I wonder...

As I am 50 pages from the end of my book I have many I wonder questions...but the biggest of them is this: I wonder what would have happened if God did not give us the choice in the beginning?

In my book, Tanis, the first born son of all creation just makes a choice.  He is deceived by Teelah, and chooses to have power (although it is not true power). By doing so he unleashes Hell on Heaven and the fall has happened.  What would it have been like if God did not give us the choice in the garden?  Personally, I love that God gives us the choice to follow Him each day.  He does not make us robots, programmed to follow him.  Rather, He invites us into the relationship with Him and smiles like a very proud father when we willingly make that choice.  I think God weeps when one of His children choose a different path, one that leads away form Him.  My prayer is that you all make that choice to follow Him each day.  The journey is full of love, full of adventure, full of difficult moments, and full of grace.

I love you guys.  Enjoy your books.  I hope they push you to think about things differently.

Blessings,

Monday, January 18

MLK was a great man.  I bless God for his courage and for his vision for what things could look like here in America and in the rest of the world.  Standing up for justice is not always easy, in fact most of the time it is incredibly difficult.

Take a few moments and write a blog post about the book you are currently reading.  Is there a character who stands for something?  Is it a good thing?  Do they face trials?  Are the ridiculed for their stance?  Do you admire them for the choice they are making?  How about you...is God asking you to stand up for justice?  How so?

I look forward to reading your responses.  Thanks for taking the time to share.

Blessings,

BLACK

Good to be regularly reading once again...thanks Freshmen class.  I love that time out of my day is now carved out for reading.  I have chosen to being with Black by Ted Dekker.  I have read it before, but like most good books, I like to read them more than once.  I HIGHLY recommend this series.  Black is the first in the CIRCLE TRILOGY.  The next two books are Red and White.  This series helped me think about God in a powerfully visual way and was also a real page turner.  If you get the chance to read this series...dig in...you won't be disappointed.

Blessings friends,

Excited...

My dear Freshmen,

I am so very excited to spend second semester with you!  What a joy it is to re-enter your world.  Last year I was blessed by teaching two sections of English 9.  I missed teaching this class first semester; I am eager to get going with you.  I love that we get to read each day in class together.  I will read alongside you guys and share often in class about the books I am reading.  I look forward to seeing and reading your "READING BLOGS."

Blessings on a new semester,

Mr. Koeman

Getting there...

Life with kiddos....boy does it get hard to find the time to read.  I am half way through Go Set a Watchman and I am really enjoying the read.  Honestly, I feel like I need to reread Mockingbird to grasp the complete picture.  Harper Lee is an amazing author and i am excited to finish the book here over the weekend.

Blessings Friends,

Go Set A Watchman

I am so very excited to start reading Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee.  Mockingbird was one of my favorites books not only to read, but also to teach.  I have read numerous reviews of Lee's new book and am very intrigued by what I have been seeing.  I am eager to meet up with Atticus once again.  I hear that Scout is the moral center of the novel.  I wonder if Jem is still the crazy excited spirited person that he always was.

Hopefully, I will be finished by Monday and will be able to give you all an update.  Enjoy reading.

Blessings,

The Giver

Thanks for spending the last few days in class watching The Giver with me.  What a powerful Dystopian film.  I have always enjoyed the book, but as this was my first time watching the film, it took my enjoyment to a new level.

What struck me the most was the line near the end when the Head Elder says, "When humans are given choice, they will always choose wrong."  The giver responds to this by saying that "We need to teach them to choose better."

That is why I teach.  I teach because want to try and help you to choose better.  Our theme this year is "Love Does."  Bob Goff gives us so many examples from his life where he takes the opportunity that God gives him to make a choice that is actively doing His love.

It is so easy to make selfish choices.  It is so easy to exclude.  It is so easy to hate.  It is so easy to be passive.  The devil works very hard at being the great deceiver and has perfected his craft.  If we don't choose better maybe we do need the "sameness" of Jonas' community.

I want to choose LOVE!  In doing so I need to choose the hard path of following Jesus.  He gave us the example of His life to follow.  I readily choose that path.  I want to feel, dance, sing, all of Him.