Driving Lessons

I think my dad started teaching us how to drive really early on. We spent, what seemed like as a child, a lot of time in the car since we lived at times up to 3 hours away from our grandparents. But I can remember dad asking questions or making up games for us to play in the car that I have often thought about now while driving myself.

I learned at an early age (probably by ten or twelve) what the dark spots in the middle of the road are just because my father asked. I think the question was something along the lines of "Do you know what those dark spots in the road mean?" I'm not sure if I had something smart aleck to say back to him (that skill must have developed with age) but of course I didn't know. He said the mean that there is a dip in the road. Every time a car goes over it the car jostles a little bit and some oil drops from the bottom of the car leaving dark patch on the road. So I am sure I sat staring out the windshield looking for a dark spot to see if the man was right. And he was. To this day I see a dark spot ( the bigger the dark spot the bigger the dip mind you) and I know that there is something coming up.

Dad also would have us guess the time we would arrive at our destination. We knew the approxiamtes pretty well after many drives and we would venture 3:53, or 3:57, or 3:56. And whoever got the closest got bragging rights, for about 2 minutes, but Dad always won. My brother and I came to realize, maybe by gentle reminders by our mother, that dad had control of the speed of the car and thus ultimate control over the time of arrival.

In 11 years I have driven THOUSDANDS of miles. In my own vehicles from North Texas to Appalchia and North Carolina serveral times. Back and forth to SMU for almost three years, navigating the back roads of Cooke County to see the scenery, and now around Temple, and venturing back up to visit Gainesville. Sometimes I still look for the dark spots in the road to see when there will be a dip, mostly it's just habit now to see them, and I still try to calculate my arrival time as closely as possible but probably not proving as accurate as my father ever was or will be.

Ehh I guess I still learn stuff from the Ol' Man but now I am much better at the smarty aleck remark ;).

Brain Childs

So it has come to the point in my work that a few of my brain children are ready to be released into the wild and see how they fair. First is the adult small group spring brochure that I have been working to get right and make enticing for a few weeks now. Sign ups for these classes start in a little over a week so no more delaying it has to work the way it is... but it still makes me nervous. The adult education committee has put together about 14 really great classes for this spring but you really never know how they will fair until people start to sign up. There are several that are near and dear to my heart specifically, and I am most anxious about.

First is a Bible study for mom's. I can't lead it. I won't be here because of classes on Wednesdays so really I have very little control over it after his point. I picked out the book, I got advice and called on a teacher, and then it's gone from my grasps. I hope it goes well.

Second is an all day Parenting with Love and Logic training event that I coordinated the leaders for. I really hope that we have an adequate amount of people sign up so that this can happen. I know that lots of people are interested in learning but doesn't mean that they don't already have something going on on that date or any other number of issues.

Third, the most anxiety producing one is a parents Bible study that I am trying to start brand new. It has been expressed to me that people want this but when I put out the feelers I didn't get a great deal of response... yet. I haven't set a firm day or time hoping that people will sign up and give me an idea of what will work for them. This one is going to be the most work.

The other brain child that I have to kick out of the nest is my children's Sunday school lessons for the next 7 weeks. I have been working on them as well for several weeks and I hadn't done something like this before. Luckily I was given a giant binder with the curriculum in it but I have had to pick and choose, and basically put a puzzle together in places and completely create anew in others. Now that the writing is done it is down to making it happen... getting all the supplies together... etc.

But in working on this rotation model curriculum for the children I began to think about adult style rotation curriculum. Clearly not everyone would be for it... but I think it could work. Different learning styles don't go away just because you reach adult hood. In this model would they actually rotate every week or would I just create different Sunday school classes with different styles of teaching? You just go to the one that suits you best. But wouldn't that possibly split couples who learn differently? Pigeon hole like minded people? Become weary after many weeks doing the same type science projects about God every week? I don't know. What I do think I know is that Sunday school in its current model doesn't really work for my generation. Most of my peers don't go to Church. It's not relevant to them. People like me have to begin to think of different ways to make this sacred space appealing to young adults or else it might die. I love the church and want it to grow.

Hopefully my two infant brain children will grow in these walls and not leave when they reach adulthood.