Life Changes

Well, I'm going to accept the job. I'm really excited about it! But at the same time, I'm really sad to be leaving Raleigh. I never thought I'd have to leave in order to teach, but I'm going where God is leading. And evidently, He's leading me back to Fayetteville. I started my goodbyes today- at church. Sang for the last time with the choir (for a good while at least). Said goodbye to my church family. Yes, I'll still see them, hopefully about twice a month. But it's not the same as living here and seeing them all the time. But it'll be okay. Everyone is supportive, which reassures me that I'm doing the right thing. Tomorrow night I'm going to dinner with most of my friends to say goodbye to them. The hard part is going to be saying goodbye to Sarah and then to Joey. I'm not at all looking forward to those...

But, I've been working like crazy to get planning done. I have students on the 28th, which is essentially a week (since I'm getting ready to go to bed on day T-minus-8). I've already finished my door sign (not difficult), my student information sheet, and my homework passes. I'm mostly finished my syllabi/policy & procedure packet. And I've started on my Web site for my the students. I still haven't touched lesson planning, but that is rather difficult to do when I don't know what I am going to have access to. I'm hoping to do some evaluative things for the first few days so I can get a grasp on how well they can write & use grammar properly. Then we'll go from there. And I'll probably start with a short story or some poetry in my classes, just to get them used to the way I work before jumping into a novel.

Somewhere along the way, I've also finished about half of my Perspectives homework for the week. Still have a little more to do, but starting is half the battle. I'm overwhelmed with information about missions in Genesis (and a few other places in the Old Testament). I'd never thought about it, but it is so true that missions was in God's plan from the very beginning. He didn't create Israel first, but created the whole universe. Then when He called Abram to follow Him, God promises Abram (not yet Abraham) that He will bless him and use him to bless all the families of the NATIONS (plural). Powerful stuff. God always intended to bless every people group. Yes the Hebrew people were His chosen ones, but they were chosen to help reach & bless the rest of the world. Think about it.

Our teacher last week posed this question: Are missions based on the Bible, or is the Bible based on missions? What are your thoughts??