In the coming days, thousands of lives in North Florida will be directly impacted as schools begin. No doubt, this school year will be unlike any other. The pandemic has necessitated difficult choices for everyone from superintendents to teachers to substitutes to administrators to maintenance workers to bus drivers to cleaning staff, and that’s just a partial list on the school end. Parents and children are facing difficult choices among brick and mortar and virtual education options.
Our education professionals need our prayers. Among the Mandarin family, please be praying for:
Tiffany Poynter Westside High School.
Meghann Sikes Cornerstone Classical Academy
Nicole McTighe Kernan Trail Elementary
Nancy Regas Shadowlawn Elementary
Troy Regas Oakleaf Middle
Lori Gallaher Rawlings Elementary
Stephanie Bennett Hickory Creek Elementary
Sandi Johnson St Johns Substitute
Our parents need our prayers as they finalize decisions on education options. Our students need our prayers as they experience school in a way that is far different to what they are accustomed.
While this is a sober moment, a moment that must be bathed in prayer, this is also a moment to be light in a dark world. It is a moment to extend grace and mercy to those around us. It is a moment to be courteous and kind, understanding that everyone is navigating uncharted waters. It is a moment to be patient when not everyone sees things the way we see them. Most of all, it is a moment of faith. We don’t know what the future holds, but we do know Who holds the future, so we move forward with faith that God is over us, listening to us, and working in us. Simply put, this is our moment to be Jesus.
-Mike Johnson