Where have I been?

Well, was just over two weeks ago when Sarah's school got 'The Call', (the mention of which, any educator will suddenly feel a pang of dread!)

Ofsted came, the work, late nights, early mornings and stress took over the house.

It ended. Sigh of relief, nice weekend of relaxation planned, life goes on. Or so we thought.

Then that pang of dread hit me. My school received 'The Call'. Now the likelihood of it happening in such close proximity was slim, so much so, Sarah was convinced I was joking when I told her. Unfortunately not. Nice weekend, off.

Panic set in for me and the house, having been on the road to recovery (though very short lived!) became The House of Stress once again.

On Tuesday night, when the Inspectors had left the building, I sat in Songster practise and listened to this:

"But the exact day and hour? No one knows that....But you do know this: You know that if the homeowner had known what time of night the burglar would arrive, he would have been there with his dogs to prevent the break-in. Be vigilant just like that. You have no idea when he is going to show up." (Matthew 24 para.)

I had to giggle to myself. The hours I sent over my weekend in school, preparing, tidying, planning alongside colleagues, for the imminent arrival on Monday morning was crazy. However, knowing when they would arrive meant that we had the opportunity to use every hour possible in the short build up to fully prepare, why wouldn't we?

As this bible message was read to us on Tuesday, I had to smile to myself. We are not promised a warning, an ETA for when Jesus will return. We won't have time to "dot the 'i's and cross the 't's" before he shows himself. We won't be able to run around, doing all those things we've been meaning to do for ages, yet keep putting off. We won't suddenly be able to lift the standards, making them acceptable or what is expected. We won't need to gather evidence to prove a point or fight our corner - he's got it already.

What we are assured of, is that we need to be ready.

The feedback I received for my observed lesson was very positive and was graded 'good'. My smile continued as I pondered what Jesus would feedback to me. Would I get the positive, followed by the negative, ending with another positive and actions to be achieved as we're trained to do and as Ofsted do? Would I be able to justify my decisions, the things I do, the things I don't? Would I, as I did on Monday, hold up my hands and say "you're right, I have no defence, I should be doing this aspect better"?

As days speed away from this traumatic week and with them create a distant memory, I thank God that even through everything that was happening, he refocused my mind on what's really important.