Blog

Among, Not Alone

July 12, 2024
by David McClain, Head of School

Words as We Begin a New School Year

A warm welcome to the new families and students who are joining the Falcon Family!  We are so excited that you have chosen to partner with us and look forward to a wonderful journey together.

To everyone, welcome to July!!  We are one month away from a new school year, and we can’t wait to see all of you back in the hallways again.

A Quiet Place: Day One is now in theaters.  If you have not seen the now trilogy of movies, they center around aliens that come to earth and hunt by sound (echo location essentially) thereby requiring the survivors to live in almost complete silence.

While I am not recommending you watch the films (they are pretty intense) there is much that can be drawn from the storyline, and one of the key elements is our human need for connection.

Good stories use the crisis and survival scenarios to highlight this raw truth – we were not made to be alone.  

Isolated survival is simply existence not life.  Throughout all three films, there is a gripping example of someone making a great sacrifice for someone else.

In the most recent film, Day One, a man finds himself in the middle of an extremely harrowing situation (no spoilers here) all to retrieve a cat.  Why?  Because the other person he has become linked to cares deeply about the cat.  It’s that simple.  Human connections require sacrifice.

While there is some life here at the school, the hallways are mostly empty and the classrooms sit silent.  A school is a strange place with no students.  Just like a life lived alone without the complications of relationships.

In August, the hallways will fill with almost 300 students and staff.  Life will ensue, and conflicts will arise, but these buildings will once again be filled with purpose.

As God’s creation, we are meant to be among not alone.  

Jesus’ life illustrates this.  Continually surrounded and among His creation, He taught his disciples (and us) that life is meant to be lived among.  Yes, there will be difficulty, betrayal, hurt, and disappointment, but the Father’s will is for us to wade into it and bring truth, love, peace, and restoration by living life His way according to His word.

Peter’s focus was an isolated one: “I won’t leave you like others”, “I don’t want … to happen”, “I will…”, etc.  However, denying Jesus, he realized the frailty of his self.  After the resurrection, eating with Jesus on the shore, Jesus asked him three times “Do you love me?”  After Peter insisted “Yes, Lord” each time, Jesus followed with a phrase that instructed Peter to live outside of himself and among to “Feed my sheep.”  

Following this command required seeing the need and then sacrificing self to meet the need.  As we now know, Peter finally got the point and became one of the most dedicated disciples in history.

One of our key pillars at FCS is To Serve.  We desire that our students will learn to live a life in Christ among this world and its darkness.  Not becoming like the world, but standing out as a stark example of a different way to live.  

We are praying for each of you as we head toward a new school year and look forward to being among each other again. We are excited for 2024-2025!