Running in the Rain

One of my favorite parts of running a race is seeing the photos taken by the race photographers. Usually I look absolutely terrible in these pictures but every once in a while there's a winner. Sometimes I'll even buy a few of the shots when they offer a sale months later. So it makes sense that I just now got around to buying my race photos from the RnR Madrid Half Marathon back in April.

While training for a race in the arid desert climate of Madrid, rain was the last thing I anticipated. (Go ahead with your rain in Spain on the plains jokes, I'll wait.) In my months of training, I hadn't encountered rain once while on a run. So you can imagine my despair when, come race day, the sky was overcast and the rain fell steadily. It let up for the start and I prayed desperately for it to hold off a few more hours. When the heavy rains began pelting me at mile 3, there was no turning back. I was in it for the long haul and I had no choice but to keep moving forward and finish the race. It ended up raining hard for the next ten miles and by the time I crossed the finish line I was completely drenched and rocking the drowned rat look.

I looked something like this.

I've been reflecting on this experience recently as I participate in another race - the race of life. Yes, I know it sounds cheesy but bear with me here. My life as a teacher is divided into four major "races" with visible finish lines. The first race is completing the fall semester and being rewarded with Christmas vacation. The second race is completing the stretch between Christmas and Spring Break, and the third race is like one of those super intense Spartan Sprint 5Ks as we return from Spring Break and barrel towards the biggest finish line of them all: summer vacation. The fourth race is spending the summer raising support to do it all over again the next year. I cross that finish line when I reach 100% of my support for that year.

Sometimes those races go exactly as planned but more often than not, things come up. I trip over surprises like untied shoelaces, and obstacles block my path like potholes in the road. Spiritual attacks strike me from every side like a torrential downpour of rain. Sometimes I have to stop and catch my breath. Sometimes I think about quitting. But every time God gives me the strength to keep moving forward and finish the race.

I've been studying scripture passages about patience and perseverance as I grapple with the latest surprise, Germany's minimum wage law. It is still beyond my understanding how I will raise the rest of my support in the next two weeks. This unexpected spike in support needs has taken me by complete surprise, much in the same way that the rain did on race day.

While reading Romans 5, I was blown away by the Message version.

We continue to shout our praise even when we're hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we're never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary - we can't round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit! (Romans 5:3-5, The Message)

There are so many great images in this passage! Passionate patience. The tempered steel of virtue. Alert expectancy. These are the kinds characteristics that I strive for as I actively wait for God to do a great work in and through and for me. In the meantime I shout my praise to the Lord who is indeed my Everything.



Please join me in praying for this final $565 in monthly support to come in. Pray that it will pour in so fast that I won't be able to "round up enough containers to hold everything" as God generously provides.

If you'd like to participate in God's provision, please visit my personal giving page and sign up to make a monthly gift of any size.

mehr als genug

Today I went on an adventure.

I got into my car, drove to the next town, and walked into a German church where I didn't know a single soul.

Except, of course, Sefora. During my sophomore year of college I took voice lessons with Sefora as part of her vocal pedagogy class. The catch to the free lessons was that I had to "perform" in front of the entire vocal ped class at the end of the semester - basically, we had a typical lesson in front of an audience. I remember being terrified to sing in front of an entire class of voice majors, many of whom were my friends! But somehow I made it through unscathed, though she was the one being graded, not me!

After I moved to Germany, we reconnected on Facebook and I saw that she was touring in Germany. Last year I tried to make it to one of her concerts but it didn't work out, so when I saw a few weeks ago that she was coming to Lörrach I knew I had to make it work.

So I got into my car, drove to the next town, and walked into a German church where I didn' t know a single soul except Sefora, who was doing a mini-concert during the morning service. Except for the German being spoken, it looked a lot like any other church - coffee bar, PowerPoint song lyrics, chairs in rows, casually-clad congregation gripping Bibles and to-go mugs, and LOTS of children running around. So I found myself a seat towards the back and tried to look as normal as possible. As long as I didn't have to speak, no one would have to know that I didn't speak German.

I took my cues from the people around me - when to stand, when to sit, when to laugh, when to bow my head for prayer (thankfully "Amen" sounds pretty much the same in German!). And I lucked out with the PowerPoint song lyrics because I could attempt to sing along during the worship time. The exciting part was recognizing familiar words amidts all the umlauts, and when they sang Chris Tomlin's "Our God is Greater" in German, I actually understood the whole song (and learned a few new words!). Small victories. The sermon was the hardest part, because my German listening skills STINK. From the reaction of the congregation, the pastor gave a very engaging, funny, and moving message but sadly I didn't follow any of it. I did hear him repeat the phrase "I am a child of God" many times, though!

