Feeling a Friday Funk

I had a "heart to heart" with God this morning.  I was feeling drained, discouraged, disappointed with my state of affairs in general.  I was having a genuine personal pity-party.  Call it an Elijah moment, without the literal fire from heaven.  It has been a whirlwind for the past few weeks.  A lot of my focus has been on Thunderbird Academy, and without a permanent replacement in the foreseeable future for the previous principal, TAA needed some attention to get their new school year going.  Thankfully, Thunderbird is off and running, but going through some growing pains.  A freshman class of around forty students has required splitting classes and reassigning students to different periods.  Class schedules are subject to the domino effect, as one change causes a sequence of ripples across the entire day.  But it’s a good problem.  The students (and the teachers) are being quite flexible.  There appears to be a great spirit on campus, in spite of the large staff transition.

But now the days are beginning to return to their normalcy, as normal as high school campuses go.  In the steady frenzy (not to be confused with the chaotic frenzy of recent weeks) I had more time to see the landscape and the daunting nature of the dual task that is before me.  I don’t like short-changing people, and the thought of neglecting the bigger system for the sake of focusing on one particular segment of that system began to eat at me.  For those who would think that I have totally neglected the system, I have done my best  not to.  I will talk about those developments in the near future.   In fact, it is because of the corollary challenges in the elementary system that I was feeling stretched—thus my heart to heart with God this morning.

I am feeling better.  Perhaps because I am back working—I love what I do.  I would do it 24 hours a day if I could.  I love working with people—kids particularly.  But I also like problem-solving and bringing people together.  I even like apologizing to parents who are upset due to some perceived or real injustice and/or inconvenience.  I am stretched, but loving it.  It’s the quiet moments in the night when the thoughts swirl in my head (no voices, thank you) that the doubts and trepidation break down the doors of my soul.  Superintendents are not “super,” by any stretch of the imagination.  I ask for your prayers.  I am praying a lot.  I am trying to find balance amongst the myriad of calls for attention.

After the “mountain top” experience of the week of miracles at TAA, I am left wondering when the proverbial shoe will drop.  So many things can go wrong in a system.  A school system has so many moving parts- mainly children.  They are our greatest asset, and at the same time our greatest liability.  Here by the Grace of God we go…His Grace will have to be sufficient.  (I started this entry on Thursday.  It’s now Friday afternoon).

Sabbath will take me to Beacon Light SDA Church to preach.   Later.