Viva la Lefties!

My wife and one of my daughters are left-handed, meaning that exactly 25% of my family writes with their left hand. This is almost double the percentage in the general population, which is around 13%. If it is true that left handed people are the only one's in their right minds, then I guess my family has been doubly blessed. But most of the time my wife does not consider it a blessing to be left handed in a right handed world (despite the fact that she can celebrate with her left handed friends on August 13, International Left Handers Day). While 13% of the population might be left handed, 99.9% of the world is designed for right handed people. I found this out when I hurt by right thumb a couple weeks ago. Try starting your car with your left hand! You have to be a contortionist just to reach around the steering wheel. The doctor who stitched up my cut was left handed but was trying to cut the stitches with a right handed scissors. It is not easy being left handed at school either. How about adapting to a right handed desk, a right handed pencil sharpener, and even a right handed mouse. For Pete's sake, even potato peelers are right handed.

We may not have very many left handed students in our school, but we do have some who often feel like they are left handed in a right handed world. What seem like simple learning tasks to most of us just don't come easily to them. It isn't any easier for them to do the math or read the story than it is for a left handed person to write with their right hand. They try to cope, but every day is a struggle. What can we do to help?

That's a tough question. Here's something we should not do. There was a time, not so long ago, when left handed people were forced to be right handed. Left handedness was actually seen as a disease that needed curing! Struggling in school is not a disease, either! So, don't treat it as one by trying to fix it with a miracle cure. In all likelihood it will take considerable time and effort, just as it would for me to learn to write with my left hand. I believe that given enough time I could learn, but if you judged my first attempts and compared them with others who were writing with their dominant hand, you would first laugh and then you might give up on me!

PCHS is not here to turn left handed students into right handed ones. We are here to help students develop the gifts God has given them, and use those gifts in service to him. So, here's to left handedness and the uniqueness God gives to each on of us!

Giving Thanks in All Circumstances

Last night one of our students, a freshman named Kyle, was hit by a car while crossing M-82 just east of the school on his snowmobile. The car was traveling an estimated 55 miles per hour, hitting Kyle's snowmobile directly on its right side. Kyle was thrown from the snowmobile, hit the windshield (smashing it completely), and was thrown 15 feet into the ditch. Miraculously, Kyle had absolutely no serious injuries and may even return to school this afternoon. When the accident happened, there were many students still in the building. As you can imagine, tension was high as students waited for word on his condition. They prayed and they cried as they waited, and, like all of us, sighed with relief and gave thanks to God when they heard that he was going to be fine. Later in the evening, their Facebook posts indicated not only their thankfulness to God, but their sure and unwavering belief that it was God who protected Kyle. How could someone doubt the existence of God after hearing of God's obvious protection of Kyle? They are right, for God's saving of Kyle's life was certainly miraculous. But what if God had not protected Kyle? Would God's existence have then been doubted? Would his goodness have been questioned?

This morning, a substitute teacher at our school told the heart wrenching story of her mother's battle with cancer. She told of the pain and the heart ache, the physical and emotional anguish that the entire family went through, and the ultimate loss of her mother's life. Her testimony of how God worked in her life through her mother's illness was at the same time encouraging and heartbreaking. Why did God allow this to happen? Why did he choose not to heal? Is he really there? Is he still good?

God is good all the time, and all the time God is good. Fifteen years ago we used to say that a lot in church and in other Christian "circles." Though it is no longer a common expression, we know it is still true. God is good... sometimes he gives us everything we hoped for; All the time... sometimes the pain in our lives is almost too much to bear. All the time... sometimes he miraculously protects; God is good... while other times we are not spared from injury. God is good... sometimes he heals; All the time... and sometimes - dare I say often - he lets the disease take hold and bring death. I have no deep theologically sound explanation for why this is. I just know that it is. But I also know that God is good all the time, and that my gratitude to him is not and cannot be dependent upon my circumstances. If it were, my life would be a yo yo, moving with monotonous rhythm as each passing event yanks me up, then down, then up, then down. I refuse to live like that. Instead, I will be radical in my gratitude, giving thanks to God in all circumstances, for he alone is good, and he alone is God. Today I give thanks to the God who saved Kyle's life and the God who allowed cancer to take the life of Carissa's mom. I thank him not for these events, but for the fact that he was in control of these events, and that he is in control of all events. Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. (I Thes. 5: 16-18). The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised. (Job 1:21b)