Fortis Press

Teachers are like genies; we’re in the business of helping dreams come true.

The thought came to me yesterday when discussing assessment with some colleagues. The talk was of  measuring student success, a topic that made me think of dreams.

Because that’s why so many community college students are in school. They tell me so in their journals. They feel trapped - in a dead end job, in a dead end life. And school is the way out

Which is why failing a single class can be scary. Because giving up there, can lead to giving up on school, can lead to giving up on their dream.

I wish we teachers really were genies, who could do a kind of Robin Williams spin and utter an incantation - with a deep, radio-announcer voice - that would bring instant academic achievement.

But, in real life, we have to work a lot harder. And so do our students.

Was going to use this entry to help me decide what to do over spring break: work on a website for Fortis Press or take a short trip to Central Texas.

So, first, I got online and looked at lodging in Weatherford. The Marriott has high speed Internet and a reasonable AAA rate.

Next, I looked at the Lake Mineral Wells Trailway, 20 miles of converted railroad bed that winds through scenic ranches between Mineral Wells and Weatherford. I could bicycle the roundtrip twice during a three-day stay.

Finally, I checked out the homepage for Fort Worth’s stockyards, where we could visit a couple of afternoons/evenings and eat barbeque, visit the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame, eat barbeque, watch a cattle drive, eat barbeque, maybe country dance at Billy Bob’s and eat barbeque.

Decision made. The website can wait.

Will start another small group study of the novelette tonight. I’m so excited.

Wasn’t at first. Developing a personal Bible study guide and group discussion supplement was an afterthought. As a teacher, I just realized that group work helps us learn.

I had no idea how much. What I discovered with our first group last summer is that becoming the body of Christ to one another is not an individual sport.

When Jesus said, “Where two are three are gathered in My name, there am I in the midst of them,” He was not giving us a platitude to recite when only a few turn out for Wednesday night prayer meeting.

When we are with other Christians, Jesus shows up in a way that He doesn’t when we are alone. Put simply, He shows up in a body.

Which is why I’m excited about tonight.

Tom Brokaw called them the greatest generation.

Been thinking about it because a friend dropped by some pictures from my dad’s high school reunion (the 65th if I’m guessing right). Looking at these has been bittersweet.

The photos can’t be more than five years old, yet so many of those familiar faces are no longer with us: Sweetie McNeil Sternenberg, Charlie Gerald, Jay Wooten, Billy Joe Hunter and his wife Sunny Harden Hunter.

Bill and Sunny were like surrogate parents to me. We owned a ski boat and mountain cabin together. Close my eyes and I can see Sunny’s engaging smile and hear Bill’s teasing laugh.

Yes, they were the greatest generation, Americans who lived through the great depression and won the great war. And, then, came home to power the greatest economic recovery the U. S. has experienced, that and have more babies than ever before.

Which is where I come in. We’re called baby boomers, the 80 million Americans born between 1946 and 1964.

And now we’re having to say goodbye to those who gave us so much.

I don’t like it one bit.

Had dinner with Dean last night; he’s one of my oldest and best friends.

We met 35 years ago when I was a youth pastor and he the music director of an Amarillo church. It was not a likely friendship.

I was in my 20s; Dean in his 40s. I, married with five children. Dean has been a lifelong bachelor. Dean was artsy and extremely talented. I was, well, neither of the above.

But I was attracted to him; still am. And I think I know why. Dean is without question the best listener I’ve ever met.

I can tell him anything and everything about me, and he doesn’t judge, doesn’t get bored, doesn’t shift the conversation when it gets heavy. Not that Dean is overly serious. He’s both fun and funny. When we are together (all too seldom since we live miles apart) the laughter is both frequent and loud.

I don’t remember Dean ever giving me advice, but he did pass along something even more rare. And valuable:

The gift of a good listener.

Momentum. Have always known it helps a sports’ team or a bicyclist; never realized it’s important for writers, too.

January and February were good months for the book: several speaking gigs, some book signings, a nice interview in the Canyon News, followed by an article I wrote for Amarillo Magazine.

Felt good - like biking down the Caprock with the wind at my back.

Today, I’m missing that momentum. I’m also realizing something: Momentum doesn’t just happen. It’s earned.

You have to bike up that hill before you can coast down. Hmm. Guess I’d better get started.

Yesterday, my 1302 students read “The Rocking Horse Winner,” a short story by D. H. Lawrence. It’s a tragic tale of a small boy who dies trying to win his mother’s love.

The sad thing is he really doesn’t have a chance of being successful. His mom is too consumed with greed. The boy hears “voices,” coming from his house’s walls, saying over and over, “There must be more money. There must be more money.”

Makes me wonder. What messages do my grandchildren hear in my house? Seems the most important ones are unspoken.

Was sitting at the Olive Garden late yesterday afternoon having supper with Charlotte, and I said it out loud. “This is why I went back to school.”

Was remembering all those 12-hour days during the mid ’90s when I’d lie exhausted in bed at night, dreaming of a time like this and wondering, wondering if I’d ever finish grad school, ever write that dissertation, ever get a job teaching, ever have any money again, ever have leisure time with Charlotte, who, by the way, lived 100 miles away.

So there we were yesterday, eating a leisurely meal, one we didn’t have to put on plastic, after which I would be off to teach my favorite course at my favorite college.

God is good.

Change. Talked about it in Sunday school yesterday. Began by quoting Robert Frost: “Nothing gold can stay.”

It’s the poet’s way of describing what philosophers call mutability, scientists call the second law of thermodynamics and theologians call the Fall. Change is a constant in this world.

Which tells us we need to enjoy and embrace those golden moments in life. “Nature’s first leaf’s a flower,” writes Frost. “But only so an hour.” And, we need to develop that life skill most necessary when facing change. Call it adaptability. We must learn to change, too.

Won’t be easy. Talked about it in class. Change is difficult for all of us.

But there’s hope. Though everything around us changes, including us, God does not change. The Bible says He’s the same yesterday, today and forever. We can trust Him to see us through.

And, the best part, He is the great renewer. “Behold, I make all things new,” says Jesus in the book of Revelation (21:5). Someday, everything gold will stay.

Forget the personal trainer; what I need is a personal encourager.

Wouldn’t it be nice to receive that call every morning? From someone whose whole job was to encourage you? Someone who would remind you of the God who loves you dearly, in spite of your sins? Someone to tell you why you shouldn’t give up, why you can succeed in those life situations that seem so hopeless? 

Dream on. Even if we could find such a person, we couldn’t afford him. Right?

Maybe we could; maybe we are.

In I Samuel 30, David and his army returned to their home base to find it overrun by the enemy. Worse still, the invaders had taken captive the men’s wives and children. There was talk of mutiny. Some wanted to stone Israel’s anointed one.

“But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God,” says the text (I Samuel 30:6).

Of course, we need the encouragement of others. But sometimes those people are not to be found, or they’ve temporarily switched sides (David’s friends).

On such occasions, it seems God wants us to encourage ourselves, and don’t miss the last part of the verse: “in the Lord his God.” We know all the verses, all the promises God gives to us in the Bible that comfort and encourage. Sometimes, it seems, we need to speak those words, not to others, but to ourselves.