It is 2009! A new president was ushered into office today, A man of color, a minority, was elevated to the most powerful leader office in the world!  What a wonderful day for America, democracy, and freedom. We may not agree with the ideology, the value structure, or political leanings, but it was a momentous occasion.

Now, I know that no matter who is elected president, what their political positions are, what “values” they stand for, or what their plans may be, God is in control! God ordains leaders, and God has a plan for us who know Him! Thank God for that. I know that in God’s economy I need to pray for our leaders, where I do not violate God’s laws but follow our leaders, render to them what is theirs. I know that when I do this, I am honoring God. I know that I have a responsibility to be a good citizen of America as well as an exemplary citizen of God’s Kingdom. I know that we all know this.

I know that regardless of what is coming in the future, near and far, that I have a responsibility to live out my calling to the Father, Creator. God has called me to lead Adelphi Christian Academy and the Beartooth Education Association. I know that this task is not as Grand as being President but (this may shock you) it is as important! I know, that is hard to fathom. You say, Mr. D, no way what we do here in Billings, in our small ACA world, could come anywhere close to the importance of leading this country! I know, your first thought is , “are you nuts”?! But…….. Think about it. Not only is building Adelphi as important, in the light of eternity, it is vital to our nation just like the office actions of the President!  Christians, not politicians, are the hope for America! Christians serving Christ, teaching a generation of children, passing the baton of Christian leadership over to this generation of young people is so vitally important. I know, it sounds almost surreal on this inauguration day. I know, we haven’t even considered it before or thought about the importance of our little world in those terms. I know! I know! I know!

But………. It is!  Adelphi Christian Academy’s mission is to redeem our culture, through the training of young people. Teaching them a Biblical Worldview. Teaching them truth not just humanistic information, preparing them for a complete and eternal future. Adelphi Christian Academy surviving and thriving is so important to Billings, Montana, and our future.  If we do our job right maybe a student who you can not imagine will grow up to be the President of the United States of America. I know, today I learned, that anything is possible!

I know, its a big task. I know it sounds impossible, I know we do not know where all the support is coming from. I know! I know one more thing, if we will do what God has asked of us, if we will support and grow this Academy, I know God will bless it and I know we will see amazing things happen, things you never knew would be possible!

Don’t you just hate it when you believe something is right or you just know that you know something no one else in your group knows, and just as you say it, waiting for great praise, they say, “that’s not right”!

Don’t you just hate it when you are so sure of something and you are proven wrong?

We are living in a culture that loves the “gotcha”. Even worse we live in a time and culture that is progressively humanistic and they “just know” they are “right”! This Christmas season we are seeing traditional Christmas values, displays and symbols under attack by those that are modernisticly progressive. A hate filled sign proclaiming Christmas is not worth celebrating because there is no God, its a myth. A court decision that a manager can not be displayed publicly because it offends those who have no religion. It seems at times that the world has gone up side down in terms of our rights and freedoms. When the founding fathers of our nation wrote the Declaration of Independence and then the Constitution they boldly penned language to protect our freedom of religion, “Government shall make no law….”. That protection has been continuously under attack from those who desire you to have no freedom of religion!

Well I know that I am “right” when I say, God is alive and well, Christmas is about the birth of Christ, and no amount of action, activity, or legislation in a progressive society will make my knowledge wrong !

God is alive and well at Adelphi Christian Academy! We celebrate the greatest gift of all time, Jesus, the baby in a manager. Public schools and public school officials all over this country are removing or obstructing our traditional values about Christmas and other foundational beliefs, it is one of the reasons that all Christian Families need, yes need, to consider a Christian school for their children!

Adelphi Christian Academy is not going to shield your children from the anti-God, secular progressive world in terms of protection. That is accomplished through a personal relationship with Christ. He is our only protection from this world!  What Adelphi Christian Academy will do is teach, train, and expouse truth so that students who learn the truth can stand strong in their faith and stand against the enemies of our faith. They will openly be able to live, share, and practice that faith at Christmas and all year long without ridicule, being told they are wrong, and refuted! They will have an opportunity to build their faith, know why they believe what they and you believe, so as they age, learn, work, and grow, they will never depart from it*

DiscoverChristianSchools.com gives four (4) differences of a Christ-centered school;

1.  At a Christ-centered school, students learn differnt content, skills, and values. They learn to: Understand the Bible, the plan of salvation, and a bilical perspective of what they study. Apply a biblical perspective to what they study. Respect themselves and others as God’s image bearers. use their learning to serve others, and take care of God’s creation. Value and maintain spiritual, moral, physical, social, and emotional health.

