From Ashes to Hope

When my mother-in-law Isabel Bell started this school in 1983 for our first child, we were hoping for a place that would provide a Christian education close to our home. We also hoped that a few weeks into that school year that the Ash Wednesday bushfires wouldn’t snuff out that hope. It has since withstood many challenges both meteorological and financial. 

Since then, it has become a haven of hope for many who have struggled elsewhere. It has become known as a smaller, more caring alternative and a place of second chance, or even, for some, a last chance. Parents hope that their children will thrive here, that this school is free from bullying or that someone would eventually understand their child’s needs. I hope that it doesn’t lose this reputation as it continues to grow.

Teaching is an honourable and, I fear, an increasingly undervalued profession. I started teaching in 2000, almost reluctantly, a job that sought me. As I look back on my teaching career, I see failures, mistakes, could’a, should’a, would’as, but I’m not dwelling on them. I also see successes, small but significant moments when just every now and then, you feel that you made a difference to a student, a tearful parent, a program that worked, excellent teams that I worked with.

In what must surely have been one of their darkest moments, a couple of Jesus’ followers trudged along the Emmaus Road trying to make sense of the events that led to the death of their friend and leader. They desperately wanted to believe, for everything he said to come true, for the story to continue, for Season 2 to drop as soon as possible. Then as they shared the journey and a meal with the very one they’d seen buried just days ago, the truth started to dawn on them. “Did not our hearts burn within us when he spoke to us?” Their hope was rekindled and they sprang into action, bursting to tell everyone. (‭Luke‬ ‭24‬:‭32‬)

‘My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ love and righteousness.’ BHCS  is a community bringing hope to the hills. Let’s continue the task set before us.