Farewell

Goodbye to our Beta fish, Rico. He died this week. I don't think the move went so well for him... anyway... We had him about a year and a half which is pretty good for me considering every fish I've owned as an adult dies within a few weeks.

I'll be taking his tank in to school for my classroom fish. Right now it's just a little glass bowl that gets dirty water super fast and it's annoying to change every week. The tank with a filter will be much nicer. The kids named him Rainbow. Except some of them forget and call him Goldie. Which makes no sense because he's a Beta, not a goldfish...

Yes, I do have a classroom pet my first year teaching. People have told me it's brave to attempt a classroom pet because if it dies then you have to explain death to the kids. Well, newsflash: a lot of kids already know what death and dying is. Most kids have experience with a family pet dying or sometimes even a family member. What most kids don't have is the knowledge that for people there is life after death. That there are eternal consequences for how we live our lives which results in Heaven or Hell. What most kids don't know is that Jesus Christ loves them so much and wants a personal relationship with them so they spend eternity with him. Death for Christians is joyous thing. We will be WITH CHRIST! Death will always be sad, but there is hope and joy in knowing the deceased person is a the Father's side, in no more pain, worshiping God all their days, and that we will see them again.

I'm off to my brother Justin's homecoming soccer game. Go get 'em #2!

Love,

Sarah

Good Friday

Good Friday.

Ironic that it's called "Good" Friday -- the day Jesus died. Today I sat down and read the crucifixion account from all 4 gospels. I've never done that before. Each one has its own voice and own point of view that results in a well rounded picture of what happened. Every year at Easter I think back to the first and only time I watched The Passion of the Christ. I was at the theater with Zach and my parents and I just cried and cried. My tears were hot with anger because I wanted the soldiers to stop beating Him and the crowd to stop mocking Him... But He had to do it. "Not my will, but yours be done." He had to do it so that mankind could be reconciled to God -- so that I could be reconciled to God.

Praise God that even while we were still sinners, Jesus died for us!

"But He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by His wounds we are healed."