huge heaping helping of humilty!

If any of you have ever taught School, or Sunday School, or piano or just about anything else ... Hey, if you have ever been to church, school, McDonalds or just plain been around people; there always is that one person that you think (maybe secretly or out loud) would make the place better if they were not there.

I have such a student, this student is smart as a whip but will not complete assignments, only answers a couple answers on each test I give, even though I know they have gotten 100% when no one else did.  They speak out of turn in class, show up late, don't take notes, and ask the weirdest way out in left field questions.  If I was to be honest, I confess, I do believe KCA would be a better place without this person.

If you know me, I tend to ruffle a few feathers everywhere I go and KCA is no exception.  I have had a few students say to me "Mr. Johnson (weird to be called that), could we talk."  "Oh, No" this is going to end in my wife telling me how unintelligent I was regarding this person and I deservedly deserve it.

Well, Monday happened and one student came up to me and asked "Mr. Johnson, could we talk?"

My heart sank, "What did I do now?"  So for 10 minutes, every thing I have ever said to this person flew through my mind, trying to pre-emptively know what they were coming to confront me about.

10 minutes was up and in this student walked, "Mr. Johnson ... I don't think Bob (fake name for the student who grates on my every-single-nerve) has any friends.  I don't think Bob knows Jesus.  I came to you because you are my Bible teacher and I was wondering what I can do for Bob?"

Any pride I had in me evaporated like water in the dead sea, leaving behind a sediment of shame and guilt.  This student who is not an adult, sure is a whole lot more mature than me.  I should have been the example to the class of what true love is to Bob.  I, the teacher, should be Jesus to Bob, but I have not been.  Let's just say, the student has surpassed the teacher.  Here again, I my students are teaching me.  I am beginning to wonder if I am the one who should be attending KCA as all the lessons seem to be directed toward me instead of the other way around.

Immediately Philippians came to mind Chapter 2 verses 1 - 11

Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, ² then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. ³ Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, ⁴ not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

⁵ In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

 

⁶ Who, being in very nature God,
    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
⁷ rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.
⁸ And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
        even death on a cross!

⁹ Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
    and gave him the name that is above every name,
¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
¹¹ and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father.

 

A few students of mine were reminiscing with me about past years and there was one common theme "KCA" changes people.  (OK not KCA but God, but it seems to be a common occurrence within the walls of the school)

 

God has changed my attitude towards Bob and I am proud to say I have been much more humble in regards to Bob and I don't know if it is God working in the heart of Bob or my heart or maybe a little of both, but God truly is faithful at KCA, my life, your life and all around this giant ball of dirt we call home (Earth)!

Mr. Independent!

If you were to ask me what my biggest fear is, I wouldn't need to hesitate to answer.  It is Eternity.  In my finite mind, I cannot comprehend something that does not end.  I take comfort knowing that my life will end.  Not in death itself but the certainty of it.  But spending Eternity forever, without end, and no chance of it ending terrifies me.

 

I know I have mentioned it before but being a parent sometimes gives us a glimpse into what our Heavenly Father sees watching us struggle through life.  Jo-Jo, as we call him, took a huge step of independence this week

 

Yes, our little man can now drink from a cup by himself, actually, he prefers it.  Funny how independent they get so fast.

 

The lesson I learned from this episode of independence has to do with our kitchen.  Ellianna is pretty smart.  Jolen loves her and chases her around the house, so Ellianna has devised a plan.  She lets him chase her for a while and then goes to the kitchen. 

Now our kitchen has a little step, probably only about 5 inches or so, but once he is up there he is stuck.  As independent as he is, he will not get down no matter what.  Ellianna just runs away after he has chased her and gets a little peace and quiet before we go over there and let him down.

This evening, I was just looking at him, still happy to be up there and started contemplating.  "Jolen," I said from the living room, "it is so easy for you to get down, trust me, I have the bigger perspective, it is not that big of a leap."  Then, God said to me, "Blake, it is so easy for you to live eternally, I have the bigger perspective, it is not that big of a leap."  And I suddenly had this vision of God in the "living room" that is heaven seeing the big picture and our small perspective urging us to Him because he can see everything and his perspective is the perfect one that matters.  And maybe death is not the big deal we make it out to be in light of HIM!

