WOW!

As I sit here at my desk, with the 2009-2010 school year almost over, I think back to not too many months ago. I remember a year ago and wondering what God had in store for the summer months and the coming school year. If you’re not familiar with Jeremiah 29:11-12 look it up, it remains a significant section of scripture in my life.

July came and final registration for the new school year was upon us. School was to begin in a month and I felt the excited tension of a brand new school year beginning, with all of its newness ahead. Our teachers and staff were ready, yet even they themselves were being held in the arms of anticipation of what the new year would bring.

Then August 19, 2009 came with all of the new faces, the din of the children’s footsteps and their excited voices, the boundless questions, the tender concerns, the tears and the joys, the first day fears. Will they like me? Will I make new friends? Will I spill pudding on my new shirt? Will my teachers be nice to me? And, many of these were my questions, not theirs.

It’s amazing to me that every year I find that a school year has a life very similar to that of our own. It has incredible high points and unfathomable lows. Learning takes place throughout the year for each child, and even for each of the staff members. We endure every feeling imaginable, from paralyzing fear to absolute joy, from sheer bliss to being completely overwhelmed, from extreme exhaustion to hope beyond compare, and from immeasurable loneliness to complete confidence. We too, just like the children of Israel, have had our peaks and valleys. We have experienced great joy and dependence on God, yet we have also felt absolute, out-and-out, “See what I can do!” pride in our own abilities and accomplishments.

Now, as I look back on this past year as your principal here at Faith I can see how God has moved in the lives of the children. How He continues to grow our faculty and staff, even through difficult times. How He teaches us each and every day, just as we have tried to do with the children that He has sent to us. God has such a wonderful plan for the future of our school and for the future of our church. Let’s let Him work in us and through us so that His plans come to fruition.

It is an honor to be here with you. It is my privilege to serve this school, the children, their families and each of you. My prayer is that as we continue to grow in our relationship with each other that we also continue to grow in our understanding of God’s profound love for each of us. I hold each of you up to God and ask that He work in such an instantly recognizable way in your life, and that through the power of the Holy Spirit you then, “work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose”. (Philippians 2:12-13)

Paul Mieger

Principal