Acorns and Oak Trees

In the brilliant blue western sky of our backyard, we have an oak tree. That oak tree was around long before our house was I’m sure. It stands tall and proud, with its massive trunk anchoring it deep into the ground. Though there is not even a single leaf a flutter in the winter winds, I’m very confident that a canopy of green will offer us shade again in a matter of months when the winter drifts have gone. 

I learned by recent experience that oak trees don’t necessarily create and drop acorns each year. Plenty of variables come in to play like soil conditions, tree stress, and climate conditions which shape whether the tree attempts to propagate. If the acorn is surrounded with warmth, moisture, and nutrient-rich soil it has a much greater chance of emerging as a young plant and maturing into a majestic oak itself. The majestic oak, though quite vulnerable in its infancy, becomes more viable and has a greater ability to withstand summer heat and bitter cold as it matures. 

You may have noticed that a pair of acorns appear in several places in LCES promotional items, our website included. It’s a great visual to remind us of the important work that goes on at LCES every day of the week. Parents, looking to give their young children optimal conditions for them to launch, surround them with love and care, direction and protection – all with the goal of having them mature to become healthy and independent children of the faith as they move toward the future God has prepared for them. 

Christian teachers challenge and nurture our children with the truth of God’s Word and arm them with knowledge and discernment as they grow in awareness and ability. Although we are sad to see them go when they graduate grade eight, we are delighted that they have reached that point and are ready for a larger place to grow.

LCES. It’s a delightful tree nursery to work in. SJ

How to fail in a Christian school

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:19-20

I have a confession. When I was young, I couldn't do the triple jump. No matter how hard I tried, I could not force my mind to correctly direct my body through the succession of hop, skip and jump needed. My attempts were a sharp contrast to several classmates around me that, over several years of field day preparation, grew in their skill and precision and started to look like soaring eagles launching into flight. Convinced that I just couldn't, I simply stopped believing that I ever could it. My mindset got the better of me.

In the educational and professional reading I do there has been a lot of talk lately about how incredibly significant one’s mindset toward learning and failure is to the progression of learning and reaching one’s potential. A mindset might easily be understood to be the combination of attitude and actions, each affecting each other.

A fixed mindset presumes that you are or are not something (smart, resourceful, musical, athletic, etc) and there is little one can do to change that. You have it or you don’t and you can’t change much about it. It discourages people from reaching or stretching beyond where they are already at.

A growth mindset suggests that although people are very different from one another, everyone can grow as they try, fail, repeat, stretch, grow, and learn. Some of the most import and most significant learning happens not with what you first get it right, but rather where you initially struggle and wrestle with it until you have it. Studies show that many people define key learning moments in life as being connected with things that were failures before they were a success. The key is to not give up before that learning path is complete.

This is certainly consistent with a Christian view of education. We don’t teach children believing they will instantly find success in all things. God calls each student, teacher, and parent to realize that failure and weakness are opportunities, not endings. In our failures and weakness, we meet opportunities to see God’s grace make us stronger as he works in and through us. Take heart, don’t give up. “Failures are finger posts on the road to achievement.” C.S.Lewis 

 SJ

Who works at LCES? (Part 2)

It takes more than teachers to run our school. We are blessed to have a team of support staff that
work very hard to help make LCES a great place to live and learn.

Our bus drivers are a group of people who rise early and work late as they shuttle our students to and from school. Did you know that they travel more than 500km collectively each day? Think of how many starts and stops, turns, pickup and drop-offs that is. We are thankful for their steady hands and precision driving.

Our educational assistants work to support classroom learning for individual students, small
groups, and in some cases entire classes. They give time and attention with task-specific help for
students who flourish under their care, and in other situations they free up a teacher to do the
same while they supervise.


We have an office administrator who is the front lines of communication, ordering, dealing with sick children and injured children, accepting and sending deliveries and so much more. We get dizzy when we watch her work and can’t imagine what it would be like to work without her as the first face many people see at LCES.

Our bookkeeper keeps us straight in all things finance, ensuring that all funds coming in and going out are carefully reviewed. She spends hours poring over pension contributions, benefits, invoices, deposits and ensures that we are using money in ways that are responsible and stewardly. Not an easy task!

Our custodians bless us with a clean and bright place to work in every day. Daily routines of taking
care of everything from slush covered floors to germ covered doorknobs are handled with care. We
appreciate their diligence in handling many jobs that most people who prefer not to do at all.

And while they are paid only in the delight of helping where needed, we have dozens of volunteers who work here too. They contribute with the gift of time and talent to help our school achieve its mission and vision. Our school is made stronger by their willing efforts.

Praise God for these rich blessings of people who make LCES a great place to be! SJ

Who teaches at LCES?

When I am asked what makes a Christian school distinct and unique by someone not familiar with LCES or Christian schooling in general, one of my first responses is the teaching staff that spends 1000 hours of time with their child each school year. While we are blessed with a fantastic facility, teachers at our school are the backbone of our institution being able to deliver quality, Christian education that fulfills its vision to “educate children, equipping them for a life of faithful, Christian discipleship.”



Our teachers work from a deep sense of vocational calling. They believe that teaching is not only a
rewarding means by which to earn a living, they believe that God has specifically called and
equipped them to work in His kingdom in this way. They live in the unique space professionally of
having both the freedom and responsibility to live out their faith in the midst of that calling as they
teach.