 

 

 

First Tooth!

Jolen, after 10 months and 4 days, November 1st, has cut his first tooth!


Jolen is quite a character as he will not eat mush anymore but prefers to eat chunky food.  This is incredibly difficult, but somehow he does it.  He was super exited to get his tooth though!

 

And we have already got him cheering for the proper team!

 

Ellianna this week has been exponentially difficult.  Everything is a battle.  "Let's go outside" - "But I don't want to Daddy" - "Ellianna listen to me" - "I want to but my head is telling me no."

 

Well today we had a rare, not uneventful but minimally eventful, trip to the grocery store and she got a treat.  She wanted Ice Cream.  Now when Ellianna wants ice cream it is usually she wants the idea of ice cream and after 1 bite it ends up on the floor, on her shirt, anywhere but her mouth.  But tonight we found a winner!

Before

Almost gone!

 

I finally got around to getting proof that I do teach at KCA!

Fortunately, the school has PowerPoint as if the students had to follow my writing and train of thought (see evidence above) they would get lost.  I usually use the whiteboard to emphasize a point and after I am finished it looks like a bunch of scribbles.  The lesson I am teaching above is David's sin in committing adultery with Bathsheba and murdering Uriah (see if you can follow the lesson).

 

As I began teaching this year, I was wondering how I would be forming these mouldable minds and lately, it has been me the one moulded.  We were talking in Ethics about "thou shalt not commit adultery." so Colleen and Myself divided the class into boys and girls had the sexual ethics talk with them.  Man, I wish I was mature as these 16 year olds when I was their age.  They already realize the gravity of sexual sin and take measures against falling into it.  I was floored at their maturity.

 

The next commandment is on stealing, so, naturally, because of their age, we talked about illegal downloads of music, videos and games.  You could have heard a pin drop when I asked the question, "Is it ok to download illegal music?"  The sex talk was easy as everyone had an opinion mostly because it is just an idea in their head, but now, downloading music is something that hits home.  It wasn't only the students who were convicted but I went home being careful to be sure the proper copyrights are followed and they get their money for their music and videos.  Some of my students actually went home and deleted hundreds of gigabytes of illegal content, again floored by their maturity.

 

The kicker was when the grade 10 class heard about this.  They asked if I would be teaching next year because if I was, they needed to listen to all their illegal downloads before I made them delete it all.

 

I was reminded of a story I told my ethics class in the boy/girl talk.

 

I was at YC (a Christian youth conference) when I was around 15 or so and one of my friends brought a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue that we were going to look at that evening when the session was over.  The speaker spoke on purity and asked if anyone desired to take a stand for purity.  I stood up and spoke these words, I kid you not, this is what I said "God, I commit to being pure, ... after tonight."

 

I told the students that that was my mentality, When I turned 20 then I would be pure, when I get married then I will be pure, when I turn 30 ...  our battle with the flesh is a lifelong battle.  We need to be filling our hearts with His word and make a stand right now, not tomorrow, not next year, but Today, right now!

 

Your first tooth only comes along once, but God calls you to a life devoted to Him everyday!





So much to say, So few Sentences

This probably ends the busiest week since we have been here.  It started Thursday night as we (I should say Colleen, I watched) baked cinnamon buns for my grade 11 and 12 classes to come visit on Friday Morning.  We had a blast as the pictures show

Grade 12 Class

Grade 11 Class

Oh ya, I forgot, before we did the baking on Thursday, we had to go get costumes for Fall Festival on Saturday.  Funny story, well kind of.  Last year, before Halloween, Colleen wanted to buy Ellianna a Tinkerbell outfit for $5 at Walmart.  I said "NO" as we already had an outfit for our child and it is a waste of money to buy another outfit that will only be worn once.  Then, KCA happened.  I have been peppered with questions, "What are your kids going as for Fall Festival"  When I said I didn't have the time, they said "But you have to dress them up" so the Pressure began.  I spent my energies (and my money later) to find a costume shop for my children.  I found one and lets just say I spent an astronomical amount of money just to fit in and be a "good" Dad.  If you have been to PRBI you understand Thought Analysis.  Well, the next morning I was analyzing my thoughts and realized that I did not buy the costumes out of love, but out of personal selfishness.  I did not want to be the dad who did not dress up his kids.  I didn't want to look bad, I wanted to fit in.  I wanted everyone to say how cute my kids looked, I...I...I not one unselfish motivation.  It hurts knowing you have been selfish when it comes to being a parent.  My kids did look cute but how they got there was convicting act.

