Happy New Year to all my blog viewers! I have appreciated your support. I know it’s been a little while since my last post, but I have a good reason. December 26 I left the country and headed to India with a group of 22 teenagers and a few adults. We just got back on Thursday this past week. It was an amazing two weeks that has forever changed my understanding of India.

While there, we held a Vacation Bible School for seven nights. As many as 156 children showed up each evening.

During the day we built two, one-room churches in nearby villages.

Certainly after this trip I will never teach a unit on India in the same way again. Things change when you have a personal connection. and I was reminded that the best education is experience. While I have tried to emphasize that on my blog all along, I now want to encourage you in a different way. In addition to creating hands-on experiences for your students, create some for yourself! Give yourself the experiences with life and others that you can draw on in your teaching. In this new year, promise yourself that you will grow beyond what you have always been or always seen or always understood. Re-spark your own enthusiasm for learning and growing. From that you will teach with power and great influence. It may not be a trip to India, but expose yourself to something new.