Weekend Mental Meanderings...

 

Can't believe I have let four years go by without posting on this blog... well, let's change that starting today!

My weekend mental meanderings

  I have felt like a load of bricks has been lifted off my back with the election results. For the first time in many months I felt I could relax and exhale and able to think clearly without the obstruction of politics. These are some of my thoughts I had over the weekend.

  The subject of DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival) immigrants came up on a talk show I was listening to. This subject is one that hits home to me as I know at least one person (a friend) who was brought here from Central America by his parents illegally when he was a newborn. To be clear, HE is NOT an illegal as a child cannot, in my opinion, be held responsible for decisions made for them. This friend only speaks English and knows very little Spanish. This friend has been an exemplary person in society (can't call him an exemplary citizen since he is in fact not a citizen). He is kind and giving and smart. He was taught a trade and has worked that trade for as long as I've known him (about 14 years). He pays taxes and has purchased a home and cares for his elderly mother (and father when he was alive). THIS is the type of immigrants our nation needs but he forever lives under a cloud of possibly being deported from the country of his heart to the country of his birth where he has no family, friends, support and cannot speak or read the language. He is a prime example of a good DACA immigrant.

  But the question is what to do with these DACA immigrants. Well, I believe the decision is relatively simple. First, if they have maintained a record free of criminal activity they should be allowed to stay in the United States for a limit of 5 years. Second, during that 5 years they must take steps to and become a legal American citizen with all the rights that title bequests.

  Of course part of the problem is the long line of persons already in line to become an American citizen, those who are doing it the right way. Well, the government needs to step up its efforts and streamline the current backlog of immigrants but I believe we can do both simultaneously. 

  So what are your thoughts on DACA immigration?

  Another thought I had...

  What about all the other decent people who crossed our border illegally?

  Obviously violent and hardened criminals should be permanently expelled immediately. But there are millions of men and women who came over our border illegally yet are otherwise good and decent people just looking for a better life. I believe there is a path to citizenship for them but it is not and should not be easy. 

  First, they MUST be deported with a minimum of two years that they cannot come back into the United States, legally or illegally. 

  Second, if they want to return to the United States after two years they can request a green card or work visa and be allowed to stay for one year. At the end of that year they can apply to remain in the United States for an additional five years but they MUST prove in a written and spoken test that they can speak rudimentary English. 

  Third, if they desire to remain in the United States permanently they must apply for and pass the required American citizenship test(s) within that five years with an additional year of eligibility should the immigrant show good faith in attempts but have failed, giving them that additional year to make good on the test.

  Yet another thought...

  I am of the opinion that our country must maintain a minimum of two political parties. I don't want a country that is run by just one side all the time. What I would like to see is the parties maintain a core moderate line of principles. The far left and the far right will break down the two traditional parties and cause extreme discourse such as what we have just witnessed in this year's Presidential election.

  I believe in progress and I believe to have proper progress we must have the left to create change and the right to temper that change. Too much change all at once is not a good thing. On the other hand too much resistance is also not a good thing. In our current political atmosphere the left (driven by the far left) wants extreme change and they want it NOW. Conversely the right (driven by the far right) wants to extremely retard change. The result is nothing good gets done and animosity grows. 

  I also believe the far left and the far right should be heard because they are the incubators of ideals and those ideals must be debated. But it is the moderate left combined with the moderate right tempering each other which drives our government (and society) forward into a brighter future.

