Heritage Christian High

“We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.” Ps. 78:4

We may just take the above text as our faculty theme text for the year. It is already brightly displayed on a bulletin board in our teachers’ workroom, serving as a reminder of the awesome and high calling to which we are brought as another school year starts. Our covenant God in heaven gives us as a community this command. We are to see to it that our children, and the generations to come, are instructed and constantly reminded of the entirety of God’s work. Parents have banded together in these days to work together and help each other in our children’s formal instruction. As teachers, we are given this duty by the parents.

When we look at the psalm quoted above, we begin to see God’s great wisdom in his command to us, and the importance of that command.

Our Father has so planned it that all of his work in creation and Word is a unified whole, with one central message, and with one central purpose. He gives us his covenant promises, fulfilled in the work of His Son., to the praise of His glory. He gives us all this as a “parable” that we mere humans may see and understand. He gives us and our children, by his Spirit, to be able to see, even though dimly, the wonders he has wrought.

In his command to us to teach sayings of old,” (vs. 2) he knows that they can understand and believe by his grace. The sayings are dark, meaning to me that they are to be carefully looked into, as one peers down a well to see if there’s water.

Our task as teachers and parents is to know the truth well and be able to pas it one. We certainly don’t want to pass on things that may not be true, as a rumor gets passed along and becomes more and more untrue as it goes. So we must ourselves study carefully those dark sayings, and teach our children this same care. We do not save our students, by God is pleased to use our feeble efforts to work the same truth in the hearts of our students.

God has revealed that truth to us. He has “established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel.” (vs. 5) The Word is written. Besides this, because in God’s covenant all of creation is for Christ and consists in Christ (Col. 1:16,17), it is the teacher’s particular calling to open up to the student all of the creation as a book to be learned, using the spectacles of Scripture to reveal Jehovah’s strength in his works.

The purposes are spoken by the inspired psalmist in verses 6-8. We speak the truths we have been given so that the next generation, and the next, and the next, as long as the LORD tarries, will know them. Knowing these sayings, our children will set their hope in God, not being stubborn and rebellious, but keeping his commandments and remaining steadfast.

No, we dare not hide these wonders from our children, but show them, consistently, repeatedly, every day, in all of our teaching on all the aspects of God’s creation for our Father’s glory and praise.

May we all strive to do this together, as teachers, parents, and community of believers. May we pray for God’s blessing on our work, and for His strength every day. May we do all this for his glory.

“The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.” Psalm 29:4

Do you hear it? The powerful voice of the Lord that is full of majesty? The Lord speaks, and his voice is powerful. From Genesis 1, which records how all that is was brought into existence by the voice of the Lord when He spake and it was done, to the last chapter of the book of Revelation where the Lord said, “Surely I come quickly,” the Bible is the Word of God. That Word is powerful and full of majesty.

That the voice of the Lord is full of majesty is evident to the child of God. God has given us ears to hear this, as well as eyes to see and hearts to understand. Before Adam fell, he was able to hear the word that was spoken by God to bring forth each creature. What an amazing thing! But as those who have been made new creatures in Christ, we too have the ability to hear the voice of God. God’s voice is heard in His creation. “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not hear” (Psalm 19:1-3). And as we hear His voice we grow in our knowledge of God.

Article 2 of the Belgic Confession of Faith tells us by what means God is made known unto us. “We know him by two means: first, by the creation, preservation, and government of the universe; which is before our eyes as a most elegant book, wherein all creatures, great and small, are so many characters leading us to contemplate the invisible things of God, namely, his power and divinity, as the apostle Paul saith, Romans 1:20. All which things are sufficient to convince men, and leave them without excuse. Secondly, he makes himself more clearly and fully known to us by his holy and divine Word, that is to say, as far as is necessary for us to know in this life, to his glory and our salvation.” As we put on the spectacles of the Scriptures, we clearly see and “contemplate the invisible things of God, namely, his power and divinity.”