So on my way home I was listening to Sefora's new CD, and I heard this beautiful song. Here's the chorus:

Deine Gnade is mehr als genug
Deine Gnade is mehr, als ich brauch
Deine Gnade is mehr als genug
jeden Morgen neu

Your grace is more than enough
Your grace is more than I need
Your grace is more than enough
Every new day

I need this reminder on a daily basis. God's grace is more than enough for me, and his mercies are new every morning. If He can have this everlasting and unconditional patience with me and all my screwups, then certainly the least I can do is extend the same to my students. It's easy for me to start Mondays with a fresh slate, but as the week progresses it becomes too easy to start a "tab" of all their wrongdoings. Pray that this week (and every week!) I would remember that God's grace is more than enough for me - that He would heap so much grace on me that I can't help but pass it on to my students, too.

PS, you can hear Sefora's music here. It's so lovely.

5 things monday

I know, I know. It's supposed to be 5 things Friday. But I haven't had a chance to do one of these posts in awhile, and after my really heavy post I needed to lighten things up a bit. So without further ado, five things that are on my mind right now.

{1}

The song has been stuck in my head for over 24 hours despite my best efforts to remove it, so I gave up and am now playing it on repeat. It's definitely going on the Lugano 2012 playlist. And oh my stars, his eyebrows! I am addicted to his eyebrows. Of course, I can't help but think of this post about deep v-neck syndrome on Stuff Christians Like!

{2}

I may be admitting to complete and total geekdom here, but I really want to go to this StarTrek convention! It's being held in London in October and all five Enterprise captains will be there!! Apparantly there's a huge Star Trek following in the UK so this convention is a very big deal.

{3}

I have always wanted to be recognized as a real redhead. It's in my genes, but for a long time my hair took the "strawberry blonde" approach. In more recent years it has started to become more strawberry and less blonde, but I didn't realize just how much until I saw this picture. Over the weekend I attended a friend's birthday party, and we took this picture together. I am standing next to a redhead, and I look like a redhead! Our hair is an almost perfect match! I confess I may have squealed in delight when I saw this picture, simply because of my hair color.

{4}

I came across this recipe on a food blog I follow. I had hoped they would be a good substiture for Wheat Thins, something I was rather addicted to in the States but can't get here in Germany. While they are very tasty (and SO easy to make), the flavor reminded me more of a Triscuit. The nice thing about them is that you can easily modify the recipe to make specially-flavored crackers. Next time I might try a cinnamon-sugar seasoning instead of the sea salt.

{5}

Picnik, my favorite photo editing app, is shutting down on April 19. BOO! But, I have discovered a comparable replacement: PicMonkey! It's still a work in progress, but the interface, menus, etc, are almost identical to Picnik so there's not a lot of new controls to figure out. Go check it out!

step into my classroom: rocks double feature

Today I'm posting TWO rock video projects for your viewing pleasure. Remember to click the title to view the original post if you're seeing this in a reader, otherwise the video might not be visible!

A Bunch of Rocks: A parody of Yellow Submarine by the Beatles. I'm going to be honest and warn you that this song may get stuck in your head. For a really.long.time.

The Never Ending Journey: This is the story of a girl... that turns into various rock types. There is a creepy villain in this one - don't watch before bedtime!!

step into my classroom: we will rock you

Today is another "rock music" video, this one involving parodies of "We Will Rock You" and "Rock Party Anthem." Meet Maddie, Lauren, and Devon.

Again, if you're viewing this through the email subscription or a blog reader, you probably have to go to the actual post to see the embedded video. Click on the title above.

step into my classroom: rock cycle baby

This year during the rocks unit, I offered my eighth graders the opportunity to complete an open-ended project and was thrilled with the results. Over two thirds of the class made some form of video, so all this week I will be sharing with you the projects that were submitted.

Today's project was compiled by Anna and Stephanie, and they win the prize for the most guest appearances. I think literally every student can be spotted somewhere in this video, and they even got some teachers involved. Their wide song selection and appropriate lyrics were quite impressive!

thankful thursday - a day late

This week I'm thankful for:

• The chance to sing in a choir again
• My German class, even if it DOES make me want to stab my eyes out
• The fact that my car battery has held up during the deep freeze we've been experiencing
• Warm clothes, functioning heaters, etc.
• Students who don't try to be funny but always make you smile (see below)
• A new opportunity to serve at my church here in Germany
• An awesome 8th grade class party involving nerf guns, zombies, and mass chaos

Quotes from everyone's favorite 8th grade Swede. Please read these with an accent.