 Stay tuned, I will likely have more thoughts one day :)

Speak as though God were Listening

 I awoke this morning thinking of how Jesus would act and react to the world we live in if he were alive today. My thoughts turned to Galatians 3:28 - “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” I believe Christ would be so very disappointed in us. Disappointed in how we feed the evil of this world with our talk about politics, race and social issues. He would be disappointed in the hate and vitriol we spew every day about others on social media and in private. He would be disappointed in how we allow politics to separate us. I came to the realization that If we profess to be Christians we must put aside talk of race, put aside talk of sexism, put aside talk of our political leanings. Sure Christians can vote and have a political viewpoint but far too often we have given our politics too much sway in our lives, we have let politics become a wedge, or a wall even, between us and our Christianity. If you think race is important at all then you have let Satan in to separate you from God, from Jesus. If you have let issues of inequality in the sexes be your lynchpin then you have become separated from Jesus and The Father. If you spew political rhetoric and disdain then you have separated yourself from God and Jesus and their spirit is not in you. I Peter 4:11 tells us to "speak as one who speaks the very words of God" or put another way, speak as if God was standing next to you.

Concern yourself with the love of mans soul, not the color of their skin. Concern yourself with uplifting the poor, the handicapped, the weak, and those less fortunate than yourself for when you do you draw closer to God.

I say these things not as someone superior but as one who bears the shamefulness of being guilty of putting political rhetoric ahead of God. This ought not to be. Love people. Love. It’s not a 60’s flower power concept. It’s a concept that’s bequeathed to us from and by our creator and if we fail to put Love to use then we have failed God.

A WHEE-LO Won't Get Me Down!

  It has been a hard difficult week for me. I’ve been burdened with the knowledge that my Medicaid had not been approved yet. Then, while on a conference call, I was told that state had approved my disability. Yay! Burden lifted! Until the next day when I was told Medicaid had been denied. What? I was just told the day before that it had been approved! Well, turns out that I was in fact denied Medicaid. What I was told was that I truly had been approved for disability, unfortunately I took that to mean my Medicaid had been approved. I was deemed by the state to be “Disabled” (well duh! - I already knew that!) but that is not the same as being approved for Medicaid. Yeah I know, that too is a “well duh Charlton” thing - only I really didn’t know that then. I guess being “disabled” only entitles me to a disabled parking tag - how wonderful considering now I can’t DRIVE! 

  So, long story made long, I have always had a disability, but that disability is in being able to understand complicated (at least to me they are) processes such as insurance. I just shut down mentally when it comes to traversing the insurance landscape. Oh, I have tried to understand it mind you only when I start trying to understand it, trying to figure it out, my mind just goes into this free spinning mode, sort of like that 60’s toy the “WHEE-LO” - round and round, over up and under it goes, over and over and over, repeating its path with no conclusion - until I set it down and put it away. When I have gotten car insurance in the past I tried to understand what I was getting, but never really could. If only they had known that about me they could have sold me insurance for a waterfront home in the desert! The point is, when it comes to insurance, my mind basically shuts down. I cannot comprehend it. That’s not a copout, it’s just fact. Never have been able to comprehend insurance, I just nod knowingly and write out the check. 

  So the burden is back on, the weight is back on my shoulders, and I am feeling the heft of it. 

  I could go on about the other things that are heaped upon my shoulders at the moment but I won’t. Instead I’d like to point out the positives. For instance, here at this facility I count myself fortunate. They say “in the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king!” Well, that is me here in this facility. Almost all of the patients here have some sort of mental incapacity to varying degrees. Dementia is the main culprit I believe. Yet I have all my mental faculties in place (okay, except for the ability to understand insurance I suppose). As a matter of fact the nurses and CNA’s here all love me. Except for bringing me my meds and meals on schedule I am pretty much left to my own devices. I may not have the use of my legs, but I can transfer myself from wheel chair to bed and wheel chair to toilet so I require the least amount of attention - and for that they give me attention, they are quick to get towels and toiletries I may need, answer questions for me, and even stop and chat for a minute during their grinding day.

  Oh, I have a lot to be worried about and to be concerned about but I believe I’ll do what Jesus recommends - leave my worries with him. I can only do what I can do and I’ll let him handle the hard part.

Reflections on a Fall Morning

  Sitting here this morning listening to a cappella congregational singing, in particular the Kleinwood church of Christ Annual Singing. Several thoughts run through my mind as I focus on the words to the different songs, and sing along (as best I can without the words in front of me).
I love the recent new version of "Just As I Am" called "Just As I Am I Come Broken."

