Confession: I was going to entitle this "Peripatetic Poopsicles," but a stuttering, over-eager pinky saved you all from my juvenility. Although I think in most cases it is appropriate to say what you mean and mean what you say, I shall relax my rules for myself. They may be good enough for you, but not for me! ;)
Anyway, if you're wondering what "peripatetic" means, it's mostly just a fancy word for pacing, but it originates with Aristotle, referring (according to my Mac dictionary) to his practice of walking back and forth while teaching. Education is a funny thing: it's expensive, hit or miss for actual value, and one of America's peculiar goddesses. We've taken a thing that was meant to be living, growing, and organic, capable of adjusting to fit special circumstances, different weather, and new terrain, and hardened and cut it into a particular likeness of unyielding stone. Statues aren't much good to anyone except the pigeons, and I don't think that's the kind of life we have in mind for the sphere of education.
Yesterday, I spent some time talking with my high school's headmaster, Mr. Cote. I can't remember if we talked about this during dts or if it was just blatantly obvious from the various stories of movements like 24/7 prayer, which was kicked off simultaneously in England and the U.S. with Pete Greig and Mike Bickle respectively, and yet there was no collaboration, just a separate, similar move of God on the hearts of two men who He was preparing to lead the latest thing on His heart. It's cool how He works it out that nobody has to be alone, not even in their ideas. Back to Mr. Cote, though, he talked about re-envisioning what kingdom education looks like. And maybe it's less about competing with public schools (which, let's face it, are based on a failing model anyway), and maybe it's more about discipleship. About community and asking questions and realizing that it's not about me, it's about other people. Education shouldn't inspire us to go for more education: it should empower us to go out and turn all that we know into something beautiful for the world. And that doesn't need to be limited to going into a pastoral office, which is what we seem to think we must aim for if we're going to make a difference. You can work for a church and do virtually nothing to glorify God and spread His love and justice. You can work for a big business at a desk job in a position with high demands on time, mind, and focus, and glorify God in a way that shakes the area around you. It's all a matter of perspective, which I'm increasingly coming to see makes all the difference in the world.
I'm excited for what the future has in store. We have a hope like none other, so we of all people should not look to it with fear and anxiety. And the coolest part is that when He wants to do something, He hearkens back to another time and walks with us in the cool of the day, sharing His plans and joys and desires with us and then giving us a fatherly nudge to go.
"Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us..."
Ephesians 3:20
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