Pair o' Dime Props: Back Creek Christian Academy (ACSI)

Today was my oldest son's last day of his first year at Back Creek Christian Academy. He finished second grade and we were proud of how we did. This school, it's mission and it's staff have been nothing but respectful and loving to the students and parents they serve. From the moment we met their principal, Janet Ballard, to Christopher's last day in Mrs. Roundtree's 2nd grade class, we have felt well-served by this school. Next year we have the privilege of sending both of our sons here.
On a similar note, I was looking at the results of our son's achievement tests for the year and noticed that they have percentile scores related to the national average as well as the ACSI (Association of Christian Schools International) average. This was interesting to me because the percentile scores are lower within ACSI. What this says is that ACSI students perform better than the national average. This is NOT the primary reason we send our son to a Christian school, but it is encouraging to know that he can be challenged by the curriculum in an ACSI accredited school.

More advice for job hunters

I am currently reviewing aplications for a specific job at my university. In a previous post I have offered up tips primarily on interviewing. Today I have a few more along the lines of applications and cover letters:

• Avoid typos on the name field of your application
• When applying for a job in academe, do not mention your desire to work for the "company."
• In the first sentence of your cover letter, you may want refrain from fragments.
• Never overestimate your writing skills. Proofreading is highly recommended.
• Reading generic cover letters is sort of like eating fat free cheese.
• Not having a cover letter is like eating air.

Song of Praise (and Conviction)

There is one song we sing at church that I absolutely love and yet it stops me in my tracks every time I sing it. I would think that anyone who is a Christian and is used to self-examining will sing the song "Everyday" and either be incredibly challenged or if they're like me, feel a little bit like a hypocrite while singing it. I love singing it because it's a challenge that will last my lifetime.

Everyday

What to say, Lord? It's
You who gave me life and I
Can't explain just how
Much You mean to me now
That You have saved me, Lord
I give all that I am to You
That everyday I can
Be a light that shines Your name

Everyday, Lord, I'll
Learn to stand upon Your word
And I pray that I
That I might come to know You more
That You would guide me with every single step I take, that
Everyday I can
Be Your light unto the world

Everyday, it's You I live for
Everyday, I'll follow after You
Everyday, I'll walk with You, my Lord

It's You I live for, everyday
It's You I live for, everyday
It's You I live for, everyday
It's You I live for, everyday

Burning Question: Is Franklin Graham correct in this recent statement?

This morning I read an article in the Charlotte Observer entitled "Graham discourages 'illegal' evangelizing in China." Although I can't say I agree with Franklin Graham's statement, I think I might be able to understand why he may have made it. Considering he has been invited there and not censored in what he said, I think it would be tough for him to officially encourage "illegal evangelism." However, I think it may have been best if he didn't say anything. As a leader, and in my opinion, an "elder" of the church, I cannot think of any circumstances where it would be wise for him to tell people not to share the Gospel

Theology of a Child

Lately I've been getting a kick out of things my kids have been saying. The latest one was my five year old telling me that you have to accept Jesus as Savior or you will go to "hail." Now, I suppose if I grew up in North Carolina that wouldn't seem as funny, but I'm from Ohio. We don't pronounce it that way.

After he said this we asked him if he had accepted Jesus, and he told us he had...three times! I think I need to work a little more on his theology, but we're on the right track.

The Bright(er) Side: Gas Prices

I just "googled" what the price of gas prices are around the world. I found this site, and it appears we are still relatively "cheap" when it comes to the cost of fuel. Of course the down side is that our mass transit is so poor, that it's still hitting us pretty hard.

Sentences that cause parents fear and trembling

Spoken excitedly and happily, by my five year old on the way home from church:

"Hey! In 13 years I will be old enough to go to jail!"

I am very afraid!

Sentences that require little (or no) justification

Overheard in the break room near my office this week:

"I had the worst teacher in 3rd grade! And dern it if I didn't get her again in sixth!"

A True Paradigm Shift

So today I started looking at my new laptop. It's an Apple MacBook Pro. I have learned from the few minutes I have given to it that I am getting old. I can feel my brain working double time to relearn the Mac OS. The last time I worked on a Mac was over ten years ago. The operating system seems to have a completely different approach from the windows environments I've worked in since then. When I switched to Firefox a while back, it took me a while to learn how to use it well and unlearn Internet Explorer. I highly recommend the switch though. I suspect learning this operating system and it's applications will be similar but to a much higher degree. Unfortunately, just trying to adjust reminds me of my age. I never understood why old people didn't like change. Now that I am one (WINK!), I understand. I hope the smoke coming out of my ears won't set off the fire alarms....it's quite the tax.

(Oh, and I'm doing this in small doses. I posted this on my Microsoft Machine)

One small step for "Hardinkind"

Trivial as it may be just over two weeks ago I stood in the waters of the Pacific Ocean in LaJolla, Callifornia:
And today my family and I returned from a weekend at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina:The Pacific and the Atlantic in two weeks. Not a real big deal for many, but I think it's kind of cool. :-)

What grieves God?

