Epic. Awesome. Cool.

I (Mark) was over at Micah's school this morning for the Remembrance Day ceremony. I was one of seven parents who actually came out. We stood out a little in the large auditorium when we only used the front seats of a virtually empty 100 seat section. Everybody noticed us, including the teachers. When all was said and done, I went over to give Micah a hug and told him I would bring his lunch in about an hour.

In between times, Faith and I had both been making food for the day - she was making Chinese food for the evening, and I made hot Hawaiian pizza for the kids' lunches. I returned shortly after Faith pulled the pizza out of the oven to make my delivery to Aslynn and Judah's school. They had different lunch times, so I was there for the better part of a half hour. Micah was slightly concerned that I wouldn't show with his food. When I did, he came straight out of the classroom, reached into my hands to grab the food, and disappeared into the classroom with a rushed, "Hi thanks Dad."

I stood outside with Mr. Kolody discussing the ceremony which he had led, and the main speaker came over to join us. Captain Nystrom had been in Afghanistan the previous year and also happened to be Micah's teacher's cousin. We discussed how hard it is to be politically correct with people who refuse to honour our armed forces veterans. Frankly, these people that some might call 'self-centred' or 'religious' are simply exercising the freedom that these self-sacrificing individuals fought to win and protect. I come from a heritage of peace-making through other means, and I still respect our soldiers. That's a whole other discussion I saved for Sunday School though (Matthew 5). Once we had completed our conversation, I joined Micah in the classroom for a moment just to say hi.

When I entered, the whole classroom greeted me with a "Hi Mr. Siebert! Hi Micah's dad!" One kid piped in, "He's awesome!" I had to respond to such misguided praise, so I asked,

"What is it that makes me awesome?"

Another kid joined in, "You make the most amazing chicken sandwiches!" I laughed. But the kids seemed rather enamored. I would think it has something to do with being Micah's father, but apparently I had growing popularity of my own.

I headed over to the next classroom to thank Luther for helping push my car the other day when I spun out coming out of the back alley while slowing for him. Apparently that class knew me too. I then headed for the door and felt the buzzing of my phone in my pocket. Faith wanted to make sure I hadn't ended up in a collision. I informed her that such was not the case, unfortunately (we'd like an excuse to replace our van). As I'm on the phone, the assistant principal tapped me on the shoulder and mouthed, Can I have a word with you? It'll just be a minute. I'll be over there. Hmmm. I finished the call, bewildered.

As I walked around the corner to speak with her, she dove straight in, "I hope I didn't startle you." No, not at all, I get in trouble and sent to meet with the principal all the time. This was our second conversation, after all - the first one was about a lack of communication and sensitivity to age-groups by making appropriate movie selections regarding the Hallowe'en Party and Dance. Was this follow-up? Is Micah doing alright? Is there a problem?

"What's up?" I said, interested and nervously cheerful.

"I just wanted to pass on a 'happy-gram'. You seem to have growing influence with our younger boys. Did you know that you have a fan club?"

"Oh really? Why do you think that?" I inquired.

"Well, I was standing over by a bunch of the kids this morning in the gym. And when you arrived, it created quite a stir.

'Oh, look! There's Mr. Siebert!'
'He's so cool.'
'Yeah.'

"Well, I couldn't resist. I asked them, 'What makes him so cool?'

"'Oh, that's Mr. Siebert. Heeee's EPIC.' Spoken with long, drawn out phrasing equivalent to worshipful admiration.

"I thought that after hearing something that good, I had to pass it along and meet this guy who is so 'epic'."

"I don't know what to say," I responded, "I think it's hilarious."

"What is it that you do for a living that you can be here today? I can't recall."

"I'm a youth pastor at Beach Corner Church just past Stony Plain."

"Interesting. Well, whatever you are doing, keep it up. These kids need good role models like you. I hope I've made your day like you did mine."



Well, Faith and I got a kick out of it all. I had to share it with a few people. No ego here.



Integrity and authenticity are crucial, even in the places we'd least expect. No pressure.