Strong Roots, Clear Vision

A Christian school is wise to pay attention to both of these parts of the “tree” that the organization represents. Deep roots become a solid foundation for daily life where purpose and practice have been honed well, sometimes easily, sometimes at great price. A clear vision orients future growth toward continued health and strength as it faces new opportunities and challenges.

The Bright Futures Campaign represents what the LCES Board of Directors believes to be our best foot forward as we tend to the needs of our school. The pathway to this campaign started with a desire to ensure the health and fiscal viability of our school in terms of daily operations, enrollment of new families, and the excellent facilities and learning environment we currently benefit from daily. Working with a consulting company who specializes in fundraising in Christian school communities, a feasibility study was completed with a test group in our community early in 2015. Last Thursday night at the Back-to-School barbecue, Pete Hamstra, chair of this campaign, announced its launch and shared some specific details about this 1.65 million dollar fundraising campaign.

There are three main goals for this campaign:

Capital funds for learning tools, building maintenance and upgrades, and other immediate needs. While the LCES staff always are our greatest asset in offering excellent education, we believe we need to maintain our facilities well and ensure we have great tools for learning.

Bursary funds that will be added to a managed fund whose annual dividends can be used to provide greater financial assistance to area families desiring access to Christian education.

Debt Reduction in order to bring greater financial health and stability in the future.

Please join many others already committed to praying for the campaign, its leadership, and the specific goals that have been outlined. We are very excited about the prospect of what this combined effort will mean for our present and our future LCES families as we consider our very bright future!

For our school, SJ

Playing with puzzle pieces

“Why did God makes wasps anyway?” was the question of the day as a few students helped me bundle up apples falling and attracting them in large numbers at the edge of our property. The question seemed to be asked believing that there was no possible answer that could place these stinging pests as part of something good for us. As we carefully boxed up the fruit to make them go away we talked about God’s design in creation, pollination, controlling other insect populations, and other details. One of the students came back to me this morning and shared with me that she learned on the weekend that a wasp nest can catch five tons of insects in one year. I don’t know if she is correct, but I am excited she chose to look in to it and share her findings with me.

Those in education call this inquiry learning – following the questions and learning opportunities life presents. Children are keen to figure out their world and makes sense of it. In the normal rhythm of our daily activities we have so many opportunities to guide our students to understanding, rather than simply “dumping” information their way. In addition to gathering facts, figures and processes, students are busy building their way to an overall means to put all the puzzle pieces of knowledge together in a meaningful way. This includes answers to questions like: What is good? What is valuable? What is important? What is true? For what purpose did God make ____? Giving our children a means to “put it all together” is one of the best tools we can give them to navigate the wide ocean of information they have available to them.

I am thankful for the ability Christian education affords us to make our students master puzzlers. With the help of adults around them committed to the truth of  God’s promises, students are able to not only absorb content, but to connect and arrange what they learn in a way that shows biblical wisdom.

Perhaps I’ll have to change my yard duty instruction. “Watch out for the wasps. They may teach us something about God.”

SJ

Shoes That Light Up

“I’m so happy to see my friends again.”
“I missed math.”
“I have a special snack for today.”
“I get to sit at a desk – like all the time!”
“I have a male teacher.”
“I’m excited to learn more about God this year.”
“My shoes light up when I jump.” 

These were some of the answers I got this morning outside when I asked students what they were excited about during the first recess break. The range of answers tells us what we perhaps already know; the school year launch means many things to many students – none exactly the same. For many of our newer students, today is a first tentative step into a new world. For others, coming back to LCES feels like returning to the comfort of your favorite pair of shoes. Either way, it
the prayer of the LCES staff that the everyday experience of school – all 183 of them - will be a source of continual delight of learning and fellowship.

The fact we ran out of chairs this morning in the gym confirms for me that many of our parents were just as excited to start a new school year as the students were. We are thankful to have your children back with us in the hallways and classrooms which were abuzz with the newness brand new school year this morning. How exciting for us all to be back together to share missing teeth, summertime stories, and new beginnings.

We look forward to working with our new school theme for 2015-16, SRL or “Serve, Respect, Love” which comes from 1 Peter 2:16-17. Students were challenged this morning that how we conduct ourselves can be a sign of what God is building among us - a strong community of faith whose conduct helps others know how to live life God’s way.

Remember to pray for our board of directors, teachers, and staff throughout this year as we work in faith with your children. To God be the glory.

SJ

P.S. Be sure that you reserve time next Thursday evening, September 17, for our Back-to-School BBQ. There will be something new and different this year – stay tuned for more details!

Learning to count again

"Count your many blessings; name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord has done." – Jonathan Oatman Jr. (1897)

One of my elementary school teachers used to have us sing this song each week as she accompanied us on the giant dilapidated piano I can still picture. She never failed to play it with enthusiasm and energy. I think we were actually more captivated with the rhythm than with the words, since it encouraged us to mimic a boisterous singing marching group. I’m pretty sure being thankful and taking stock wasn’t on our minds.

Nevertheless, worn in by childhood memories, this song comes back to me often as I work. As I read through and sign report cards, observe year-end activities, take in an avalanche of pictures, and anticipate a graduation on the horizon I can’t help but make an observation. God is over all, in all, and through all. Naming the blessings “one by one” directs us to take in the fullness of “every spiritual blessing in Christ.” (Ephesians 1) God loves LCES and is at work among us. Praise the Lord!

