Principal's Note - 04/20/2023
For as long as I have been alive (and then some), my father has worked in an industry with metal at the center of it. Because of that, I found myself on a factory floor one summer during college working with wire spooling machines, citric acid baths, and annealing furnaces, praying for my shift to end so I could go outside into the 90-degree weather instead of staying inside, where it was always 100+ degrees. I learned a lot that summer, including why I was going to finish college and never work there again!
Metal is interesting. We use it so often in our daily lives that we probably don't think about it very much. The different applications for iron, copper, steel, gold, aluminum...they seem endless. I find it especially intriguing that, in order to really get the most useful properties out of metals, we usually need to apply an uncomfortable level of heat in different ways. For example, those annealing furnaces that I worked with would heat the coils of wire to a temperature at which the metal's atomic structure changes and becomes more ductile (a metal's ability to be pulled into a wire shape) and less hard. Tempering steel is another example. This process takes steel and heats it until it is red-hot; not quite melting it, but still, an excessive amount of heat. The person working with the metal then holds the steel at that excruciating temperature for a set amount of time, depending on the type of steel and the application.
Did you know the Bible sometimes uses images like this when God is referring to us? Biblical people knew all about metalworking. They regularly mined and shaped iron, copper, gold, and silver; they were even working with alloys like bronze on a regular basis. Several times, especially in the Old Testament but also in the New Testament, God talks about his people being "refined." Refining a metal involves melting it down completely so that impurities can be removed. The form of that metal must be completely destroyed so that something new and more valuable can be created. Do you see how that applies to God's people? Sometimes uncomfortable, maybe even painful, things will happen in our lives. Much like a lump of gold ore in a refiner's furnace, we can't stand up to them; we break down. That sounds terrible until you remember that, like the pure gold coming out of the furnace into the hands of a master goldsmith, we too have a Master that lovingly and carefully shapes us into something more beautiful and wonderful than where we started. Romans 8:28 reminds us that God uses EVERYTHING in our lives for our good on our journey to heaven.
I tell you all this because, sometimes, I feel concerned for our students' difficulties when confronting problems and handling responsibility. Don't get me wrong, these struggles are nothing new and are not unique to students at Emanuel, but they certainly are present here. I am not just the principal at Emanuel, I'm also a parent of three students, and I think we as parents exacerbate this problem unintentionally. When my youngest falls down and gets hurt, I want to quickly help him feel better and comfort him; when my kindergartner is struggling with relationships in her class, I want to solve that for her; when my oldest is upset because he doesn't understand a problem in math, I want to jump in and help right away to ease his frustration. Any idea what happens to steel when you don't temper it correctly? It becomes brittle and it shatters. Sometimes, children need to be hurt, frustrated, and lonely. If they don't experience those things now and learn to cope with them, what will happen when they are older and we aren't around? We can't solve every problem for them when they are little because, instead of making them stronger, we are actually crippling them. Instead, when they have an issue that needs to be resolved, at home, at school, or anywhere, stand behind them and support them, but allow them (or FORCE them) to take the lead. Sometimes, they are going to take one on the chin (metaphorically, of course), and it will hurt; it will hurt you, even more, to watch it happen. As long as you are there and can help them understand what God teaches us about being refined through struggles, they will grow from it. We have to make sure that our homes and our school are safe places for children to make mistakes, experience consequences, and learn the proper, God-pleasing alternatives to poor decisions. When we can do that, the end result is strong Christian young men and women, worth more than any piece of pure gold or silver.
Have a blessed Easter season. Christ is risen; he is risen indeed, alleluia!
In Christ,
Bill Fuerstenau, Principal