Editor’s note: Mr. Ron Downs is retiring from his role as Director of Early Childhood Education at the end of the upcoming school year. While he will still be around till May 2025, this is his final entry in the “A word from…” series.
I’m not sure I will ever have the “final” word, so let’s get this kind-hearted, faith-infused banter rolling with my best road trip ever. How does one articulate and try to convey God’s heart? Well, let’s simply go to Scripture where He has never let me down.
I have been extremely blessed to be a small part of an extraordinary ride in 34 years of my second profession: early childhood education. My first profession? Haha, not baseball, but we’ll get to that another time. After all, there is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven. No, my first job was picking chili peppers in my beloved home city, the Steel City, Home of Heroes. In 1978, it was up the row, down the row, 5 acres at a time. 25 cents for a bucket, amounting to maybe 5 bucks by the end of a sweat-filled, 100 degree day. Toil. Ecclesiastes 3:9 says, “What does the worker gain from his toil?” Stay with me, fans; stay with me for a moment of fresh air…and toil, and character, and games, and freedom in prayer. Stay with me, oh Lord, so I don’t die in this heat. I have to get to baseball practice, then basketball camp, then some weeds in the acre for my Dad, who is coming home from solving yet another crime. What a detective that guy was. A true detective protector. Honor thy father and love thy mother even when she makes you eat cooked, green peas. She learned her lesson.
You see, my friends, the true MAP (mood, attitude and personality) surely drive my bus for behavior. This is not something from a normal book, but from God’s inspiration, God’s wisdom, and God’s plan for me, for you, for everyone. I have been on lots of road trips, lots of competition, lots of…toil. Do we ever stop? Everything is meaningless under the sun. Ecclesiastes is a brilliantly written book. Ecclesiastes reminds me that God will call the past to account. And, here we go.
My life has been an extraordinary ride, thus far, with more to come, even after my last chapter at FRCS. Taking care of young children for 34 years has been a culmination of Ecclesiastes: It’s meaningless without God. It’s so simple, yet complex because we live in such a broken world. Yet, the unconditional love of those children. The stories, the humor, the tears, the tantrums, the discipline, the schedules, the lessons, the routines, the families, the staff, the…ACCOUNTABILITY that was impressed upon me from my parents, in the home, at church, with my brother and my own wonderful family. Amazing Grace, how sweet the song. And now we have added Grace to my family. What a sweet grand-baby! What another beautiful and amazing addition to what has captured my “final” word from…
GRACE.
