Teaming Up! With Mr. Ricks
Last summer I had the opportunity to attend my 20 year class reunion and was incredibly blessed to spend time with many of my old friends and their families. Part of our reunion included touring the Central campus. Walking through the hallways of our old school brought back memories from the past which seemed to have happened only days ago. As we strolled through the familiar corridors and reminisced about times long past, we also watched our children laugh and play in the very classrooms where we had once sat as students. I was personally filled with gratefulness that my own sons are receiving Godly instruction in these same rooms.
The Lord has used this scene, along with the words in 3 John 4, “I have no greater joy than to hear my children are walking in the truth,” to change how I think about leading my own children and the students at NWC. As a father and principal I often push and prod them to excel in their academic and athletic activities. However, many times my perspective becomes more focused on “positive” goals and “good” outcomes that I have planned for them, rather than on the “best” goal: that they, Walk in the Truth. I am learning to ask myself new questions--Do our children love Jesus with their whole heart? Are their hearts daily being transformed by the truth of His Word? Are they learning to walk out their faith in loving and caring for others?
I desire that my children and the students at NWC place Jesus above everything else in their lives. Twenty years from now, I long to see them Walking in the Truth, being used mightily as difference-makers for Christ. I truly have no greater joy than this!
