Musings From A Rolling Eyed Turtle

The word just didn’t seem to fit the context.  The word that is typically used is “supporting” as in “supporting student engagement”.  But this time, the word “scaffolding” was used as in “scaffolding student engagement”.  I was intrigued! I looked up the meaning of support.  It is to promote the interests of, to hold up, to keep something going.  A scaffold, according to the dictionary is a platform on which a criminal is executed.  Since the context of where I saw word and the phrase is education, I think we can assume that definition would not fit.  But a scaffold is also a temporary structure used to support a work crew and materials to aid in construction when working at a height above the floor or ground.  Still not all that helpful! Intrigue aside; nothing was making much sense until I found this definition pertaining to the realm of education:  scaffolding is a practice where guidance and support is gradually removed to an effor...

With 20-20 hindsight, we can look at recorded history from the Scriptures of mankind’s interaction with God and we sometimes can come to the conclusion that a particular event or interaction might have been a big, giant “duh” moment. From the book of Exodus:  He said to them, “This is what the Lord commanded: ‘Tomorrow is to be a day of Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord . So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning.’”  So they saved it until morning, as Moses commanded, and it did not stink or get maggots in it. “Eat it today,” Moses said, “because today is a Sabbath to the Lord . You will not find any of it on the ground today.   Six days you are to gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any.”  Nevertheless, some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather it, but they found none.   (Ex 16:23-27) The “it” was manna.  It was to be gathered, prepa...

It was a tenuous position to be in but it didn’t deter him… Then Abraham spoke up again: “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes,” (Gen 18:27) Abraham recognized that he, as a man, made up of nothing but dust and ashes, was speaking to the Almighty God and he did not know how his words would be received. Other translations use similar, but slightly different words, for the phrase “I have been so bold to speak”.  Such wording might give us further glimpses into how tenuous Abraham’s position might have been: Since I have ventured to speak; for daring to speak to you like this; I have been brave to speak; I may be so bold as to ask you; I dare open my mouth; Before Abraham spoke so boldly, the Lord had indicated that He would allow Abraham to know what He was about to do in judgment against the wicked in Sodom (Gen 18:17).  The account doesn’t, however, seem to give any indicators that permission was being ...

The natural world of plants sometimes gives us glimpses of how we, as Christians, should function. Plants normally send roots downward and grow upward.  And fruit bearing plants normally produce fruit. That carries over into how God works in our lives on a spiritual level:  “And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward.”  (Isa 37:31) We take root, not in soil, but in Christ:  “having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.” ( Col 2:7). And much like a plant, we can grow upward:  “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”  (John 15:5) Furthermore, we are to be like a fruit bearing plant and bear fruit:   “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and tha...

I’m fascinated when words, used as descriptors, are changed in an effort to reduce or remove negative connotations. Drug addiction is increasing being referred to as substance abuse. Mental illness is increasingly being referred to as brain health. I’ve noticed a new change of late.  Homeless is being changed to unhoused.  I suppose homeless does have some negative connotations and the change is meant to help alleviate some of them. The religious leaders, who could not tolerate Jesus entering their little realm of religious practice, called Jesus a “glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners” (Luke 7:34).  In their minds, these negative descriptors were meant to diminish his stature among the people and dissuade them from following Him.  As such, they had no inclination to ever reduce the negative descriptors that they had assigned to Him.  In fact, the more negative they could make them the better, at according to their way of thinki...

I recently came across a travel article that was written to encourage travel to “sacred sites” in the United States . For the most part, the sacred sites listed were cathedrals, temples and churches.  The pictures of each showed very magnificent and ornate buildings.  There were also some sacred sites that were more along the lines of historically significant buildings or sites where significant religious activities have taken place. Throughout the Old Testament period, God indicted that He would, at times, dwell in the temple.  The New Testament, however, mentions a different and more unique temple: “Do you not know that your body is the temple (the very sanctuary) of the Holy Spirit Who lives within you, Whom you have received [as a Gift] from God? You are not your own,” (1 Cor 6:19 – AMPC) In my case, this temple, that is the one that the Holy Spirit lives in (my body), is far from magnificent and ornate, at least from a human perspective.  But it is magni...

When I was elementary school, we often played tether ball at recess.  The game is played with a ball that is attached to a rope which, in turn, is attached to the top of a pole.  The object of the game is for two players to hit the ball in opposite direction to the other and the winner is the one to cause it (the rope and ball) to wrap itself around the pole to the point in which the ball touches the pole.  One time, while I was playing, the rope broke and the ball went flying.   As we stood watching it, wondering what in the world we were going to do, we realized it was “game over!” The memory of playing tether ball was recently stirred when I heard the phrase “untethered from the Gospel”.   It also prompted me to look up the word tether and I found that it means to be connected to, joined to, or tied to. As I scrolled through more definitions, I found that a tether is also an attachment that characteristically anchors something movable to something fixed...