From Headmaster Snyder on Professor Louis Markos, this year’s gala speaker,

A uniquely suited voice for the literary tradition of the West, Louis Markos has inspired many, converting his hearers to avid students of what has been called “The Great Conversation.” Many seek conversation with Dr. Markos, a professor whose tenure at Houston Christian College has consistently led high school grads to choose his school as their alma mater. Dr Markos continues the tradition of reciting the epic tales that reach to the core of our shared history, and in that role stokes our fascination and love of learning. An engaged author not only of books that bring us to middle of these stories, but a respected voice in the media of our day, he embodies the purpose of a liberal arts education that enriches us. We are honored to welcome him to Wichita, and to Concordia Academy-Wichita, a school that aspires to call new hearts to this rich world and to the heart of its keystone, Christ.  

Coming up at CAW

• February 17 – Eat at Chick n Max at Central & Edgemoor and 20% of all event sales benefit our Student Activities Fund

• February 21 – Monthly Board Meeting

• February 21 – 7pm, Phoenix Players present “Hamlet”

• March 1 – Chess Tournament @ St. Francis of Assisi

“How much better is our life when we live in Thanksgiving!”

from the Desk of Headmaster Dan Snyder

Isn’t life interesting? New things are always happening, and for Christians, our Faith leas us to Hope, which makes us anticipate each new day. Christ is at the center of our history and the promise of his return makes us lean forward in anticipation. We cherish the past as well, as we are the audience and beneficiaries of the prophecy. It is hard not to think that we are indeed the apple of God’s eye and in the center of his care.

We are cranky and diseased at times through, are we not? We become wrapped in the toils of lifting ourselves up, and in so doing we become weary and downhearted. We find sometimes that we “live for the weekend,” merely surviving the days that pass between Sunday and Saturday. We seek distraction from the great concerns, we become oddly addicted to chasing balls around and clicking buttons, watching events from around the world that have nothing to do with us. We are happy to sit in on other people’s misery, or invent horrific tales of misery, all to take us away from the possibility of our own.

How much better is our life, when we live in thanksgiving. The revelation of God’s power and magnanimity in nature is before our senses constantly, but we might pass over it if we are not thankful. The provision of a sacrifice for us, as foreseen in the time of Abraham and Isaac is constantly before us; we need only give thanks. Our friends and their help to us is always in evidence if we remember to give thanks and thank them too. This attitude in life and prayer is the antidote to the life not quite lived, and the distraction that we constantly turn to avoid the enormity of our own smallness. A good measure of our attitude in obedience can be discerned if we are able to thank God for the moments in our lives, so here too we find a help in the moments of our many little decisions. Am I being obedient? Can I give thanks for this situation?

C.S. Lewis pointed out that happiness, when grasped for, is ultimately elusive. Learning to live an upright and obedient life will yield happiness, the goal of hope, and beauty, the object of love. We learn these things first, the house rules of the Kingdom of God, and know that all things will be added unto us. A school is a community of people who love the truth, and at Concordia, we know that He has set us free.