Archives - April 2022
Three Cheers for Our Amazing Staff!
April 27, 2022
Greetings, Cougar Community!
You know that moment when you want to thank people for something they've done and words just don't seem adequate? I am having one of those moments right now. This week is a time set aside as National Administrative and After School Professionals Appreciation Week, and next week National Teacher Appreciation Week. How is it possible to meaningfully thank our staff after the last two years? They screened, they masked, they sanitized, they navigated closures and worked hard to catch up and keep up! They prayed, they hugged, they held hands, they laughed, and they cried. They showed up again and again in the midst of unpredictable circumstances! They diapered, they fed, they cleaned, they napped (not personally)! They mothered and fathered, they nurtured and supported. They are nothing less than heroes!
I would like to invite you to join me in celebrating them this week and next.
Thank you to our wonderful parents who organized a fun week filled with daily blessings to further communicate how much we appreciate our teachers! See below for the details!
Blessings to you!
I-Term Reflection
April 20, 2022
I-Term Reflections From CCS 6th Graders
“The I-Term high school students were amazing! They were really fun, entertaining, and good at sports. Their P.E. was awesome, letting a lot of us play. Their chapel was moving and 
made me really want to be an I-Term student. I can’t wait until I am in high school.”
—Samuel, 6th grade
“I am thankful that the high schoolers who
came were all so competitive and they took us seriously. I am happy that we could play basketball with them. I was so happy that we could play basketball with Bo. Me and Ezekiel love him; we love how he plays the game. He is our favorite player, and we like his chances of the NBA. We also like Josiah because he is Ezekiel’s brother. I appreciated the dunking competition. And finally I appreciated how friendly they were and they put on a show.”
—Judah, 6th grade
I-Term Reflections From Mrs. Bingham, JH Teacher
For my specific advisory project, my 7th graders partnered with Tori Heckman’s 8th graders. We collectively assembled Easter baskets for Olive Crest. From counseling, to foster care services, to traditional living assistance, Olive Crest offers a broad spectrum of care for abused, neglected, and at-risk children and their families. Our goal was to assemble 30 baskets for the nonprofit organization, but the volume of donations we received allowed us to pull together 48 Easter baskets!
I-Term Reflections From Dr. Josh Kristoff, High School Principal
The final words of John the Apostle’s gospel are as follows: “Now there are also many things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written” (John 21:25, ESV). After spending two weeks with 18 CCHS students in Cape Town, South Africa, I have a better understanding of this verse. The stories I have, the times I saw God at work, the instances where God was working in me, and so much more are too numerous to put into words. And then, multiply that by 33 people and you have the makings of a 10-part docu-series that still wouldn’t even scratch the surface of accurately capturing the details of our I-Term experience. I encourage you to find someone who was on the trip and ask them to share their stories (and make sure you carve out a nice chunk of time because it won’t be short).
The resounding truth that rattled around in my heart each day was … IN CHRIST ALONE. Our students and alumni led a worship night where South African teens were committing and rededicating their lives to Christ. In addition to those leading worship, other CCS
students were praying for these teens and worshiping with them—300+ South African teens and our 18 students, praising and worshiping the same God. Completely equal, no barriers, no differences, just crying out to Jesus and in need of His saving grace.
There are problems in Cape Town and there are problems in Puyallup. There is division in South Africa and division in America. But regardless of the location of the sin-stricken issues, the solution remains the same: Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior!
Earlier in John’s gospel, we read: “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’ ” (John 14:6, ESV). May we all rejoice because of Jesus, who provides the way, who is the truth, and who gives us life!
Unshakeable Faith
April 13, 2022
I have to say that as we approach Easter, the topic of doubt is one of the last things on my mind. After all, Easter is all about new life, hope, and resurrection!
But if we look closer at the Easter story, doubt is in fact a common experience for many of the characters, including and especially those who come face to face with the risen Jesus. Whether that be Peter, “the Rock,” in days leading up to the events of Easter (Matthew 16:22), Thomas (John 20:24-25), or the disciples (Luke 24:36-39), each of them struggled with doubt in some way.
Our spiritual theme for the month of April is Unshakeable Faith, which we often think of as the absence of doubt. The Bible shows, however, especially through the Easter story, that some of the heroes and heroines of our faith had faith even in the presence of their doubt.
So our focus for the month of April is the question, “How do we have unshakeable faith in the presence of our doubt?” The good news of Easter is that, through Christ’s resurrection, there is now nothing—including our doubts—that can separate us from the love of God. The resurrection created a pathway for our doubts to become something that draws us closer to Him rather than something that stops us in our tracks. Having faith in the midst of our doubts first begins with accepting and inviting into all areas of our lives the One who created this pathway for us. This month, as students learn more about the Easter story, they will be given opportunities to accept and invite Jesus into all areas of their lives, especially those in which they doubt.
In addition to that, the Bible gives specific ways that we can respond to our doubt. So, throughout the month of April, our students will learn about characters in the Bible who had enough courage to acknowledge and explore their doubt with God (John 20:27), who asked God for faith (Luke 17:5), and who reached out to others for help and support while experiencing moments of extreme doubt (Matthew 11:1-6). Finally, students will read about historical figures like English missionary Hudson Taylor, who exhibited unshakeable faith in an incredibly difficult situation.
My hope and prayer this month is that our doubts will invite us to go deeper into God’s love for us, that even in the places of our greatest doubt we could exclaim with unshakeable faith, “Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!”