Here are some details regarding the LCES staff that you may not already know:

-we have a team of approximately half full time teachers and half part-time teachers (less than
100%) who work together as a diversely talented team

-the average teaching experience for our teachers is 15.9 years, with a blend of newer and more
veteran teachers

-teachers are involved in professional development throughout the year, and frequently attend learning experience in the summer months to hone their craft of Christian teaching

-all of our teachers are graduates of a teacher’s education program at a variety of different universi-
ties and have teacher certification in the form of Christian School Teacher’s Certificate and/or their
Ontario College of Teachers Certificate of Qualifications

-every teacher takes turn leading a school-wide chapel throughout the year
-beyond classroom teaching, all of our staff take on responsibilities like coaching, event organizing,
safety duties, LIT (Leaders in Training), leadership in a provincial teacher’s association and much
more

-each full time teacher spends more than 80 hours outside the school supervising children through-
out the year

Praise God for the provision of a dynamic group of committed working professional ready to pace
alongside our students on their journey of discovery and learning along the road of faith.

Where would we be without them?                                                                                    

 SJ

Thinking Forward

Commit your work unto the Lord, and your plans will be established. Proverbs 16:3

Even though it may feel like the Christmas tree only went down a few days ago and the first day of school in September of the 54^th year of LCES is a long way off, the reality is that we are already launching into planning mode. Equipping God’s children to live a life based on biblical wisdom and active service in His kingdom will carry on in September.  As an organization, we trust that our faithful God will provide – both now as we plan and then when we see those plans come to reality.

Here is what you can do as a participant in that process:

Pray. Join us in seeking the Lord’s call for us as a school as we get organized for another year. We do believe it is our task to be wise, prudent, and diligent, and yet we also know we need to remain open the Spirit’s prompting to direct us to follow in faithfulness. Pray for clarity and conviction for school leadership to make key choices and set a path forward.  

Talk. Your experience speaks powerfully to others who might be more open to the conversation about Christian schooling as an option than you might think. Telling the stories of our school to others is important. Our open house events and enrollment efforts are made more powerful by parents who talk up the school. The more you do it, the easier it becomes!

Get involved. The cycle of leadership terms on the board and sub-committees has people ending and starting times of service constantly.  Prayerfully consider if perhaps you might be called to use your gifts and talents in support of the school in this important way. 

Communicate. It cannot be emphasized enough that part of getting our school adequately prepared is having the most accurate data possible. As parents you should have received a request to pass on your intentions for next year. The more timely and honest your answers to those questions are, the more effective we are as we organize a budget, arrange staffing, and consider class composition as the planning stages unfold.

For our school,  SJ

Comfort for hard times

"He guides me along the right paths for his names's sake." Psalm 23:3

On a warm autumn day, I found a pair of gloves. Snowmobile gloves actually, for sale for only a $1 at a garage sale though they were apparently never used. The need for air-conditioning and a cool drink was much more apparent that day compared to the need for gloves guaranteed for -20 or colder. My hands were sweating as I put them on. Nevertheless, I bought them and placed them where my cold hands would reach for them when winter first appeared.

Those gloves have been a source of immense help to me in the last number of months already as I shovel snow, go out on yard duty, or move about in the deep freeze of winter. They are the best pair I have ever owned. Tasks are made more possible, bearable and even comfortable by their addition to my life. I now count them as vital part of being prepared to face whatever the day brings.

I’ve been reminded in the last week that scripture functions for us in the same way. Many of the words of comfort, direction, and meaning from God’s Word are read first (and much more often) in circumstances of normal routine and peaceful life before they are pulled out in time of strife and anguish.  Much like the gloves that were added to my life more for the future rather than the present – we do well to wear in to our soul the familiar groves of scripture that will come to the surface by God’s prompting when adversity or trials blindside us.

Preparing our students in this way is a key part of what we do here at LCES. God’s Word is opened frequently, in all subjects and circumstances. Psalm 23 was the focus of this morning’s chapel as everyone present was challenged to lean in on these words to console us, orient us, and renew us. Much like a sheep that has every possible need met in the shepherd whose voice alone is a source of comfort, God’s Word is a “lamp for [our] feet, and a light for [our] path” – even on the darkest of days.

Grace, peace, and comfort to us all. SJ

Where does a new year put us?

“Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.”  Psalm 91:!

Future LCES students born in this new year will be grade eight graduates in 2029. We are just as close to 2030 as we are 2000. One hundred years ago this year Einstein laid out his newly discovered theory of relativity, and 200 years ago Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo. Estimates point to Canada’s population pushing past 36 million this year  and the  world population will reach 7.3 billion by the time we see 2016.

A frequent tradition in my childhood home that I recall well was reading Psalms 90 & 91 shortly before and after midnight on New Year’s Eve.  All board games, movies, and everything stopped for these two chapters with a prayer in between as the bells tolled midnight. While I may have preferred then that it be left out, I now count those times as foundational in learning how to view God and time. These bookends of wisdom remind us not to be swept up in the immediacy of believing that only the short period of time behind and before us matter and that anything can happen.  God existed before mountains were created (90:2) and will protect us and “with long life” he will satisfy us. (90:16).

This new year will take LCES further along the road of faith and ask us to respond to events that may be a surprise to us, but not to God.  We will see needs arise; God promises he will meet all of them. We will see moments of joy; God rejoices in our delight in him and his world. We will face adversity; God promises he will be there.  We will seek out his will; God promises he will lead and guide us. We will cry out; God promises to hear us and answer.

Welcome back to  “Walking in the Way of Love” in January.                 SJ

P.S. Check out our grade four class modelling New Year's resolutions this morning in the first 2015 chapel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUT45aNORUI&feature=youtu.be