"If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!"
And there was this magazine sitting on my couch that I had just finished reading.
There was a confluence of the two in my mind as I thought about how they seemed to go together.
The dictionary online defines this word as:
Confluence: the flowing together of two or more rivers or streams. So I'm not entirely sure that I am using it in the right way, but I want to change the word rivers and substitute the world of ideas or thoughts.
When I read the verse, I thought about the "good gifts" that my parents had given me. Not the material kind, but more in the line of character, of a work ethic, honesty, integrity. Even in times I did not live up to all they stood for, these gifts were in the back of my mind, challenging and correcting and guiding my life.
One of these "good gifts" was their value of education. They were not rich by any means, but they managed to send all three of us boys to a private school in our hometown.
Now here comes the "confluence"…
I began McCallie School in the 8th grade. My parents had wanted me to begin in the 7th, but I held out for another year with my friends in our public junior high. I knew no one in the new school, and they wore uniforms. Two things against a change for me.
Having a good education available and taking full advantage of it were two different things. McCallie had good teachers, hard classes, lots of homework. The opportunity was there.
But it also had mandatory athletics every afternoon, an Honor Code that was alive, and a motto that meant something.
"Man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever"
For the longest I wondered from where in the Bible this had come, but one day discovered that its source was the Westminster Confession. It had been the school's motto since it was founded in 1905 by two Presbyterian brothers, and it underscored their belief that quality education, built on the foundation of Christian faith and practice, could turn boys into men of character and honor.
I'm glad that my parents gave me the good gift of the education this school provided. I'm glad that my two sons could go there and thrive, and I'm glad that the school still holds to the motto, and that the mantra of:
continues in front of students and faculty today.
And I'm also glad the my daughter could go to a girl's school founded by Grace McCallie in 1906, and she too thrived in that great sister school.
We are indeed blessed by a previous generation of men and women who believed and acted on the "good gifts" principle.
MCallie has a new headmaster, the reason for the magazine pictured above, A. Lee Burns, a 1987 graduate of the school. Lee's father "Bud" Burns, graduated in the class behind me in 1955, and was the lead sergeant in the first platoon, Company A, which I got to command in the McCallie regiment.
I only speak from my own experience. I know that there are many places of learning all over that do a great job, many teachers that teach with excellence, and many students that take advantage of the opportunity available to them. The "good gifts" principle is alive all over.
God Has Blessed
Amen and Amen
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