Today’s passage is Matthew 12:22-37.
Jesus heals a demon possessed man and the Pharisees claim he does by the devil.
Jesus asks them how a kingdom can stand if it’s divided against itself.
He says he casts out demons by the Spirit of God.
He says that whoever is not with him is against him.
He says every sin can be forgiven except speaking against the Holy Spirit.
A tree is recognized by its fruit and a man speaks out of what is stored up inside him.
Today I had the first faculty meeting of the year at my school.
I had prayed about this meeting for a month because God had put it in my mind to think about and pray about.
I had prayed for the teachers and the changes that God was leading me to introduce.
It was not a normal meeting.
I had appointed key teachers to new roles and gave them a lot of autonomy to shape the ideas God had inspired me with.
After three years of reshaping the culture and climate of the school, I finally saw enough of God’s vision to understand why the next changes were taking place now.
I also understood better that my role is to unify the spirit of the school community#8212;students, teachers, staff, parents#8212;as God continues to transform the school.
Thus the importance of this first big meeting with the most important players in the school, the teachers.
If they caught enough of the vision, then their energy would ignite the students’ energy.
I had been praying for a month for the right words to speak and the right way to organize the meeting.
Then the vice principal surprised me by taking up a third of the meeting with a long list of boring, practical details necessary in any school but more effectively communicated by email, such as getting everyone’s phone number.
Her unplanned intrusion, however, perfectly re-balanced the meeting.
After I reviewed our identity#8212;what made us who we are#8212;the vice principal’s practical details helped the teachers feel secure about our organization.
Just before I began to present the vision, I first talked about my mistakes and my repentance over my treatment of misbehaving students at the end of last year.
From that position of humility, I explained what was at the heart of the school vision#8212;love, self-control and application.
Then I introduced three teachers to briefly explain how the changes were going to work.
By the end of the meeting, there was a new unity among the teachers that spilled over into excited conversations during lunch and then calmer conversations throughout the afternoon.
The teachers were part of a school that was going somewhere and they were helping to create a positive difference.
None of it was my doing.
It was orchestrated by the Lord.
My job was to pray for unity, lead with repentance and remind us all of what is truly important.
For once, my mouth actually said what overflowed from my heart, praise God!
Lord, I pray you guide me effectively tomorrow as I talk to our new students and their parents.