We have committed ourselves to teaching these things to our children. We confess with the psalmist in Psalm 78:4 that we will not hide from our children what we have heard and known – the praise of the Lord, His strength, and His wonderful works that He has done. We can see the wonderful works that He has done – throughout the history of this world and in His creation – and we delight to show these wonderful works to our children.

This is the work that we have promised in the vows we took at the baptism of our children. This is the work we do as teachers in the place of parents. This work we take seriously. We all willingly make sacrifices to be able to do this. I have seen this in the work that has already gone into the beginning of Heritage Christian High School. It is a joy to be able to join you in this endeavor. I look forward to working with you to train your children to hear the voice of the Lord. I covet your prayers.

As we instruct our children, we have also been assured of the reward of hearing God’s voice. In Exodus 15:26, God told the Israelites, and us, “If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee.” We can begin a new year, then, because we have the confidence that God will bless us.

“Through wisdom is an house builded; And by understanding it is established: And by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches.” Proverbs 24:3-4

Why do we build? Why should we build? I have pondered these questions seriously these last few months. Part of my summer work consisted of designing a curriculum for a new junior level mechanical drawing course. I flipped through magazines and catalogues to find the right compasses, T-squares, pencils, and drawing boards. I searched high and low to locate a textbook that would suit our needs. I found teacher reference materials and carefully planned the scope and sequence of the course. But, for me, the most useful and edifying part of the task was considering the Christian aim and purpose of mechanical drawing. That’s when I stumbled upon those beautiful and instructional words in the book of Proverbs.

Mechanical drawing is the preliminary design that results in the fruit of building. It is the first step to building. Jesus himself suggests the importance of proper design and planning in Luke 14:28: “For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?” Sitting down first is an important step in the building process. Why? Why should we sit down first? I can think of a very practical, physical reason and a very profound, spiritual reason. Physically, sitting down to consider a building project is important because without a solid plan a house, tower, chair, milk carton, or anything else we design would be a flop. A logical design brings about logical results. Lack of design creates leaning towers, dilapidated houses, lopsided chairs, and misconstrued mil cartons. The same is true spiritually. Without sitting down to design and plan, the spiritual houses of self, family, and church will be in disarray. They will be spiritual disasters. But how do we design? How do we plan? How do we build for God’s glory? This is where Proverbs 24:3-4 comes in. Wisdom, understanding, and knowledge are the tools that the Christian must use in his spiritual designing and building.

In order to build ourselves spiritually we must first realize that it is God who builds through us. Our God is a master creator, designer, and fashioner. He is imaginative, precise, organized, and purposeful. We, as His people and His imitators, must strive to reflect these characteristics. What a difficult task, but what a wonderful calling! If it were up to us to build a spiritual house, we know that the slightest breeze would bring our four walls crashing down. God must do the work. Without His wisdom, His understanding, and His knowledge, we would not be able to truly build. In fact, in order to build, we must have directions from God. Several Old Testament examples depict this, for example, God gives Noah divine blueprints for building the ark, to Moses for assembling the tabernacle, and to Solomon for constructing the temple. Noah, Moses, and Solomon did not do the designing. God was (and is) the master architect, who planned, built, and brought His work to fruition. These examples demonstrate to us that to begin building our lives outside of God’s design would be ruinous. It is from our heavenly Father that we must get our life’s designs and dimensions. These perfect blueprints are found in God’s Word.

As mentioned before, Jesus emphasizes that we should sit down to consider a matter before we take upon ourselves the work of building a tower. Similarly, before we begin the spiritual work of building our personal, family, and church lives in this world, we must sit down and prayerfully consider the matter. But we can’t just sit down anywhere to consider this. Proverbs teaches us that when we build, we must build with wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. But where can we find these three handy tools? The world doesn’t have them. God’s people do. These tools can be found only through the Word of God and the work of the Holy Spirit. They can be found in a Christian home, a Christian church, and a Christian school.

