Each day I encounter (sometimes it feels as if I am assaulted by) information that could cast doubt on God’s goodness or on hope for the future. Each day I try to beat back the fear and look at the world with a measure of realism mixed with optimistic hope remembering that Jesus Christ has conquered sin and death and that He rules now from Heaven over this world governing things like geopolitics and every hair on my (graying) head.

But how can you maintain hope when it seems that in our land the foundations are being washed away? Let me tell you the key! Come and hang out in my Primary Omnibus class first period. It is a great way to start the day! Today my students are taking their midterms. Most of them will do very well. The content of the test includes Norse Mythology, Augustine’s City of God, plenty of biblical thinking, and even material on Islam. They still have a lot of growing to do, but their academic abilities are sharp. They bear little resemblance to me as a high schooler. They know more and—what is even better—can do so much more with what they know. Their speaking and writing is fabulous! (Thank you Mr. Dawson (Composition), Mr. Dennis and Walker (Rhetoric)) I am honestly blown away by what I see. What is even better? We are just getting started! Each year the students are doing a little bit more. We are getting a little bit better at what we are doing. In classical Christian education, we use the phrase penned by John Milton who said that we are repairing the ruins of our father Adam. We are…and it is hard work. It will be hard work for a long, long time.

What could be better than this, you ask? Well, we have developed a paradigm of education here at Veritas Academy called Omnibus. The work that we have done foundationally has been turned into a six volume set of books that is made to help classical Christian schools and homeschoolers read the great books profitably. The publisher, Veritas Press, has around 10,000 copies in print (I think). This means that students all over the country hidden in Sunday school classrooms, and desks beside their beds and Community Buildings (that have strange noises coming out of an ancient heating system) are being prepared. They are learning to love Christ and each other; they are learning to serve; they are learning to think about the world faithfully. They are reading the Scriptures, Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, Dante, Luther, Calvin, Shakespeare, Burke, Locke, Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, George Orwell, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and I will even sneak in some Wendell Berry. For what are they being prepared? I am not sure all that God will do with them. I think that they are going to cause a lot of joy and a lot of trouble (for the foes of Christ and freedom) in the future. What is even more fun? They really don’t have any idea how special they are!

Have a great day! Help is on the way!