A New Life

Julie and I are having a baby! Our lives already feel like they are completely different. We wanted to wait until Christmas to tell everyone but Julie has been feeling really sick. Hopefully, this doesn't last too long.


We pray that God will take care of this child slowly forming in the womb. Our child is already "fearfully and wonderfully made." We stand in awe of God's intricate design and the overwhelming sense of blessing that we already feel.


Right now our baby is about the size of a raisin (7 weeks), so we have named the baby Ray Zenz. God's hand is at work already in this little life: the baby already has little buds for arms and legs, the heart has begun to beat, and "raisin" is already swimming around inside the amniotic sac.


"When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and stars, which you have ordained,
What is man that You are mindful of him...? (Psalm 8:3, 4a)"

We truly are humbled at this wonderful blessing God has entrusted to us.

Let my teaching drop as the rain

I came across a verse in the Bible that goes with me into the classroom everyday:

"Let my teaching drop as the rain,
My speech distill as the dew,
As raindrops on the tender herb,
And as showers on the grass.
For I proclaim the name of the LORD:
Ascribe greatness to our God."
Deuteronomy 32:1-3

I love the metaphor of children as tender grass and teaching as the dew that falls gently on that grass. I am an agent of Christ's reconciliation to the tender shoots that are growing in my classroom. I strive to be the conduit through which Christ pours out His wisdom into young minds.

Effort and Pleasure

"What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure."
Johnson (quoted in Seward's Biographiana, found in Johnsonian Miscellanies, edited by G.B. Hill)

As I come to the end of my six weeks of student teaching at Beacon Christian School in a Grade 7/8 class, I have been reflecting on this quote by Samuel Johnson.

I saw this quote on a wall in the Writing Centre of Redeemer University College. It reminded me as a student that professors would much rather read work that I had really worked at.

Now I begin to find myself on the other side of the equation. Now I am becoming the teacher instead of the student; however, I am not really completely one or the other yet. As I grow into the role of teacher, this quote is beginning to take on new meaning.

I am beginning to realize that students will not put effort into their work unless the learning is meaningful. I am realizing this more and more each day. If teachers are willing to make the material mean something to students, they are usually more than willing to make the effort to do their best.

It is easy for teachers to just give handouts and assignments that do not take much effort. We can use the same material year after year, and it becomes a teaching of the curriculum instead of the student.

Johnson still speaks to me, reminding me that “what is generally assigned by teachers without effort is generally done by students without pleasure.”

"While life can only be understood backwards, it must be lived forwards."

(Soren Kierkegaard, Works of Love, 1847)

Kindergarten wisdom

"All of what I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be, I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate-school mountain, but there in the sandpile at Sunday School. These are the things I learned:

Share everything.

Play fair.

Don't hit people.

Put things back where you found them.

Clean up your own mess.

Don't take things that aren't yours.

Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.

Wash your hands before you eat.

Flush.

Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.

Live a balanced life--learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and word every day some.

Take a nap every afternoon.

When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.

Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the styrofoam cup. The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why but we are all like that."

This is a passage from All I Really Need To Know I Learned in Kindergarten by Robert Fulghum. When I read it, I am 25 and 6 years old at the same time. I knew all these things as a child and yet they have been given much more meaning by life experiences.

This is a wonderful world, and yet sometimes the wonder gets lost or forgotten. Then the world becomes a place that is just full--full of information, full of busyness, and full of regulations. Not only is this a wonderful world, it is my Father's world...

Dr. Seuss wannabe

I recently had to write an illustrated children's story for a Teaching Language Arts class. This is what I came up with:

"A Bath or a Shower?"

Do you take a bath or a shower?

A shower is quick, but a bath takes an hour.

Well, if you ask me, I'd rather jump in the lake;

And not worry about how much time it would take.

But which makes you cleaner, that is the question.

Well, I am here to teach you a lesson:

That no matter which you choose, you're sure to be,

Spotless and fresh and perfectly clean.

When you are little, you get a bath from your mom,

So that she can clean you and help you some.

But when you're older and a little taller,

You take a shower so you use less water.

So whatever the reason, whatever you decide;

Just be sure that you're clean and dried.

And that you don't use all the water on you,

'Cause someone else needs to clean themselves too.

Rookie Blogger

I've finally done it. After thinking about it for some time, I now have my own blog. I'm calling it My Mindstorms because it seems to me that's often how my brain operates. I am interested in English literature, Religion, Philosophy, sports, and just about everything else. My thoughts will probably range from academic ideas to everyday insights. Hopefully, most thoughts will be somewhere in between. And who knows, I may even have an epiphany or two along the way.

I am a student at Redeemer University College studying to be an elementary school teacher. I also have a part-time job as a cabinetmaker at Timberwood Custom Kitchens. I hope to talk to y'all again soon.