It was on this day nine years ago when the terror began, and it lasted for 23 excruciating days before the killers were finally apprehended. "Still recovering from the terrorist attacks of 9/11, innocent people in the Washington D.C. area found themselves under siege once more-by an unseen, unknown, and seemingly unstoppable enemy." [Angie Cannon of U.S. News and World Report] We will never forget the pain, anger, and sadness that John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo injected into the lives of their victim's families and friends when they murdered at least 10 people and wounded even more with a stolen Bushmaster XM-15 semiautomatic .223 caliber rifle equipped with a reflex sight at ranges of between 50 and over 100 yards. Muhammad was executed by lethal injection on November 10, 2009, and Malvo was sentenced to 6 consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole. He could still be extradited to Alabama or Louisiana for prosecution stemming from crimes in those states as well.
In Geometry, concentric circles are defined as circles that have the same center point. You can create concentric circles by tossing a rock into a pond. After the rock hits the water, ripples or waves form and flow out from the center. These circles grow larger as they continue flowing away from the center. This is precisely what happens during a tsunami. The waves from a tsunami can travel up to 500 miles per hour and thousands of miles from the center. These waves travel out in all directions with incredible energy. I guess we will never forget the tsunami of 2004 that killed thousands of people. The power created by these concentric circles is unbelievable!
I had an awesome time in Salt Springs, Florida this past weekend! It was amazing to see all my family, and especially amazing to see how much kids and grand kids have grown. I didn't even recognize some of them. Each family had their own personal cottage for the weekend, and I stayed in #17. It was about as nice as being at home. One thing that kind of amused me, though, was a form that was left on the coffee table for tenants. It read, "Welcome to our cottage. Please follow these simple rules." It did seem simple, at first. There were only 8 rules...until I noticed there were some on the other side of the form, too. The flip-side contained 14 more, for a total of 22 "simple" rules.
Yesterday in my classroom, a very good opportunity came up to teach my students about something beyond the regular curriculum. Although a sad topic, most students were very involved in the discussion. We got to talking about some of their classmates who had been called to heaven by the Lord. Most of those who had already passed were involved in motor-vehicle collisions. But two of our Dothan High students stood out in my mind as dying from something other than a car crash: One was struck and killed by lightning, and the other was playing a stupid game of Russian Roulette. A few of my students were not familiar with this deadly "game". After explaining it to the class, most could not believe a person with any sense would play such a game. So I questioned them about it. I asked if any of them thought they might ever try it. One student told me, "I know peer pressure can cause students to do some dumb things, but I don't think any pressure would cause me to do something that dumb". 100% of the class agreed that the game was too risky and that their lives were much more important to them, their friends, and their families to try something so stupid. So then I asked how many of them text and drive at the same time. Silence....
This coming weekend, I will be on my way to Salt Springs, Florida for a family reunion. I am looking very forward to it! Although I am ashamed to admit it, this will be the first one that I have attended in 3 years. I haven't been absent from the past 3 reunions because of anything me family did to me. I have been absent from the past 3 reunions simply because of my own self-centered, bull-headiness. Each year that I would announce I wasn't going to attend, my family, though not too surprised, was still very understanding and encouraging. You see, I have the best family in the world, and I know they always love me. As I write this devotion, I am almost in tears, both happy ones and sad ones. I am sad that I have wasted 3 years with them that I will never, ever get back. But I also have happy tears too, because, well, I feel like I am coming home. I feel like the Prodigal son, and just like the Father in the Bible story, my family will be waiting for me with open, forgiving arms. Trust me, I am going to absolutely enjoy every single second of this trip!
Do you know where Jesus was born? Do you know who His earthly parents were? Do you know where He was baptized? Do you know how old He was when He started His ministry? Do you know where He was the night He was arrested? Do you know who sentenced Him to death? Do you know where He was crucified? Do you know what day He was resurrected? Now, the most important question of all? Do you know Him personally?
Like many, I sure do enjoy watching a good college football game on TV. This past weekend, I saw some of the most fierce, bone-crunching hits on the field that I think I have ever seen before. You know the ones I am talking about. The receiver goes out for a pass, gets to the end of his route, and then turns around to find the ball almost already in his arms. He has great sight on the ball, but unfortunately for him, he is the only one in the entire world that doesn't have sight on the 290-pound defender closing in on his position ready to lower the boom. And then, BOOM! A collective "ugh" echos throughout the entire stadium. But the receiver just bounces right back up and hurries back to his team's huddle, ready to go out for another pass. How in the world can these guys take such violent hits and still keep going? I'm told it is through daily exercise, intense training, and an almost inhuman will to play this game called college football.
I am not sure if you have ever heard this poem before, but it sure is a good one! I was asked to re-post it, and I am glad to do so.
In the early 80's, Dan Hartman recorded a hit called I Can Dream About You. Hartman was a long-time singer/songwriter who once played in the band The Edgar Winter Group, a hard-rock band formed by Edgar Winter of Beaumont Texas. In fact, Hartman wrote one of their most memorable hits, Free Ride, in 1973. It is a very catchy, up-tempo song that is now famous for a couple of very hot guitar licks. I have always liked the song, but recently I really started focusing on the lyrics. They are powerful, and although I know Hartman probably didn't have this in mind when he wrote the song, they almost sound like lyrics about Jesus Christ and His plan of Salvation. Check this out:
I tell my students to check over their tests very carefully after I grade them and hand them back. I am only human, and I can accidentally mark some of their answers wrong when in fact they are right. Once I am made aware of my mistake, I correct it immediately and add to their score. Sometimes I mess up the other way, though. Thankfully it doesn't happen much, but I have marked answers right before when they were actually wrong! For the student, that is just the luck of the draw. I will always grade in their favor. I will add to their score when necessary but never will I subtract from it. 
My grandfather used to tell me this joke when I was younger. He said one day an elderly man was driving his wife to the store when they passed two teenage lovers in a sports car. The boy was driving the car and the girl was practically sitting in his lap. The elderly man's wife questioned, "Why don't we still drive like that? The elderly gentleman responded, "I have never moved". 
Are you facing a crisis right now? Do you feel like the whole world is caving-in around you and that there is no escape? Maybe your situation is not as severe as going through the death of a loved one or going through a divorce or even some kind of drug addiction. But if you are like me, even your tiny problems can seem like huge, over-whelming monsters. There is hope! I have a key chain that reads, "With God, all things are possible". Sure, we have all heard that a thousand times, and most of us quote it to people when they are struggling. But do we truly believe that God can help us? Do you truly believe that God can help you right this instant? 
Students have really changed over the years that I have been teaching and from the years I went to school. On the first night of my college classes, I generally do those first-night things: Introduce myself, welcome them to my class, go over the expectations of the class, and then start on page one in the book. It used to be that everyone had their books the first night and were ready to start digging-in. But these days, I get this question, "Are you serious? You are going to actually teach us the first night?" It starts steam-rolling down-hill from there. "Do we really have to do homework? Do you take roll? Does it matter how many nights we miss? When do you do make-up tests? Again, this is my college class, not high school. After I burst a few bubbles and tell them, "YES you have to be here, Yes you have to do homework, YES you have to study in order to pass", it is amazing how many don't even show-up again. In 24 hours, I can usually weed through those who are serious about their education and those who are not.