What a privilege it is that we have a Christian school for our children, where we can train them to sit down with the blueprint of God’s Word and apply it to every area of life so that they might build spiritually for God’s glory. What a privilege it is that we have a Christian school that holds the wisdom, understanding, and knowledge of God’s Word high, esteeming these tools as the keys to education and life, both temporal and eternal. As we enter the new school year, let us rejoice that the Lord is pleased to build His house through our school. As Christian parents let us rejoice that our homes are being built through wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. As students, let us rejoice that through covenant education, God is preparing us and building us up to be active, godly witnesses in the world and in His church. As teachers, let us rejoice that God uses us to build His church. “For every house is builded by some man; but He that built all things is God.” Hebrews 3:4. As Christians, we can rejoice that through this school, God is building a house with chambers “filled with all precious and pleasant riches.”

What Mean These Stones?

Curriculum planning continues to loom large in the lives of Heritage Christian High School’s staff as we look at our particular subject areas through the spectacles of Scripture and the Reformed Confessions, sometimes for the first time, and sometimes in an evaluation of prior teaching. The amount of information available to teachers and students – indeed all of us – continues to expand as new technology provides myriad ways to access information. Since there is no possibility of bringing all of this information into the classroom and expecting learning to take place by some sort of osmosis, it is up to the teacher to evaluate, sift and sort, organize, present, and assess those things that he/she deems to be of value to the students in our school.

But the work does not merely involve deciding what will be of value for utilitarian purposes: the “stuff” kids need to know to get a decent job in today’s economy, invest their money well, to score well on achievement test so as to enhance their acquisition of scholarships for higher education. Our sifting and sorting is primarily concerned with things that are of eternal value, the things that have to do with laying up treasures in Heaven. For each concept, each skill we teach, there is a question to be answered: “So what?”

Current educational research has revealed that students retain what they learn when they know it is relevant and meaningful to their own lives. Interesting isn’t it, that when God led the Israelites through that desolate wilderness that pictures our own lives here upon earth, He instructed the fathers to build monuments of stones wherever great deliverances occurred by His Hand. Why? So that when their children later saw them and asked, “What do these stones mean?” their parents could tell them about their Sovereign, Covenant-keeping God and His Hand of Providence in creation and throughout history.

Writing curriculum is something like selecting stones for a beautiful monument to God’s faithfulness in the lives of His people throughout all ages. Carefully we choose those things that will most clearly show Who God is and what He has done as we build these temporary monuments, and as we encounter them throughout the course of the school year with our students, we are ready to answer, “Why do we have to know about this ?” We have built the monuments at God’s command, for the express purpose of training the children of His covenant. In addition, we have witnessed His hand in our own lives, and have learned of the stone piles form our own instruction by godly parents and teachers and ministers in the past.

Our ultimate goal is not only that the students learn to recognize these monuments, but also that they respond in thanksgiving and praise to God with the Church of all ages. Stone heaps of the wilderness were just that: stone heaps. With time, their physical presence passed away, just as our textbooks and lecture notes and visual aids will also pass away. But the eternal Truth remains forever settled in the heavens; God is faithful. He keeps His promises. He is worthy to receive all blessing, honor, and power, and glory – now, and throughout all ages. Pray wisdom for us in our stone selecting.

Fall Testing Offered to Sophomores, Juniors

Our school has been given on-site testing status for both the PLAN test and the PSAT. The tests will be administered on Tuesday, October 15, to the sophomores and juniors respectively.

The PLAN test will give sophomores a good start at planning for their education or training for a future occupation. In addition to testing the students’ knowledge and skills in its academic portion, it also questions them about personal interests, plans, and needs.

The PLAN tests and reports knowledge and skills in English, math, reading, and science reasoning. Especially helpful are its subscores in English and mathematics, which show the student’s strengths and weaknesses in specific skills areas that may be required for the occupations in which they have expressed an interest. With the help of a guidance counselor, students will be able to use their PLAN tests to set realistic goals for their future vocations.

The PSAT, also known as the NMSQT (National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test), serves a three-fold purpose for college-bound students, measuring skills that are important for academic success in college, possibly qualifying them for a National Merit Scholarship or another competitive scholarship program, and giving students practice for the testing programs that most colleges require for admission.