Insights
Excellent Thought
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just,...think about these things.”
Philippians 4:8
A few weeks ago I went to a funeral for my childhood best friend’s dad. His dad, at certain times in my childhood, served as a second dad to me. We hung out quite often.
One thing that I always appreciated about his dad was that he was not afraid to share what was on his mind...to anyone. Now today, this sometimes would seem like a bad idea, except I never heard his dad say anything negative. ANYTHING. Was he ever upset or angry? Absolutely, but he held his tongue.
At his funeral I was talking with my friend and reminiscing about his dad and we both landed on the fact that we were so thankful that he taught us what was true, taught us to be honorable young men, and taught us about justice. The things that his dad taught us 30+ years ago were the same things that the Apostle Paul taught to the church in Philippi.
At the heart of this charge in Philippians 4 is a charge to think about Jesus. Jesus is true. Jesus is honorable. Jesus is just.
As we go through this year thinking about an excellent story that God is writing, I think we have to focus on our mind and our thoughts. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2 that we have “the mind of Christ.” Paul says in Philippians 4 that “the peace of God will guard our hearts AND MINDS…” The mind is important.
In a world and culture that thrives on feelings- rage, bitterness, frustration, and anger, we as Christ followers are called to approach each day with a different mindset. A mind that is focused on what is true, what is honorable and what is just.
So let me leave you with this question, and it’s a question that I also ask myself…
How are you doing with that?
Joel Gutowsky
Director of Student Life
Logos Preparatory Academy
Designed To Last
“We need strength of heart, strength of mind, strength of spirit. A strength that prevails. Because there are forces urging us to quit.” John Eldredge, Resilient
Resilience is often an underrated virtue. It may be because resilience requires adversity to acquire the virtue. Those that are in the middle of hardship or facing disappointment often are pitied. No one says, “Wow! Look at him building resilience and bouncing back. That’s amazing!” Resilience is a muscle that only gets stronger if used. The duration and perseverance it takes to build resilience may go unnoticed.
We are made to last and not give up. One of my favorite scenes in the movie, Facing the Giants, is when the coach blindfolds his player and makes them do the death crawl. The coach is on the field right next to the player yelling,” Don’t give up! Keep going!”
'Death Crawl' scene from 'Facing the Giants' - Incredible Motivation!
So much of the work here on earth is pushing against darkness. It is every day and can feel overwhelming, but His mercies are new every morning and He is sooo faithful. We must keep pressing forward and not looking at how far the end zone seems to be.
It is during the building, the struggle, the long road, that God develops us. He designed us to last and persevere. Philippians 1:6 says, He will not finish His work until the day of completion, so we can’t give up on ourselves. He is not giving up on us!
Developing resilience involves training your brain to focus on what God has given you and focusing on His story that He is writing.We don’t always control the story that is being written, but there is confidence in that the Lord promised to be with us and that He will supply what we need to resist the enemy. Look for His glory in His excellent story. Don’t quit!
Leah Rabb
Elementary Education Principal
Logos Preparatory Academy
Wabi Sabi
I like to consider myself a gardener. I love gardening, getting my hands dirty, planting stuff I hope will grow and inevitably having it not grow. You know…gardening!
I don’t really garden for food, but I garden for flowers. I will plant flowers and harvest seeds where I can so that I can grow more flowers the next season. I will grow flowers that attract bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, all of it! I have beds that are organized and beds that are some of the most chaotically beautiful things.
There are many mornings where letting our dog out takes a little longer than normal because we stop and watch the bees and butterflies enjoy our garden. They don’t care that it isn’t perfect. They don’t care that weeds exist. To them there is beauty in the chaos, beauty in the imperfections.
In the sixteenth century the Japanese tea ceremonies underwent a massive shift. The perfect, pristine dishes were replaced with bowls and cups that were chipped. People started to drink from pottery that was worn and weathered. This practice is called wabi sabi.