Counting blessings in this way is not intended to be a “cheer up, it’s not that bad” antidote to the very real and pressing challenges we face. We wouldn’t be authentic if we didn’t acknowledge that the pathway through this year at LCES has included some dark clouds. Financial hardship, disappointment, grief, conflict, and uncertainty have been part of our individual and collective pathway.

We are consoled and encouraged that God is much larger than any of these. Even though we are
“burdened by a load of care” as the song states later, we are wise to follow David and say “I will yet praise him, my Saviour and my God.” (Psalm 42:5) Let’s not forget, He who promised is able.

When the celebrating and thanksgiving of this week ends, may the Lord bless our LCES families, students, and staff with a time of refreshing change and rest. We can’t wait to see everyone again in September to see what God has in store for us at LCES!

Grace and peace,  SJ

Tomorrow's Most Wanted

There was panic. I remember people were lined up at the gas station rushing to fill their tanks before midnight. “Y2K” was believed to bring about major complications for anything guided or monitored by a computer as the year clicked over to 2000. Fear about anticipating the future was stirred to fever pitch by some media outlets. The end result? Nothing newsworthy happened.

In a conversation last week following the visit of the new JK/SK students arriving this fall, I used the phrase “LCES class of 2025.” I have to admit, it felt a little like something out of science fiction, since that it is a quarter century after the supposed crisis of the end of 1999. What will the world of our grade eight graduates be like at that point? I’m sure we can’t entirely understand and I’m thankful that our incoming students will have the opportunity of nine or ten years of faith-nurturing, perspective-shaping, and habit-forming Christian education before then. It is an investment well worth making that will prepare them for what lies over the horizon, a future already known by God.

Our graduates will someday look for work to fulfill their God-given purpose. What will tomorrow’s job recruiter be looking for? A 2013 study of 500 top leaders who collectively employ millions was entitled “Tomorrow’s Most Wanted.” This poll revealed that personality, not competence, is the most highly valued trait. A desire for employees who can collaborate, adapt quickly, are personable, and
have the drive to get the job done have an enormous advantage. In other words, evidence of initial
task-specific competency was far less important compared to the substance of the person’s character.

These are important cues to us as we consider the changing nature and methods of Christian education in the present world. I’m confident that we are preparing our students well for their unique
future when we challenge them to know themselves intimately as leaders, learners, and children of
God. May God bless our current graduates as they seek to be a faithful presence in the unique and
important place where God will plant them. SJ

Making Lists and Giving Thanks

“Being thankful is a mindset as much as it as an action item” is a phrase I remember from a wise
person in my life. Our weekly chapel earlier this morning challenged staff and students to create a
list for things that we are thankful for. Much like a “bucket list,” the action of actually writing down
what we are thankful urges more reflective consideration and perhaps greater realization of the
bounty of God’s favour experienced every day. Seeing a physical list helps our heart to see God’s
blessing and provision. An attitude of thankfulness ensures we place the focus on God, his faithful-
ness, and his plan for us.

Here is the list of things JK students are thankful for:

 • My hands so we can pick up things.
 • My heart so we can love.
 • Our body because it holds up.
 • Shoes so we can walk outside if we want to.
 • Mom and Dad because they love me and know God
 • Feet so we can walk to the bus stop
 • A coat because it keeps us warm.

From my vantage point, here is my list of what I am thankful for about LCES this morning:

• for rain falling today that is nourishing our dozen new trees and keeping our grounds so green
• for an answer that a student gave me this morning that showed growth and wisdom
• for parent leaders on the board and committees committing to guiding LCES next year
• for the chance to be working with students loved by God to help them grow
• for answers to prayer for wisdom and consensus on challenging matters
• for safe travel for many class trips that have and will soon take students on the road
• for growth and learning of our grade eight students who are soon ready to graduate
• for a healthy lunch and all the clean water I care to drink

• for new JK and SK students entering our building for orientation this week (Class of 2023/24!)

Taking the time to write out this list was helpful for me this morning. What are you thankful for? SJ

Growing Trees and Nurturing Schools

“I can’t wait to come back in 50 years and see how big they are!”

 

I overheard those words of expectation from a young student here at LCES after seeing the result of holes dug and many trees planted last week in various areas of our property. What vision, I thought, to look that far in the future and measure the success of something with a long view to the eventual outcome; mature trees flourishing where they were planted. 

We look forward to watching these trees grow and flourish in the coming years, much the same way that we as staff delight in watching our students grow in faith and wisdom during their years here. It is a joy to have many of our graduates from years long ago come back to enroll their children, complete practice teaching, co-op placements, lend a helping hand, or just for a visit. Like the trees just planted last week, our graduates move on from their humble “seedling” beginnings and become mature in their own way. 

LCES was once “planted” here as a seedling too, small and full of potential to grow as result of God’s blessing and provision to become a tree that now has 53 “annual growth rings” as tree experts describe. Certainly some of them indicate lean and hard times, others times of surging growth and prosperity. The tree has survived and matured to be what it is today; LCES is a vibrant, contemporary place of learning and faith. 

I’m thankful that there were visionary planters here on Clarke Rd many years ago with a shovel in the ground, a dream, and hopes of a flourishing school 53 years down the road. God has been faithful. I’m also grateful for many at present who are working to consider our maturing tree and its future. Reviewing our student program, finances, strategy, debt, and more are the tasks of today. 

May God bless the gardeners at LCES. SJ 

We are very grateful for the TD “Friends of the Environment” grant which allowed for the purchase of these trees and for the Ebert and Van Maar families for organizing and planting, as well as the grade seven class for helping to get the trees in the ground and spread mulch.