2.  At a Christ-centered school, students learn for a “different” purpose.

They learn in order to impact the world for Christ. They learn in order to be Christ-like. The primary purpose of a Christ-centered school is not to just to help a student go to college or get a job.

3.  At a Christ-centered school students learn from “different people”.

They learn from God-honoring people. People with new hearts who live for God. People who bear the fruit of the spirit. People who are passionate about helping all students, passionate about seeing students succeed and who are passionate about students seeing the world through a new perspective, a Godly one!

4.  At a Christ-centered school students learn in a “different environment”.

A Christ-centered environment. An environment that is safe, healthy,and nurturing. An environment that when a student does something wrong they are held accountable. An environment that is characterized by love, gratitude, trust, respect for differences, and high expectations.

Adelphi Christian Academy should be teeming at the seams with Christian families who want that for there children. Adelphi Christian Academy is here for the family who wants their children to have a superior Christian life, superior academic foundation and a superior life experience as they prepare their children for the post-modern, humanistic-ally progressive, anti-God, world. If we truly want our children to be salt and light we will give them the foundation they need to stand in this culture who would want to erase their Christianity!

Christian Children need Adelphi Christian Academy!!!!  If you need or want one reason to support the Academy, it is to support the Christian family!!!!

Merry Christ-mas!!!!!

Being an old guy (according to students standards), I remember stuff that most of our students never heard of. I’m not sure but that might be the definition of “old” regardless of age. I have told my students stories about my first car, a 1965 Ford galaxy 500, I called it my Captain America car, my students just stare at me and I realize that they do not know when 1965 was, what a galaxy 500 was, or who captain America was, great communication for a teacher huh? Anyway, There is an old song that I used to sing growing up in church back in Massachusetts and have heard it throughout the years sung by Gospel quartets, (my students don’t know what those are either), called “Joy Comes in the Morning”. It is based on scripture and a biblical principal that is both dynamic and profound. It points to how the creation, us, looks at the world and reacts to it in contrast to how God sees it all. In other words, we are so incredibly impacted by the here and now, focused on this minute, concerned that what ever happens right now will be the end of everything. Afraid that if we have an event that is less than enjoyable or have to deal with a difficulty, have a set back or things don’t go according to plan (our minds plan) consistently or continuously, that all is bad, lost, and something is wrong with us. Can you relate?

This is the way finite human, created culture sees things all too often. This is the attitude that the enemy of our soul wants us to have, this is buying in to a culture, a worldview, that is fatalistic and temporal, shortsighted at best, and sinful at worst! God, the creator created this differently, planned it differently , and sees it differently! Praise Him!

The concept that joy comes in the morning has multiple applications, none less than the reference of an eternal view, that we are in “This present affliction” the world we live in, but God has designed that Christ will come again, the Bride, (you and I found in Him) will be presented to the Father, and our affliction will end because we know Christ, Judgement, enemy defeat, new heaven and earth, rule and reign with Christ, eternity with God in Heaven will all follow. The night of human existence and sinfulness is over and we will experience the “joy of a new morning”.

The phrase also has an immediate application, one so simple and profound, and yet so vital for us as Christians to recognize that we can not overcome in Christ without understanding it!  No matter  what circumstance is around us, effecting us, or causing us pause, stress, concern, God has an immediate answer, and immediate plan, and a positive result!!!!! Did you get that? You look at a present situation, take us, Adelphi Christian Academy, for instance. We are in the midst of trying to build a high quality Academic Institution that also has the highest order of Christian life , activity, and behavior on campus, and teaches our students how to honor God, family, and self, in all they do. We are trying to get them to honor God with their speech, when the whole world seems bent on crude, rude, language. It is in their music, movies, TV, and friends vocabulary constantly , we want them to stand against the crowd, the culture, the age, the trends, and their friends if need be! We are trying to get them to be respectful, kind, honest, caring, have a good work ethic, care more about their future than their present, not be attracted to sinful things, people, and activity’s, in essence we are trying to train their nature through education! This is a daunting task with the best of us, let alone do it with consistent success in the adolescent years where the external influences means so much more to them that the internal influences.

Then it happens, students err! They make wrong choices, they fail! We could look at these things as fatalistic, how are we as an Academy going to survive if our enrollment declines in the immediate moment, how are we going to survive and WIN if we have to discipline, hold people accountable, how are we going to make it if it looks like we are going backward instead of forward right now! Economics are bad, how do we pay for it all, there isn’t all the community support we need, how will we grow to a school where students are dying to get in instead of acting up to get out! There is sin in the camp, how will we teach righteousness!  Well, let me tell you. God is soverign. He does as He wills. God has a plan. God never loses!

