An Unpleasant Camping TripKirk was a boy who lived across the street from my family when I was about 12. We rode bikes together, climbed trees, played games, and ate milk and cookies his mom served us on their back…
Choose with a Purpose • Waking Up to Love • Sowing Seeds • Flourishing Together • Almost Home • Where are We Going? • Let the Children Come • Resting in Jesus • Building Bridges • United in Baptism •…
Earlier this year, you received an update about Maplewood Academy’s financial condition. The debt had grown significantly, and income was not keeping up with expenses. Thanks to the generosity of alumni and friends, and specifically to the efforts of…
Return of the Butterfly When our boys were young, my wife once bought a monarch butterfly caterpillar in a small cage. It was eating its favorite food, milkweed. The boys carried their new treasure home to observe the transformation from…
Five Dollars Warms a Blizzard Several years ago I was trying to get home from California to Maryland in the aftermath of a blizzard. After three days of canceled flights into Baltimore, I finally managed to fly from Los Angeles…
A Lot of Noise—But Going Nowhere In the 1970s our family owned a large fake-wood-paneled station wagon. One day my younger brother, Mitch, who was about four years old, decided he was going to drive into town. Click to read…
Spring Lake Park, Minn. (June 29, 2025)—At its June 29 meeting, the Minnesota Conference Board of Trustees voted a plan in response to the financial challenges facing Maplewood Academy. These decisions are intended to stabilize the school’s short-term operations and…
Fear and Trust—at the Same Time I just finished a deep dive into the book of Habakkuk. This is not a book we study often, but it deserves to stand on par with the rest of Scripture. Habakkuk brought a…
Dear Maplewood Academy Family and Friends, On Sunday, May 18, the Maplewood Academy Board, Board of Education, and Conference Board of Trustees met with the lead representative from a specially-appointed school health assessment committee. This visit occurred amidst a sobering…
Fueled by the Spirit In God’s mission, everything hinges on leadership. Keep reading even if you don’t consider yourself a leader. Leadership is not confined to someone with a title in an office. Everyone leads in some way. Even a…