The opening point of last Sunday's sermon was this question. What I really liked about what my pastor said about this, was that he believes that a large portion of the western church has errantly condensed this to two things: The sanctity of human life (abortion) and the sanctity of marriage (between one man and on woman). I think this would cause many in the Christian Church to fall over backwards in their pews if they heard this! He did not say that these two things do NOT grieve God, but he did say that this is not ALL of it. Scriptures will back this up countless times. He spoke largely about injustice in the world. He mentioned Darfur, Rwanda, Ethiopia among others. He also spoke of the complacency of the (white) Christian Church during the Civil Rights Movement. These are things we cannot deny. He made many other points, but sometimes one good point is a challenge to me.

He has told you, O man, what is good;
And what does the LORD require of you
But to do justice, to love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your God?
-Micah 6:8

Car Transactions

Saying goodbye to what some called my "mid-life crisis car"....


The Mini was fun, high performance and looked awesome. It also caused me worry and stress due to BMW-priced repairs, natural wear and tear, and limited practicality and the smallest little blemish. These distractions this caused canceled out the joy of driving it for me. It was sold to a mechanic who works for Dale Earnhardt, Inc. He was very happy and the things that cause me stress will probably not do the same for him. Although I will miss it, it was a good departure.

Saying hello to my "back to practicality car"....


The Vibe is sporty, and virtually the same as a Matrix. We will be able to travel in this car instead of the minivan and it will get better mileage/dollar than the Mini. It's got so much more room. Financial savings alone made this a logical transaction, and it's pretty sharp smart looking in my opinion.

Car Make Loyalty

Over the course of my years behind the wheel, I (and my wife) have owned the following cars:

• '70 Chevrolet Nova (coincidentally my wife had a '76 version of same car)
• '76 Oldsmobile Omega (v8. That thing could fly but the speedometer only went to 85. Lucky for me. I would have tested its maximum if it went higher it could have very well been my last car)
• '78 Mercury Monarch
• '86 Honda Civic
• '89 Plymouth reliant
• '95 Dodge Neon
• '99 Ford Windstar (Current)
• '96 Toyota Rav4
• '02 Mini Cooper S (Current, but could be sold within the week. Update: Sold 4/22/08)

And now we're looking at a Pontiac Vibe. It occurs to me I have little to no Car Make Loyalty.

Gender biases go both ways

So yesterday I dropped my wife off to get her car at a local Muffler/Brakes/Oil Change specialist franchise. We had just given said franchise lots of money only to find that the brakes on her van squeaked badly so we were returning it for them to switch out the pads. Instead they resurfaced the rotors and explained to my lovely bride that she was "riding her brakes" which is why the return visit was necessary. I watched from the car as this man showed with his foot how this can commonly occur. My wife's driving skills are good if not great. She is much more gentle and caring with a car than I will probably ever be. She understands that driving with two feet is bad, and her feet are too small to inadvertently press the brake while accelerating. Moreover, I have never once seen her try to "burn out" in our Minivan. (Although the thought of seeing her do this is the picture of irony and quite amusing at that!) So needless to say, she was annoyed at being patronized by this franchise manager. (I was too! And as a side note, the brakes are still squeaking so we are returning it again and this time they will switch out the pads like they said they would the last time). This was obviously a gender bias. I doubt very much they would have had the same conversation with me. It was quite frustrating.

So this morning I got up early with the intent of going to the local supermarket to buy my wife a red rose in appreciation for taking care of things while I was gone. She takes care of me and the boys so well, and frankly, the house looked better when I came back than it did when I left. (Perhaps that should tell me something). When I got to the store, it was about 6:20. As you might expect there was not a flood of activity in the florist section so I passed by some guy in the produce section to go to the service center and ask if someone could help me in floral. Half hoping the nice young lady would walk over and help me, she instead got on the speaker and asked for a representative to help me. As I went back to the section, the same guy in produce dropped his melon or whatever he was stocking and came over and helped me! A big burly guy at that! I didn't want him. What on earth does he know about flowers? I don't know which one to pick out. I always expect the nice ladies working there to help me find the right one and dress it nicely and smile at me thinking I'm the most romantic guy in the world while doing so. I expect this because I assume they are surely the receivers of flowers and can choose a good one from a bad one which will in turn provide the biggest smile to my wife's face when I hand her the rose later that morning. Instead, I get some big young guy, who may not even have a girlfriend, yanking out the first rose he sees and wrapping it up like it's 3 pounds of ground sirloin. But hey, I'm not biased.

PBC Crisis!

I am currently at a convention in Anaheim, California and during a break they had cookies. It then occurred to me that the Peanut Butter Cookie is in grave danger. See, my son has a sever Peanut allergy and therefore as time goes on, obtaining a Peanut Butter Cookie will become harder and harder to come by. It is indeed a crisis for many of us and yet I don't think there is anything we can do about it since peanut allergies are on the rise. The only thing you can do is hoard. When I saw them on the tray I was surprised but I ate um...well...never mind how many I ate, but time is running out.