Our job is not to play God! It is not to look at the immediate circumstance, it is not to claim “woe is me”, it is to trust God!  Joy comes in the morning.

Parents, this is a great time and opportunity to teach your children how to live for God, this is a great time and opportunity to teach them that sacrificing for a Christian education is all about investing in a Godly future, a long term view of eternity for them not just here and now!

No matter what happens, students transfer out because they perceive that academically they can’t (or don’t want to) work that hard, students violate rules and are dismissed from the student body, there are bad attitudes toward being in a small Christian school, no matter what is immediate God has a joyous morning if we will stay the course, pray, believe, support, understand, partner, and not be caught up in the immediate. God brings joy in the morning!!!

Happy Monday!  It is happy isn’t it? At my age I am happy for all next Monday’s!  Today my devotions took me to the Story of the great Judge in the Old Testament, Gideon. There is  such a  direct application for us here at Adelphi that I couldn’t resist writing about it. Now, like you, I heard this story almost every year of my life, Sunday School, sermons, story adaptations like “Veggie-Tales”. Every children’s ministry, youth ministry and church has used this story for a variety of applications. The valor of Gideon, the miracle of 300 against tens of thousands, the power of God fighting for us, to name a few and all are right on and applicable. Today however, I would like to point you to one simple application and encourage you with one simple truth. In the beginning dialog between the Lord and Gideon, The Lord makes the statement that Gideon has too many men and that if the Midians lose they will be able to use that excuse, thus not recognizing that God, in His power, won the victory in battle! This is an amazing statement! There were, according to the text, tens of thousands of the enemy and Gideons faction of Israel (Tribal forces) were already a fraction to oppose. Nonetheless, God tells Gideon to pare down the forces. It is a simple Godly principal that we must never forget! Christian Victories are God attributable!!

Let me say that again for empasis, Christian victories are God attributable!  In order for Adelphi Christian Academy to clain a God victory we must attribute our success to God. We must also recognize that regardless of the size of our “Army”, God will only get recognizable glory for what He alone can accomplish. Here is what I have learned over the years with this concept and truth. “We must attempt something so great, large, seemingly impossible, that If God does not do it (Totally attributable to Him) that it will be doomed to fail!”

Well, we are there. Adelphi has done much under it’s own power, put programs in place, improved the administration, the curriculum, the faculty, the operational program. Hired those necessary for a growth foundation, and  sought, asked, and challenged people to give. This fall we have introduced our first annual fund with two strategic goals:  Raise awareness of the Academy in the Christian community so to lead to an influx of students, and two: set a monetary goal to raise $100,000.00 to balance our budget, and go into 2009-2010 debt free so we can begin a capital program to secure our own facility to perpetuate growth and build our program. I am happy to say this is way over our present head, and yet God says cut the forces even more, in other words it is the wrong climate to ask for financial donations, the wrong time to challenge our families to be sacrificial givers, and the wrong time to seek growth in a major way. Conventional wisdom would say  “hunker down, ride it out, cut to survive” . Just as I am almost convinced, my devotion takes me to Gideon. Don’t cut the expectations, just re-focus who accomplishes it and who gets the credit! (Glory). It is not time to cut our goals, it is time to put our biggest effort into praying that God accomplish them, that people recognize that only God can achieve them, and praise Him ahead for the victory!!! This is the lesson of Gideon and it is there, today, for us to recognize. When we have done all we can to stand, ask God to do the impossible, He can!!!! Pray for our growth, we need 125 students in the new enrollment term, and pray for God to bless us financially, we need to raise another $100,000.00 not to have abundance, but to survive. That Is what the “Leading the Way” annual fund is for. No one gets a raise, no one takes any lavish trips, we don’t purchase some splashy items, we pay our bills, pay our faculty, and provide a quality Christian education for your children. I am commanded of God to do three things, Pray for success daily and give God the credit, sacrificially give in order to be blessed by Him, and have confidence in the outcome that it will be as He has planned!

Will you join me in this endeavor. Those whose children are in our charge and those who would read this as their first introduction to Adelphi. Will you pray, support, believe? If so, God will win a victory, and we will be the beneficiary!   Gee, I wonder what tomorrow will bring? Stay tuned!

I welcome your comments.