Long view of the kingdom
This year for the first time I attended the homeschool graduation exercises.
I have gone to the banquet in years past but somehow never attended the actual commencement. I was not prepared for what I saw when I walked into the sanctuary at Central Baptist church. It was a sea of families about 2,000 strong. I felt a lump in my throat as I realized how big our area homeschooling community had become. I have been involved with homeschooling for around 17 years and I remember my first curriculum fair. It was in a gym type building at Bethel Bible Village and perhaps 200 families attended. I was pregnant with my first child and I was viewing with much curiosity what I was about to embark upon. What has God wrought in growing the movement to educate our children at home!
Out of the 71 graduates, I knew perhaps a third of them by name. Most I did not know at all. As I watched them walk down the aisle escorted by their parents, I knew what that meant. I knew and many of you all know all that had gone into that moment. All the trials of teaching math facts, all the challenges of pursuading sometime recalcitrant students to finish that chapter, to do that next project, to listen to the current read-aloud. That march down the aisle and later across the stage to receive their diplomas meant a finishing point in one respect, a starting point in another.
Lord willing, my daughter will be graduating next year. Hopefully I will make it through the ceremony without becoming a total basket case!
The week following graduation I was a counselor for a Biblical Student Worldview Conference held at Milligan College near Johnson City, Tenn. It was the third year for my daughter to attend, the first year for my eldest son. I had been chomping at the bit for many years to be a counselor and this year my husband graciously agreed to let me go for the week while he and the younger boys lived batchelor style.
The speakers were Dr. John Morris from Institute for Creation Research; Lou Priolo, a nouthetic counselor and author of the wellknown book “Heart of Anger”; Dr. Jeff Roach an ecomomist from the Charlotte area; Dr. Joey Pipa, president of Greenville Seminary; and Dr. Paul Jehle, founder of Plymouth Rock Foundation.
All of the speakers were excellent and I took pages and pages of notes but Dr. Jehle was especially dynamic and his message to the 110 young people from rising high school sophomores to college graduates was particularly visionary.
He spoke of God’s blessings from generation to generation. He questioned the young people as to what they were giving their life to, from whom they were learning and to whom are they passing that on to. I may be a first generation Christian but my children are second generation and their children will be third generation.
By God’s grace that will be a mightylegacy. God is doing a work in our children which will have ramifications for generations to come.
It is good to catch a glimpse of the big picture.
Then we can go back to the often mundane activities of home education and homemaking seeing how each act of faithfulness on our part can be used by God to accomplish His purposes in the lives of our children.
So as we gear up for yet another year of daily lessons, building godly character as well as academic accomplishments, we can again take heart in what we are part of. God’s kingdom building — to Him be all the glory!
Speaking of gearing up, if you have not taken a peek at this year’s home education expo exhibitor list and at the workshop titles, I encourage you to do so. Jan Bontekoe has done an amazing job this year of gathering experienced folks to come and share their wares and wisdom with us. Please if at all possible do plan to come to the expo this year. We need your support.
Also please consider what you can do to help spread the word among friends and acquaintances. In the expo brochure you received in the mail is a double flier of which you can make copies (or print off our Website). I always keep a small stack in our van and several copies in my purse. You never know whom you might run into. You can pass around fliers at summer community events, swim meets, ballgames and, of course, Sunday school. You can post one at libraries, YMCA’s and grocery store bulletin boards. Dads can post a flier on their boards at work.
In these tough economic times, I can imagine lots of families may no longer be able to afford private Christian schools and we need to be ready to encourage these families to seriously consider home education. We are ambassadors for a mighty work of God. We all have stories to tell of His faithfulness and grace added to our efforts to train up our children.
See you at the expo! — JMT