Cliff Notes Contributors:
- Cliff- “Musings from the Mascot”
- Haley Akl-“Don’t Be Like that!”
- Jonathan Akl-“Exploring the Evidence”
- Justin and Marcus Rivera-“Great Moments in History”
- Noel Rivera-“What’s Cookin’?”
- Shayna Sengstock-“Shayna says…”
- Annisa Worrell-“Good Sports”
- Brianna Pratnicki-Staff Photographer
- Ben Bryant-Asst. Photographer, also, “The Adventures of Mr. Bones”
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Musings from the Mascot
I have been thinking about our school motto— “Faith-Character-Wisdom”
— and what it means to me.
My Creator gave me excellent eyesight. I can see forward and to the side at the same
time. I can also see a delicious fish (in the water) from several hundred feet
above the water—an amazing feat when you consider most fish are darker on top
and thus harder to see from above. Also, eagles—like all birds—can see in
color. What a beautiful world I see from up here!
Now this brings me to the first word of our motto, “Faith.” I
think about the awesome care and intelligence that went into my creating! And I am only one of the thousands of species
of birds out there! Yet, my great
Creator knew exactly what I would need to survive.
Most people don’t know this but eagles are strong swimmers
as well. God knew I would need this skill so He wisely gave me the knowledge
and the ability to dive into the water and swim for a while if need be. (How would you like to be just swimming along
in a lake one day and turn around and see me swimming after you? Yipes!)
When I fall in love it is forever. I have been married to
the same gorgeous eagle for twenty-five years now! If you would see us together
you would notice that she is a little larger than I am—a trait I have noticed
among some of your species as well… We have built a huge, sturdy nest out of
sticks and it is about nine feet in diameter, weighing close to a whopping one
and a half tons. (You know how much “stuff” you just accumulate through the
years…) We are not the type of bird that needs a new home each spring (too much
trouble flying around day-after-day, looking at different trees, cliff ledges,
you know how it goes); we’re quite content with the one we have. Our Creator
gave us the natural instinct to build that nest and we are grateful for His
wisdom.
If our great Creator can take care of an insignificant bird
like me—though I will have you know I am at the top of the bird food chain—what
wonders does He have in store for you? This definitely involves your character
(the next word in our motto), something I will write about next time. Right now
I am teaching little Egbert to fly….Whoops! There he goes! Gotta go! Here I
come Egbert! Flappppp!!!!!!!!
Keep Flying High!
Cliff
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Please
Don’t Be Like That
Forgiveness
Colossians 3:13, “Forbearing one another and forgiving one
another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so
also ye.”
Forgiveness is a very important character trait in our
lives. Sometimes it’s hard for us to
forgive when someone has hurt us in some way.
Well, if we feel that way, we should think about all the times we’ve
sinned and how many times Jesus has forgiven us. He forgives us though we don’t
deserve it. So we cannot say someone else doesn’t deserve to be forgiven
because we don’t either.
We should be like Jesus and learn to forgive.
For your character,
Haley
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Exploring
the Evidence
Genesis 1:16 “And God made two great lights; the greater
light to rule the day and the lesser night to rule the night: he made the stars
also.”
That last phrase, “…he made the stars also” –as if it was a
little thing for God to create the billions of stars in the known universe.
Have you ever wondered what a star is? It is a ball of gas
in outer space. Did you know the sun is really a star? It is the closest one to
us. Not all stars look like the sun. Stars come in different sizes and colors.
Evolutionists say our sun is ordinary—just tucked out there somewhere and
forgotten. But in fact, we should be very grateful our sun is anything but
ordinary!
75% of all stars are known as Red Dwarfs. If our earth
revolved around one of these, we’d be destroyed from lack of warmth. And, if our earth revolved around one of the
remaining 25% of the other stars it would receive so much radiation it would
fry!
This should make us so appreciative of the fact that God
placed the sun exactly where He wanted it—in perfect position so it would
affect us in the most perfect way.
Another example of His great love for us!
Keep exploring!
Jonathan
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Historical
Happenings
September was a very important month for the United States
in that the U S Constitution was signed and approved on September 25, 1789.
That’s a very important date for all of us.
It is said that the Constitution is the very foundation of
our beloved country, but most people don’t know of the struggle we went through
to ratify it.
Article VII specified that at least 9 of the 13 colonies had
to ratify the Constitution in order for it to become law; however, the framers—John
Adams in particular—knew that if all 13 did not ratify the document, it would
have not real power.
The debate for the ratification—or approval for the
Constitution— lasted two years and was quite a bitter debate at times. Those who called themselves The Federalists,
were in favor of strong, central government and weak state government. They had
the support of many wealthy land owners, judges, lawyers, and merchants. James
Madison was their leader and others such as Alexander Hamilton and George
Washington strongly supported the Feds.
The Anti-Federalists opposed the ratification of the
Constitution and included such supporters as Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee,
and George Mason. Their chief complaint was that the Constitution gave power to
the wealthy. By taking power away from the states it would ultimately take
power from the people.
The turning point came when the Feds agreed to a Bill of
Rights—a list of guaranteed personal freedoms, which helped to calm the fears
of those opposed the Constitution.
The Constitution was ratified in 1788 and became the law of
this great land early in 1789.
Men gave the great contributions of their thoughts, time,
and money during the long process, which should make us appreciate this
priceless document.
In closing—a quote from Abraham Lincoln,
“Study the constitution! Let it be preached from the pulpit,
proclaimed in legislature and enforced in courts of justice.”
We the students,
Justin and Marcus
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Shayna
Says…
I have a lot of catching up to do! Mrs. Bryant stopped by
one day a week or so ago and brought us a bunch of their little baby chicks to
see—absolutely adorable!!
We had a great 25th church anniversary weekend—a
big adult fancy dinner on Friday evening the 20th, and a great day
of fun and food on the 21st. Bro. Salvator smoked a whole quarter
hide of a cow for us—ummmmmm! Dr. Bernie planned tons of fun games for the kids,
including a game that involved putting an Oreo on your head and getting it into
your mouth without using your hands! Any game has to be good if Oreos are
involved!
We ended the night
with a big bonfire, and a lot of us brought our instruments, so we sang the
night away! Then, the next day was Anniversary Sunday and it was wonderful! We
had soooo many visitors and our town supervisor came and actually presented a
proclamation which said that from now on, September 22 would be Long Island
Baptist Church Day! We all felt proud in a good way☺.
On the 29th, a week later, all the kids in grades
7 and up headed off to camp with Pastor, Mrs. G, and Billy. I just have to
write and tell you all about that next time—from howling at the coyotes around
the campfire each night to horseback riding adventures—it was an awesome trip!
Keeping you posted!
Shayna
