army here at the training college.  I never do it for awards or recognition or for a pay raise (inside joke.)

I had a bit of trouble thinking about what to share in my three minutes but the following is the speech I wrote:

The best selling book, The Five People you meet in Heaven, written by sports columnist Mitch  Alborn, was turned into a Hallmark Hall of Fame television movie in 2004.  The book and the visual concepts of the movie have stuck with me for awhile.

When asked what he wanted readers of the book and viewers of the film to get out of the story, Mitch Alborn said he wanted people to be reminded that “there is no such thing as a nobody.  Life is immensely significant and that everybody does matter and that everybody does count.”

The story centers on Eddie.  Eddie was the maintenance man at the amusement park for decades.  Eddie dies a tragic death at age 83.  We see how uncertain he was and how terribly worried he became not knowing whether or not he was able to save a young girl from a horrible accident.  In heaven, Eddie meets five different individuals who, through a series of flashbacks, show him how he affected the lives of others in countless, amazing ways.

In the last scene of the movie, after Eddie has had his encounter with these 5 people, he walks up on the shore and through the amusement park and there to greet him, was the countless thousands of people whom he had impacted in his life without him being aware of it.

A line at the end of the movie goes like this, “The world is full of stories, but the story is one.  Each life effects the other and each life effects the next.”

The education experience is all about influencing people, whether we are aware of it or not.    .

My drama teacher Jan Radesky, taught me to have fun on the journey.  Dr  Bob Ross, a holocaust scholar and head of the dept. Religion of the Uni of Minnesota taught my mission as an officer in the SA has tremendous merit, and my cousin Sister Mary, a school teacher for 55 years reminded me that more teaching is done out of the class room than in, have all been people of influence in my life.

I thank tonight my family, my wife of 25 years, the Principal, the officers and employees of CFOT, my friend Dave Hudson, for all being influences in my life to be the better person I know I can be, to be effective in my teaching.

The So What of it all is simply this:  you may not hold any power, but you hold the power of influence.  I believe that is the better and greater thing to seek in your role as an educator.

My sincere thanks to the Peninsula Rotary Club for this tremendous honor which I am humbled by.  God bless you.