• [after asked to respond to a skeptic's argument against Noah's flood] I think...he is...word I cannot say in front of the class.
• [when asked if he knew how to set up a PowerPoint] I am...eh...a computer genius.
• [when asked which topic he had chosen to write about for English] There is a cake in the oven, and it will be better if you wait for it to be done. No licking!
• [after being divided into two teams for nerf wars] They are the Imperial Force and we are the Rebel Alliance. We will defeat them!

Seussical

November 10-12 was the combined middle school and high school musical, Seussical. This was the first combined production of middle school and high school, and also the first musical. (Well, since I've been here, anyway... there may have been others in the past!) When the idea was first presented there was a lot of push back from middle schoolers and their parents, who were at the same time learning that the middle school was moving away from the high school campus. Students were worried that they would lose all of their special middle school traditions, one being the middle school play. Sadly, there probably won't be a play this year, but I still think the Seussical was a huge success. Middle schoolers made up a significant number of the cast and crew, with the main role of Cat in the Hat played by one of my eighth graders! My heart swelled with pride and I was blown away by the talent of the middle school students, as well as the rest of the cast, the majority of whom were former students of mine. Here are a few shots:

7th grader Abby played a Bird Girl (center)

it all started...

The other night when my dad asked my brother what he wanted to listen to with dinner. [Yep, my family still sits down together for dinner almost every night of the week!]

David replied, "Metal."

[Typical.]

We waited to see what Dad had up his sleeve. Suddenly found ourselves soaking in the sounds of John Phillip Sousa's all-American marches.

Technically, brass IS a type of metal, though not quite what David was expecting.

recap

This week has been jam-packed with activity! Rather than just posting a bunch of pictures, I put them into a little recap video for your viewing pleasure. There are no descriptions or explanations so you may wish to read below. Or, just skip to the good stuff. :)

Monday: Valentine's Day. Students at BFA play a little game where the girls wear a paper heart (usually with tasty candies attached) and refuse to talk to any boys. If a boy gets a girl to talk, she gives him her heart. Some boys compete to see who can get the most hearts, while some girls decide ahead of time who they will speak to so they can give their heart to a special someone. My 8th grade girls made some really neat hearts.

Tuesday: Science presentations. My life science students have been researching the human body for three weeks and the projects culminated this week with oral presentations. We saw the human body as it's never been seen before! One group brought in a pig heart from the butcher to give us a visual of a four-chambered heart, while another group made a marble drop to demonstrate the path of blood through the excretory system. Tuesday was also the awkward middle school Valentine's After Party. You can use your imagination on this one, as we played "The Friendship Game" (aka the Newlywed Game) and Battle of the Boys and Girls (aka, Battle of the sexes).

Wednesday: My group of seniors led Chrysalis tonight. We taught on Matthew 20 and the parable of the workers in the vineyard, encouraging the students with the fact that God's grace is for everyone. For the game time, we played human foosball with about a dozen balls of various size! Watching the kids pelt each other with giant exercise balls was probably the best 20 minutes of my day.

Thursday: In math class my students worked on challenge problems in small groups. This might not sound like a big deal, but they worked out the problems on my classroom windows using Expo markers! At first they were hesitant but once I assured them it would wipe off, they went to town solving problems using their new knowledge of proportions and cross products. Yay math!

Friday: Our last home basketball games of the season. I ran the scoreboard for a few games and enjoyed hanging out with students and friends during the other games. Even though we lost almost every game this weekend, the BFA Falcons played incredibly hard and ended the season well. The Pep Band also made their last appearance until next season.

If you actually read all that, way to go.

Handel's Messiah

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to hear Handel's Messiah performed in its entirety by the Freiburg Bachchor (choir) and Bachorchester (orchestra). It was a fun way to begin celebrating the Christmas season, but I had to fight the urge to sing along!

Apparantly Germans don't stand for the Hallelujah chorus.

I also learned that a man can sing alto solos just as well as a woman. When the four soloists took the stage, I was confused to see three men and one woman. I just figured the woman had a huge range and would be singing all the female solos.

With the beginning of Behold, a virgin shall conceive... I realized that I was hearing a woman's voice, but the female soloist was sitting down and definitely not singing. My brain refused to acknowledge what my eyes were seeing and my ears were hearing... a man was singing the alto solos so well that I thought a woman had been singing!

Apparantly he was in the Vienna Boys Choir. [sorry, for some reason I can't embed this video, but click the link to watch - it's amazing!!]

And I can't find a video of him singing anything from the Messiah but here he is singing "The Raptured Soul." Even if you don't watch the whole video (sorry, it's long), just fast-forward to about the 4:30 mark... he hits a beautiful note at 4:50!