A Picture of a Vision Casting Dad

Every now and then I stumble across a movie that resonates with me and makes me see some issues in a new light. One such movie is King Richard, the true story of Richard Williams, the father of Venus and Serena, the all-time top-ranked women singles tennis players. One of the things that impressed me […]

I Do Not Cease to Give Thanks

“I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers…” (Ephesians 1:16) The issue of expressing gratitude came up in a family… we’ll call it a “discussion” recently. The spirit of the debate was more about the motivation behind giving gifts:  Do we give them with the expectation of receiving acknowledgement/gratitude, […]

Staying Off the Rollercoaster

Staying Off the Rollercoaster — Have you ever felt that trying to keep up with your child’s moods and behaviors is like riding on a rollercoaster? I remember the old-time rollercoaster. Slowly the car would climb to the top of the first peak. Even though it was slow, we knew the inevitable plunge was coming, that […]

The Word of God as Our Standard

I have been burdened by an issue that seems to be creeping out of our secular world and into our religious organizations: How can we disagree respectfully? How can we handle our differences like Christians? I was at an ACSI Leadership Conference this week and was dismayed to learn that pastors, school administrators, and teachers […]

What Are The Underlying Needs?

When I attended a Trauma Informed Care workshop on Friday, I discovered that I did something very right by accident just the day before. In the morning Virtue Lauds, I was so happy to see the 5th & 6th graders after Fall Break and no lauds on Tuesday due to Picture Day, I just looked […]

American Noise

I had the incredible privilege of spending the day with the School of Rhetoric students on October 8th at the Triangle Y Ranch Camp and Retreat Center in the foothills of the Catalina Mountains near Oracle. Here’s what I can report: The theme of the retreat was “American Noise.” Mr. Hardeman spoke passionately about God’s […]

Creatures of Habit: The Good News and the Bad News

Like with so much of life, the fact that human beings are creatures of habit is a double-edged sword. My wish to weigh less is outweighed by my habit to munch on the same things at the same times everyday. If I am not thinking, I have a precise order in which I grab a […]

In Koinonia With You

Koinonia is defined as Christian fellowship or communion, with God or, more commonly, with fellow Christians. This word, from the Greek word κοινωνία, popped into my head this week along with “community.” I get to be a part of this koinonia throughout the day, and I see it happening all over campus. Moms stay behind […]

Becoming Is a Journey*

In numerous places in the New Testament, it is stated that we are predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29 for example). This transformation is from one degree of glory to the next into His likeness (1 Cor. 3:18). This becoming is God’s work in us by the working of His […]

On the Same Team

I’ve spent some time watching your kids play during their lunch recess period. The Gaga Ball Pit is like a magnet, seeming to pull children from the ramada over to it as quickly as possible. After being assured that they did, indeed, eat their lunch first, I allow students to play. Here are some of […]

That Wasn’t So Bad…

I think this statement after my first home visit was meant as a compliment. The Mom quickly added that she had no idea what to expect and wasn’t sure why I wanted to come by to visit. The second Mom admitted that when she saw my earlier note and saw I would be in her […]

Friendship & Community

This week, the themes of friendship and community kept revealing themselves to me in different forms.  Proverbs 17:17a says, “A friend loves at all times.” I received a beautiful cross with this phrase on it from a dear friend, just because. It’s not even my birthday! 1 Corinthians 12:14 states, “For the body does not […]

Dads: The Men, the Myths, the Legends

Dads: The Men, the Myths, the Legends — This idea comes from my sweatshirt with that saying for Grandpas. It is usually good for a laugh, but I think it is also worthy of some serious consideration. We need to sift through the various myths, legends and stereotypes about being a Dad and get down […]

More Than a School

Well, here we are! Another school year has begun. When my boys were young I was convinced that June and July flew by at warp speed. I’m guessing that many of you are wondering where the summer went as you loaded up your children for their first day of school on Friday. As a military […]

Teamwork Makes the Dream Work

I know that this is such an often used phrase that is almost a cliché, but it is still true. And we saw a great picture of this during Paideia. We had one of our best training conferences ever And this was thanks to the work of many, many people doing a wide range of things! We […]

