Home Tonight

I recently read an article about how to spur creativity. I don’t actually remember the suggestions, and today when I logged in to blog I had no idea where to go. So, I turned my music to shuffle and decided on would write with the theme of the song that came up. Chris Rice’s Home Tonight was that song, so here’s a blog post with that theme. (By the way, I am SO glad that The Black Pearl from The Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack was the third song that came up…I can handle “Home Tonight” but I don’t really don’t know where I’d go with “The Black Pearl”.)

I’ll be home a little later tonight that usual because we have a Staff Meeting. No matter what workplace you’ve been a part of, the words “staff meeting” probably aren’t associated with warm and fuzzy feelings. I also don’t have those feelings, but I am actually excited to be a part of this meeting and I have no doubt that I will leave encouraged. As high school principal this year I run the staff meetings. The meetings include staff from kindergarten all the way through the high school. We actually have 28 staff members this year, but only about half are full time. We all seem to be busy full time and thus these meetings are a good time to connect and spend time discussing big-picture issues.

I am excited about this meeting because the agenda includes Emergency Procedure Update and Administrator Evaluations. I know you think I’m kidding, but I’m not. I really am excited to be a part of a school that is small and stretched thin, and yet is still committed to doing things well. We, thankfully, don’t have many times to use emergency procedures, but we’ll be ready when the siren sounds. We’re developing more concrete administrator evaluations with the help of teachers, and it’ll be good to have specific goals to reflect on and work towards.

I leave every staff meeting encouraged. This is unique to NCA in my teaching experience, and it is always the case at NCA. I think this is because we all are a part of the school in order that every people group might have a thriving church. We’ll discuss the upcoming events on the calendar (not necessarily exciting or encouraging) in light of the fact that a people group will hear about the implications of Jesus’ resurrection next Monday for the first time in their heart language. We’ll get to start and end the meeting praying for the missionaries and the people of this group. The details get framed within this beautiful big picture.

So I’ll be home tonight a bit later than usual, but a staff meeting makes a later night worth it. I’m so glad to live and serve in a place where that last statement is all truth.