Wabi Sabi is the art of honoring the beauty in imperfection. It is NOT about creating intentional imperfections, but instead about accepting that flaws are inevitable and that these flaws don’t stop something from serving their purpose.
Jared Isaacman, who is currently in space with SpaceX, when taking his space walk said, “Back at home we all have a lot of work to do, but from here — looks like a perfect world,” Our world has its imperfections, plenty of them, but if we look closely, we can see the beauty. Amidst the weeds we can see the seeds sprouting. Amidst the seeds sprouting we can see the existing flowers that are doing what they are created to do, and when we look at all of it together, there is beauty, there is joy and there is hope.
We see in the creation account that when God created, He said it was good. In His omniscience He was aware of the coming fall. He was aware that His creation wouldn’t always be how it was in the beginning and yet He still called it good.
As we go through our day to day lives may we embrace wabi sabi. May we realize that there are imperfections in our world, but may we embrace these imperfections then realize and acknowledge their beauty. After all, it is good.
Joel Gutowsky
Director of Student Life
Logos Preparatory Academy
Being Excellent Not Perfect
There’s a scene in one of my favorite shows where two characters are discussing perfection. One of them, Luca, says he was the best at his job... “And then I started at this really great place as a commis, and this other chef started the same day as me, and… (sighs) I thought we were competition, um, but really we weren’t. He was better than me- much, much better than me. He worked harder and faster than I ever could and it was the first time I realized that I wasn’t the best and I was never gonna be the best. So I started looking at it like it was a good thing. At least I knew who the best was now, and I could take that pressure off myself. The only logical thing to do was to try and keep up with him. So I never left this guy’s side.”
Perfectionism can be idolatry when unharnessed and unfocused. Trying to do the absolute best job for the sake of glorifying God is never a bad thing. But remember: we’re not trying to be God (we already have one of those and He’s doing it better than we ever could), we’re trying to follow in His footsteps. The problems arise when we don’t allow good enough to be an option. I will never know the Bible like Jesus does. I will never love others like Jesus does. I will never pray/worship/study/serve/heal/teach like Jesus does. If I allow myself to get frustrated by that truth, well…perfectionism has become my god.
We, unfortunately, see this in classes, especially in high school. The drive to be perfect overwhelms the drive to learn and better ourselves each day. So we have students who panic and (perhaps) use less-than-ethical methods to achieve results they think others expect of them. The pursuit of the perfect grade overwhelms the learning experience.
We, unfortunately, see this in our churches. People clean up for Sunday, answer all of the questions “perfectly” with the answers others expect of them, and ultimately leave feeling emptier than when they arrived. The pursuit of looking perfect in front of others overwhelms the potential for growth and true, vulnerable Christian community.
I felt this pressure firsthand over the last few months. I didn’t have a great summer. Both of my older kids broke an arm, we ended up stuck in Dallas during Beryl, my parents came down with COVID, and that’s before any of the normal punches life throws at us landed. When school started back up, many of you asked me the expected question: “How was your summer?” And when I answered honestly, it caused quite a few deer-in-headlights moments. I even felt uncomfortable answering honestly, like I knew I wasn’t doing it right. We aren’t conditioned for honesty. We’re conditioned to expect the same answers, “It was great! We’re fine! Everything’s good!” But when I freed myself from those expectations…when I allowed myself to admit things weren’t perfect…that I wasn’t the best and I never would be the best…that pressure lifted off of me. And I was suddenly free to do the thing I should have been doing all along: try and keep up with the guy who is the best, never leave His side, learn all I can, and every day keep getting a little bit better.
I want all of us to feel free to be messy and imperfect, but I don’t want us to be comfortable staying there. Being excellent doesn’t mean being perfect, but it does mean working towards that goal in every way possible. And when it feels like too much, remember you’ve got the Lord of Lords and King of Kings by your side, not only to show you the right way to do it, but to cheer you on in the race.
Dr. Jason Henderson
Secondary Education Principal
Logos Preparatory Academy
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