Professional Development?

I spent the last few days committed to "professional development". What a great concept. This was the best professional development I have yet to experience!
My good friend and co-worker, Deanna (aka Miss Cook), jetted (that would be, West-Jetted) to Edmonton on Wednesday afternoon. We came back this morning after spending three days in Sherwood Park at an ACSI (Association of Christian Schools International) teaching convention.
The convention was really good. I didn't take in all that much that was practical to my teaching, but I got what I needed more- some great encouragement, refreshment and spiritual challenges. Here are some things that I'm thinking about as a result:
-Bringing my thoughts captive to Christ. One of the speakers offered a really good word picture to help me understand this idea. Every time we buy the lies of the enemy, he adds a link to the chain, keeping us in bondage. I need to learn to cast away the garbage before the chain gets longer and stronger. The mind is a fierce battle field, hey?
-I am far too casual about our God's holiness.
-A living faith that dispels darkness...this was a good question for me to be confronted with- is my life dispelling darkness?
-Especially in the past six months, it has been easy for me to become defined by "outside" things instead of the foundation of my life being centered on the image of Jesus.
And my favorite verse of the week:
As we know Jesus better, his divine power gives us everything we need for living a godly life. He has called us to receive his own glory and goodness! And by that same mighty power, he has given us all his rich and wonderful promises. He has promised that you will escape the decadence all around you caused by evil desires and that you will share in his divine nature...1 peter 1:3 and so on.
I can't even begin to say how good it felt to be free of responsibility for a few days. Ahhhhh.
One of the real treats of the week was staying with the Elford crew in Sherwood Park. It was wonderful to reconnect with a family I have always enjoyed so much. They have got some of the neatest kids around! Painting volcanoes a for science project, a ping pong marathon, watching the Olympics, and good visits were among the highlights.
So it has been a great few days of "professional development". Maybe I'm just a rookie and I'm off on this, but I'd say the greatest professional development for a teacher must be some high quality R & R!!! I'm glad to have had a little hiatus. Tomorrow it's back to marking and pla...well, you know. :)