Our little Spud

If you look closely, the three of us have matching face-paint!

We threw in a first haircut for Jolen (Ellianna has not had one yet)

Marking then began for report cards which the final grades were due on Wednesday.  I am definitely looking forward to an uneventful weekend.

Through it all, God taught me some amazing lessons about myself (which I did not want to learn, but am glad I did) and His grace and forgiveness.  Sometimes I think the Students are the teachers instead of me because I don't know how much I teach them, but try to be the student everyday learning lessons from the pure in heart!

P.S. I have been learning about Canadian English here at an American School.  First, if you wear a touque while using a serviette after poutine while on a chesterfield, they look at you funny.  And also, bells don't go, they ring.  As in "Did the bell go?"  Yes it went"  they look at you funny again.  And one more thing, The American  version of the war of 1812 does not involve Canadians.  Go figure?

Fit to be sick

Oh man, it has been a tough week.  Basically, fall has come with a vengeance to invade my body and keep me away from school.  It has been very pretty outside,

And it is neat because all around us there are maple trees.  So many maple trees that people are employed to rake leaves all day.  And then the next day, they rake the same place because more leaves have covered the ground.  As the leaves fall and they are all in the shape of a Maple Leaf, do you know what I am thinking?   Wow it feels like home, and no, I do not cheer for the Leafs.

Well anyways,  I have been at home battling sickness this week which has been quite difficult.  I had to get a sub, (thank you John P.) but the worst part about being a teacher is that even though I am sick, I have the same amount of work to do to have a sub to teach in class.  You have to come up with lesson plans, PowerPoint slides, be a good communicator, make up assignments.  All from the comfort of your bed, sneezing and sniffling away.  I should have just gone and taught because I am more busy now than when I was healthy, except, I couldn't get out of bed.

Fortunately for myself, John is very flexible so he was able to run my classes smoothly without any real hiccups.  So I got to go to work today and had some tests planned and as I gave them, I found out just what was taught.  It is not easy to make a test for stuff you "think" your students learnt.

Anyway, it was difficult to not have the energy to do more than 5 minutes of work before resting for an hour, but it sure taught me alot about humility as at one point, Colleen was in a language lesson and I was watching Jolen (Ellianna was sleeping) and about 1/2 was through her lesson, I had to give her Jolen and just lay down.  Man, you try to be everything to your kids and your wife and are humbled by a simple illness.

So, tomorrow we are having some of the students over for a party at our apartment as we live only a 5 minute walk away.  Colleen has been hard at work  in the kitchen preparing.

That is one exciting thing Colleen has found here.  She can do ministry by baking!  She loves baking and it is stress relief so when I bring baking to school, the teachers thank me for driving my wife to baking and ask if I can keep driving her crazy for their benefit.  I am truly the lucky one in this relationship as my stomach is never in want!!!

A prayer request we would have is for Colleen as she starts teaching Health at KCA.  Both for her preparing and teaching, but also for the children as they adjust to mom being gone some of the time.

We appreciate all your prayers and thoughts as we take each step forward in Christ day by day.

This Canadian is Thankful for Football (Soccer!)

First of all, on a somber note, I would like you to remember the McPhee family.  We went to Bible School with them, back in the day and he was my professor after he graduated.  Fellow churchgoers at GBF in Sexsmith, they heard God calling them to Uganda and left earlier this year.  While there, they had a baby girl around the beginning of September.  Last week, she started seizurning and they later found out she had holes in her heart.  Selah went home to Jesus last Friday and this Friday they had the funeral service.  Please pray for them and if you would like to financially bless them in this hard time you can click on this link http://tgcfcanada.org/donate/  and then go to Dave and Janna McPhee.  Thank you for holding them up in prayer at this time.

Thing around here have been hectic.  Jolen has started showing us his humorous personality

The kids now that it is October must wear a touque outside even when it is plus 17 because once October hits, children must wear touques because they could get sick, or we will get told our child is cold by everyone on the street.

