summer?

"why is it, that if i have all this free time in the summer, i haven't updated my blog more often?" the blogger wondered to himself. okay, that is the last time i will refer to myself in a weird, third-person, existentialist (i don't even know if that word really makes sense there but i really wanted to use it) fashion. so yeah, i don't know why i haven't updated in awhile, but i haven't so here goes. i'll break it up into parts so that you can decide which part you'd enjoy to undertaking the difficult task of reading my babble. part 1 shall be - "test scores" part 2 shall be - "savannah fumc" part 3 shall be - "other"

part 1 - so as anyone who has glanced at my Facebook page will be completely aware, the test scores came back in, and they were good. good is the understatement of the year when it comes to just how excited i was about these test scores (ask anyone who went on mission trip, they will attest.) my overage average for my kids was 204 (which is above proficient). 32 out of the 59 of my kids who took the test scored proficient. thats about 54%. to give a few comparable measures.... last year at central 27% of the school was proficient (this year 38% of the school overall was proficient.) the 54% that my students scored is SOOO much higher than anything i expected, and i am blown away by my kids performance. i am attempting (apparently unsuccessfully according to a very critical fellow TFA teacher) to be humble in receiving this news and deflecting it all back to the God who gave me the strength to make it to this point, but that is proving to be a very difficult venture. yet i try. before departing from the subject of test scores i must tell the story of how i came to receive the good news of the scores. i was on a mission trip with my youth group (a subject which will be breached in part 2) and i had just come back from a day at the work site. i had three missed calls from MJL (my roommate) and this let me know that the test scores were in. i didn't know what my next move should be. i was in charge of driving the van of childrens back to the place we were staying (a forty-five minute endeavor). those of you who know anything about me and patience know that it is not one of my strong suites. i decided to call dad's office and get amy (who works for him) to look up the scores online. the only decoding of the scores she could really do was to give me individual kids' scores as a reeled them off to her one by one. here about how the conversation went.

Levi: "ok... Braylan Lewis."
Amy: Pass.... score of 223.
Levi: "WHAT!???!!? OH MY SICK... (SWERVES VAN AND RUNS OFF ROAD....) ATTA BOY... YES SIR!!!

part 2 - so for those of you who do not currently know, my summer job is leading the youth of savannah first united methodist church. thus far it has been a very different, yet fruitful and enjoyable experience. the youth group is pretty small (about 5 to 7 on average) but i've gotten to know the kids pretty well. we've been reading through rob bell's "velvet elvis" and i think the discussion has gone pretty well. this marks i think the 4th time i've read velvet elvis and 2nd time i've lead a small group in discussion based around his book. needless to say, i enjoy it, and each time i read it new realities and questions are opened up that i missed the first few times around. as previous stated we went on a mission trip last week which was a real blessing. we worked in the yard of an elderly couple named gary and anna, and they were both very enthused to have us there. i attempted to be richard rogers (but of course failed) and climbed off into the jungle that was gary and anna's back yard chopping down everything in my path. after three and half days of trying to be like my father, i decided that was a job best suited for him. the site coordinators nicknamed me "jungle joe" and "lumberjack levi" (probably when i wasn't around they referred to me more along the lines of "idiot with a chainsaw.") nonetheless, the trip was pretty awesome, and the kids did a great job. many thanks to page ledbetter, who dropped everything she was doing and decided to selflessly come along and chaperone the trip. she's a pretty awesome person if you don't know her. we've got one more trip coming up this summer, and then our usual meetings on tuesdays and sundays (as well as hopefully some other cool stuff.) working with the youth this summer has opened my eyes to a lot, and i think further maybe pushed me in the direction of pursuing full time ministry after i finish this teaching stint. we shall see. as an aside, if anyone plans to be in savannah, tn july 18th, levi rogers will be preaching a barn burner of a sermon on sunday morning at savannah first united methodist church entitled....... hmm i should probably figure that out soon.....

part 3 - i actually think that just about covers it. let's see if i have any other parting things to leave all of you interested readers with.... well, if you would like to go see the worst story line in the history of cinematic film, go see the movie "the killers" with ashton kutcher. also, if you are looking for an amazing read, go buy anything NT Wright has ever written. he's a beast. if you want to absolutely destroy yourself and not have the energy to pick yourself off the floor, go do the "insanity workout." in summary, summer is great. its not what i was expecting in a lot of ways, but its been an awesome, welcome break. after getting the test scores back, i want to teach algebra again next year. we are currently in the process of figuring out if that will actually happen. i suppose that will do for now. peace.