Saturday, February 20, 2010

winter? what winter?

We in the Stipp house are longing for the great thaw that means Spring and Easter and life beating death and hope beating despair. Longing so much that we sometimes forget it hasn't yet come.


Tuesday, February 16, 2010

my first song


I Googled my name yesterday morning to see if my new blog would show up. And for the first time in like 50 searches since the history of the internet, there i was, on the top of the search page.

It freaked me out. I felt exposed. I felt scared of all the scrutiny that most people around the globe were probably putting me through.

Moments like these of intense illogical fear only come to me when I am not relying on Jesus. They only hit me when others' responses are defining me and not Him. Since doing the Google search I have felt like I am panting for air and hiding. These emotions are the same ones I felt once when I wrote this song about the fear of being exposed; of putting myself out there. Here are the song's lyrics.

I'd rather succeed at nothing
Than fail at trying something at all
There's a safety in staying in safety
I'd rather not fly than fall

Like the first time I jumped off the high dive
Or asked Jaime Zaidjzeck to the prom
Or the first that I kissed my wife
Or sang you this my first song

Now I'm glad I did all of these things
I'm more of a man for it
But the throat-bump I feel as I sing
Forces me to admit

That I'd rather succeed at nothing
Than fail at trying something at all
There's a safety in staying in safety
I'd rather not fly than fall

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Brian McLaren

I will forever be indebted to the book, A New King of Christian, by Brian McLaren. Though I haven't read anything by him in the last 5 years, his books gave me a framework for understanding world history that I still draw from. Here are some of his thoughts.



So what do you think?

Friday, February 5, 2010

a few more classroom quips

Part of the deal with teaching special ed. is you have kids working way below their potential, not just in a skill like reading, but in analytical thinking. A lot of my job is waking kids from their mental slumbers. One way I do this is by asking them questions that require active thinking. Because it's true that if you expect kids to respond intelligently consistently, most will. I actually had a kid who'd been with me two years tell someone else, "man, when i came to this class, i used to be retarded."

So in asking kids some questions I get some off-the-wall answers from kids who think they're retarded. Like these:

Mr. Stipp: Where do babies go to the bathroom.
(students responded in rapid fire)
student 1: in the toilet
student 2: outside
student 3: in the kitchen
student 4: in the diaper bag

Mr. Stipp: Is 47 closer to 40 or 50?
student 5: (exuberantly) yes!!!

Mr. Stipp: Write about what you want to do when you grow up:
student 6: Mr. Stipp, how do you spell FBI?

Mr. Stipp: I want to talk about the word "voyage." Does anyone know what "voyage" means?
student 4: (as if he's meeting me half-way) I know what aluminum foil is.