Thanksgiving in this house has come and gone.  We celebrated God's goodness last Saturday as fellow Canadian friends of ours could not be here this weekend so we, being Canadian, had the luxury of celebrating it early.  It is funny working with a bunch of Americans where Thanksgiving is a huge celebration with a children's program and everyone dresses up.  We told them we moved thanksgiving and they could not fathom that the day could be moved.  I also told them it is celebrated on a Monday just to push them over the edge.

Fellow teachers at KCA were given season tickets to the local soccer team Dynamo Kyiv and they could not make it this last game so they offered me their tickets.  I jumped at the opportunity as I have never been to a futbol game in Europe.  You you think I am a huge fan of the Oilers, you have not seen a passionate fan until a Soccer game in Europe.

My favorite part of the stadium is the fence they put up so the rowdy crowd stays at bay

The stadium seats 70,000 people and there is not one bad seat in the house.  Bigger than Commonwealth Stadium and a much better view

Going crazy after a goal is scored

This section beats on drums all game long!

Those guys are good!  They do things with the soccer ball I can only do in my dreams and even then they are more creative.  It was crazy good futbol.  Ukrainian Premier League is the 9th best league in Europe!  On a side note, on Monday if England ties their game and Ukraine wins, they qualify for the World Cup!

The score ended up being 9-1 for Dynamo Kyiv so as my uncle Myron would say "Guaranteed Goals!"  So we got to celebrate quite a bit!

These tickets we got, on the centre line, and 25 rows up were 60 griven each, or roughly $7.50.  It makes it hard to justify $100 per ticket to see the Oliers sitting in the nosebleed section.

This was probably one of the most difficult weeks of my life as the assignments started piling up and I could not keep ahead of the game.  I texted Colleen on Thursday morning just overwhelmed and you know how people say they feel someone's prayers.  I literally felt her prayers and if you were up at 1:30 am on Wednesday night, I felt yours too!  Thank you for partnering with us as we celebrate God's goodness here and serve in ways we never would have imagined!

A Date with Dad!

So Colleen suggested I go on a Father-Daughter date with Ellianna this past Saturday.  On Saturday morning, we boarded the bus to a mall called Dreamtown and went on a date.  If you were to go into a mall over here, you would notice that nothing is very different.  Sure there are less people and no one speaks English, but they are laid out and look the same.  Malls in Ukraine are expensive places to go, in other words, if you are able to spend ridiculous amounts of money, then you go to the mall or you may go for a birthday party once a year if you are lucky.

For a mall to exist in Ukraine, the rational is that if 10% of the population can shop at the mall then it can be sustained.  Wow!  Only 10% go to the mall.  A stark contrast to Canada where the year I graduated, probably everyone could say they have been to a mall in the last month.  So of my grad class of 60 people, only 6 would have been to a mall.  Those are small odds where our mentality is volume produces profit and the Ukraine mentality is "the more exclusive the place, the more money we make!"

So the mall on a Saturday was not busy but we had fun walking around and getting lost in the hall of mirrors

The hall was probably the size of a small apartment but it took us around 30 minutes to get out

We had some fun running into all the mirrors and they gave me special gloves so I would not mark the mirrors for the next person.

Which Ellianna is the real one?

We were planning on going to McDonalds but, it was in the second half of the mall as we only explored a little bit but we walked by a pizza place and ate some pizza!

Why do I share this?

It is pretty simple, what is important in life?  When we leave Ukraine, will we be thinking "I wish I had spent more time with local Ukrainians" or "I wish I knew more Russian"

Or will we say "Ministry was so important to us that we missed our children growing up."

We had the privilege of going to a KCA soccer game last night and the amount of parent support who said "My kids are the most important thing to me (besides Jesus of course)" was astonishing.  The team we played against was a school of 600 students and our teams were quite outmatched yet, they had 1 or 2 fans and we filled the bleachers with the KCA cheer section!

The other schools joke that every KCA game is a home game!

I have learned that my kids and my wife need to know that they are so dear and important to me and sharing that love to Ukraine is my goal.  I hope and pray the world may see Jesus through my love for my family!