From August 1997 until June 1999, I attended Orange High School in Hillsborough, North Carolina. In 1999, I, along with a few other people that I knew, transferred to the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics to complete our high school career. While I missed living at home, and hanging out with my friends that I had known for years, I never doubted if I made the right decision. NCSSM offered more academic resources, as well as an environment that, to me, was more conducive to learning.

Today, while reading the Durham Herald-Sun, I read this article about parents of OHS students saying that the facility is being neglected. Now, it wasn’t in great shape when I was there- there were overcrowding issues as they fit almost 1500-1700 students in a building built to accomodate 900 students. Additionally, the school is now 40+ years old, and that brings its own set of issues.

A few years ago, Cedar Ridge High School was opened in Hillsborough, and I’m sure that the new facility has alleviated some of the issues with overcrowding. However, having one high school in your school system that is new and “state-of-the-art”doesn’t give way to neglecting another school.

What message are we sending to our students when we send them to schools with ceilings that leak when it rains, lights that don’t work, and eroded countertops in their chem labs? Are we honestly saying that we feel that their education is important? Are we honestly saying that we feel that they deserve the best that life has to offer?

Everyone Can’t Be in Your Front Row….

Life is a theatre – invite your audience carefully. Not everyone is holy enough and healthy enough to have a front row seat in our lives.

There are some people in your life that need to be loved from a distance. It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you let go, or at least minimize your time with draining, negative, incompatible, not-going-anywhere relationships, friendships, fellowships!

Observe the relationships around you. Pay attention to:

Which ones lift and which ones lean?
Which ones encourage and which ones discourage?
Which ones are on a path of growth up hill and which ones are going down hill?
When you leave certain people, do you feel better or feel worse?
Which ones always have drama or don’t really understand, know and appreciate you and the gift that lies within you?

The more you seek God and the things of God – the more You seek quality, the more you seek not just the hand of God, but the face of God, the more you seek things honorable — the more you seek growth, peace of mind, love and truth around you, the easier it will become for you to decide who gets to sit in the FRONT ROW and who should be moved to the balcony of your life.

You cannot change the people around you…but you can change the people you are around! Ask God for wisdom and discernment and choose wisely the people who sit in the front row of your life.