Set Apart Kids

Often our children would question, “Why can’t we do what other kids get to do?” “Why isn’t our family like other families? They let their kids watch ________ or go to ______, etc.” And this was before parents were getting their 11 year olds SmartPhones and Facebook and Twitter accounts. I can’t imagine what pressure […]

Running Alongside with Perseverance

I just returned from a fantastic four day retreat with our administrative team, board  members and their families. What a blessing it was to be able to 1) get to know some of our Veritas families better and 2) get away from the Tucson heat for a few days! If the time I spent in […]

Give Them Tools, not Just Rules

Back when our church had a summer day camp with 150 children a day from K-8th grade with children from all kinds of homes, rule breaking was rampant. How can we get these kids under control? We resolved to do better the next week. We started each of the remaining camp weeks with a review […]

VAT 2021-2022 Calendar

Veritas Calendar 2021-22

What Do You Preach to Yourself? 

One might deny it, not wanting to look like one is losing one’s mind wandering about talking to one’s self. But we all do it all the time. The question is not, do you talk to yourself? The real question is, do you preach positively or negatively, do you rationalize and propagandize or do you […]

Living for the Line and Not the Dot

Often when meeting with a student, I draw different diagrams to explain ideas. One of my favorites is a long horizontal line upon which I draw a small dot. I ask, “If that is a timeline, what do you think the dot represents?” Almost immediately the student says, that is my life in comparison to […]

It’s Your Own Dumb Fault

It’s Your Own Dumb Fault  …would often be our parents’ response when kids back in my day would come home crying or complaining about something, whether it be from climbing too high in a tree and a branch would break off, or we would get punished for talking back to a teacher, or beat up […]

Character Counts

Man, that hurts! I was thinking after a person blasted my reputation by sending out letters to every person in her current and former Bible studies. This lady’s Bible study leader and I had come to an impasse on a doctrinal/practical living disagreement. She was sorely disappointed that I did not take her side in […]

The Fallacy of a Neutral Zone

Is there a middle ground between being all in for Jesus and being in rebellion against Him? Is there a place for someone to be just a good, decent believer but not a zealot? Can’t I just be going around my daily life seeking to do good without having to make Jesus Lord over every […]

Staying Chill When Things Are Tense

Kids take their cues from us to a large extent. Something happens and they look to us on how to react. Think of a child falling down and getting a little scrape. He or she is rattled, but looks up to Mom or Dad to find out — is this a big deal? Is this […]

The Irony of COEXIST 

Being older gives me a bit of historical perspective. I remember the time in the Sixties when college professors were pleading for tolerance and academic freedom so that their Marxist values could be expressed in the classroom. The argument was that college students should be exposed to a diversity of opinions and robust discussion of different […]

Building a Treasure Chest of Wisdom

Many of us can remember pithy sayings — those short direct comments that were full of meaning — from our parents or grandparents. My grandparents relied heavily on Poor Richard’s Almanac or apocryphal statements like: Cleanliness is next to Godliness. My mother seemed resistant to the idea of passing along wisdom, lest she impose her value system […]

Do You Serve a Little Cheese with that Whine?

Whining drives almost every parent crazy. It is often triggered with just one little word — No. No matter how one delivers this verdict, no matter how nicely and considerate of our young child’s desire, the whining can begin… “But, Mooooom!” The vowels are drawn out and the voice reaches supersonic frequencies. My 7th grade […]

The Weapons of Our Warfare 

Do you ever feel provoked by the claims of one group or another against the person or “side” that you support? Or have you ever felt very strongly about an issue, even with your own family, and you want to give the other person both barrels of your opinion/your set of facts? Even more important, […]

Handling Life after Defeat

It’s been no secret that I am a Kansas City Chiefs fan from my stint as a pastor in the KC area. Along with the Chiefs fans back at my old church we had a wild ride this year. Patrick Mahomes had a wild ride, too: awarded huge contracts, commentators touting him as the future […]