Necessity.
An Introduction
It has been a hemi-month since my last update about my tropical life on what's probably the other side of the world for those of you who're reading this. As life proceeds here at GES, it feels mostly like everybody & their soi dog is getting into a certain rhythm for daily & weekly activities. The few changes that exist have been subtle, but I think that perhaps they are important. Here's a taste of what's been going on over here...
Daily Hum Drum
In my computer teaching / technical resource management sector, things have been progressing well. I'm using Adobe's high school curriculum to base my lessons for all of my students (G7 - G12) in my classes. We're learning about the fundamentals of digital photography, and digital imaging, including the underlying theory of how computers work & interact with the information. Soon, I hope, we will get into the Adobe curriculum proper, and kids will begin to learn the wonderful wealth of resources that Photoshop (this year) has to offer.
On the backside of the same job (warning: this gets technical! For those of you who don't care about this stuff, feel free to skip ahead!), I've mostly finished the network & workstation management policies, having set up the computer lab with a single master image & ensuring system integrity through defining some local account access restrictions along with implementing 3rd party management software that nullifies users' changes to workstation files. It's been a bit of a run, and there are still several kinks to work out, but for the most part, we now actually have a working (and somewhat efficient) network, along with reliable workstations—something I think that GES has never had before.
The library slowly is coming into an alphabetised beast. I've worked my way through organising the juvenile fiction section completely & am now at "S" for elementary fiction. Hopefully, by week's end, I'll have finally restored the shelves to an order that they should have always been kept in. ...that being said, please don't ask about the non-fiction half of the library. It makes me shudder even trying to think about it. Most books on those shelves are "catalogued" as reference texts & are strewn so haphazardly among the shelves that it made the fiction section look well-maintained. Uugh.
The administration & owners of the school are collaborating in a process to acquire library cataloguing software, which would allow students to actually find specific book (much less give the school a method of keeping track of what resources we actually have on campus). We meet sometime this week (I think) with the company's rep. to discuss the possibility of purchasing said software. It would be a great leap forward for GES, and given that the current promotion from the company has the package at 40% the MSRP, the school would be foolish not to jump on-board at this point in time... But GES being the school that it is, we won't really know what is going to happen until the minute that the decision has to be made.
Social Atmosphere
It's weird now that I literally teach/interact with every single student on campus for at least thirty minutes each week. With the almost 400 wandering offspring of varying shapes, sizes and ages, I am now being bombarded by smiles & vociferous greetings as I walk through the playing fields & hallways during the day. I feel now quite like a celebrity—everybody's waving & smiling, wanting me to say "hi" back to them, whereas I don't even really know more than 50 students' names yet! Hopefully, that will get better in the days & weeks to come. I think I should be ashamed of myself if, by the end of the year, I don't know all 400 names.
Not only with the student body, do I feel a bit more attached, but even with the Thai teachers, there's a bit of a closer bond this year than last. Having a mandatory obligation to GES' "homework help" sessions for 60-90 minutes after every school day, I have much more exposure & collaboration with the Thai teachers than ever before. It's kinda cool, since this is one of the few opportunities that we ever get to work together, and all of us are working toward the same goal in that small space of time: to help those students who are struggling academically.
I still miss my older students a lot. They're the ones that I see the least, mostly because my homework help obligation consumes the first fruits of after-school time, wherein most of the students hang out before jetting off to castles in the sky. The few that remain after homework help is done don't stay for very long, but I try to make the most of every opportunity that I have.
Spiritual Developments
Speaking of making the most of every opportunity, I've decided, in my choice to "pursue excellence" in the most excellent way, that it would be more effective of me to spend time with my high school students during their devotional times (while being led by Mr. Jonathan, their English teacher) than it would be for me to plug away at organising books & managing resources. It's a scant 30 minutes each day, but it's 30 more minutes than I originally had to spend with them. It allows me to retain some semblance of relationship with these kids in what otherwise would be an empty, uninvolved greeting as we pass by each other during our vastly different daily routines. Pray that this would allow doors to open.
A couple of the guys this year have decided to get together in a weekly Bible study, which is a refreshing change from the year past. While it's still not a spiritual gathering of the whole community on campus, it's a step in the right direction. Pray that these times—and the times that the girls get together—would be spiritually edifying & growing times for each person involved. If you could pray that there would eventually be interest in a weekly spiritual gathering for the entire team, that would be awesome. Currently, there is a bi-weekly evening "church" type of get together on campus, but it feels woody, artificial & devoid of real community/fellowship/spiritual dynamism.
What I'm Learning & What I'm Thinking
These past few weeks have been a good kick in the butt for me, as I re-learn (again and again) one of the most fundamental lessons in spiritual life: in order to be alive spiritually, you MUST spend time in the presence of God and God alone. Jesus says it in John 15, and John repeats the admonition in his first & second epistles: To have spiritual life, one must remain connected to Jesus. How better to remain in relationship with Christ than to spend a solid chunk of time alone being with Him, reading His Word & seeking His face? For me, I've discovered, repeatedly, that my joy, my productivity, my relationships & in fact, anything that I put my hand/mind to do is effected directly by how much time I spend with Christ. The more time that I give exclusively to Him, the better my days' and my weeks' progress. When I get "too busy" & when I decide that my time's better spent foregoing time spent with Him, the following day doesn't go as well. It gets busier, more stressful & less joyful (ergo a negative cycle that can only be broken free from by choosing to place Christ in His rightful place: first).
As I struggle with keeping Christ central, my desire to draw my students to Him also increases. Pray that opportunities to do this would afford themselves & that I would capitalise on these opportunities in a way that would bring glory to Christ.
I have a desire to start up a Bible study with the Christian students at GES, but I know that their schedules are as busy as mine. Currently, I don't even know how much of an interest there is in this activity, but pray that God's will would be done—if He wants this to happen, then may I have enough faith to follow in the way He would have me go.
It has come to my attention that one of the Christian Thai families who sends their children to GES is wanting to start up an outreach ministry to local Thai people via a coffee house or café (not exactly sure which yet, but one or the other—at least they're hoping to sell caffeinated bevvies) style of ministry that would branch off into weekly worship services / church body gatherings above the café for any & all interested. It's an ambitious project, and just the very idea of it excites me, as many of the churches in the area have a reputation of being rigid, lifeless & cold to newcomers. If you are interested in helping with this potential ministry—aside from remembering it in prayer—let me know. I'm sure that there are many ways in which this family could use extra help—even from the other side of the world.
Okay, I'm nearing a 1600 word-count in this message, so I should probably let you guys go. Thanks again for your support & for taking time out of your schedules to read what's going on over here. You guys rock!
1 comment:
Well Dan,
I may not be one of those "other side of the world"s but maybe the country, yes. Anyway, when you mentioned about spending time with Him alone, it reminded me of one line from the book "God's Smuggler" written by Brother Andrew. He was speaking about the financial assurance that its security isn't dependant on a certain amount of money, but a certain amount of time spent engaged in a relationship with the One. I personally found it true as well. He requires ALL from us. And ALL we must give.
Anyway, thanks for sharing, Dan. It's great to hear about things that are going on there, especially about the school. I'll be praying for you guys. Miss ya!
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