I come broken to be mended
I come wounded to be healed
I come desperate to be rescued
I come empty to be filled
I come guilty to be pardoned
By the blood of Christ the Lamb
And I'm welcomed with open arms
Praise God, just as I am

  The words hit me particularly hard today as my body is most definitely broken due to my severe back problems on top of all the other ailments age has inflicted upon me. I marvel that someone as physically and spiritually damaged as I am could have hope... could have a God who loves me in spite of myself, in spite of my evil past.
  For the past few weeks I've been helping my brother out by driving his crews around to job sites. I have been particularly perplexed by the language and attitude of one young man whose vocabulary principally consists of vulgarities. Daily I am trodden under by his constant barrage of hideous language and his equally vulgar attitude towards women. At the end of the day I feel as though his every crass word has stuck to me like velcro and I need to shower to try and cleanse myself from his tawdry language. But what I am more concerned with is how to reach his soul (and the rest of the crew as well) and make him see he can be so much better as a person if he were to clean up his language.
  I pray for him and all the crew. I pray and ask God to help me to be an instrument of change to them. I know they can change... I did. During the decade during which I had left the church I spoke horrible words, words that would tarnish the soul. I did unspeakable things that will forever leave a mark on my heart. I was so severely damaged, so broken... wounded... empty... guilty - all those adjectives that verse mentions. But I did one thing, one thing that turned my life around and back on the track it was supposed to be on - I repented. God mended me, healed me, rescued me, filled me with his love and spirit and he pardoned me. ME! I am so ashamed of the man I had become yet God took control and put me on the course I am on today. If God can do that with someone like me I know he can do it with someone like the young man on that job crew, that young man I will continue to pray for, that whole crew I will continue to pray for.

The Beauty of Driving a Type II

VW I.D. Buzz all-electric concept van.

  I came across an article today that mentioned the new Volkswagen Cargo bus concept vehicle along with an accompanying photo of the all-electric vehicle. My first inclination was they put the wrong photograph in the article, but on closer inspection I discovered it was in fact the aforementioned vehicle. I was not impressed.
  Oh it's not the fact that it is an electric vehicle that bothered me so much (but it does bother me) and it's not the fact that it looks nothing like the vintage air-cooled VW type II's we are all so familiar with. No, what REALLY bothered me was the fact that Volkswagen just doesn't seem to get it. They don't seem to understand WHY the Volkswagen was so loved in the first place, be it the Type I Beetles or the Type II Buses (or the Type III square backs, fast backs and notch backs and even the later Type IV's). There are two hard and fast reasons why the air-cooled vintage VW's hold a special place in our hearts.
   First is the simplicity of the vehicle itself. The engines are so easy to work on even I can rebuild one - and I'm definitely not mechanically inclined! And then there is the bodies. Aside from their obviously lovable distinctive shape, they mostly stayed the same over the years of production with little variation. The Type II (Buses or Transporters) probably had the biggest variation when it went from the iconic split window front end to the distinctive bay window front end. The Type I (Beetle's) biggest variation was arguably going from the classic pre-'72 style to the stouter Super Beetle body style from '72 on. Yet all in all they were all easily worked on by the average owner, be it engine work or body work.

VW Type II Split window bus. Note the driver sits directly
above the front wheel.

  Secondly, and to me most importantly, is the sensation when driving a Type II. The driver (and passenger) seats are directly above the front wheels. The sensation this gives the driver is totally unique among passenger vehicles. When turning a corner the perspective of the driver is completely different as is the sensation of actually turning the steering wheel while you enter and exit the turn. No other common passenger vehicle enjoys such a setup as to offer this beautiful sensation in driving.
  I suppose other vintage car owners experience similar melancholy reminiscing about the lack of beauty in design and performance in current cars compared to their vintage models, but I do feel the Volkswagen air-cooled models of yesteryear are solely in a class unto itself.
  In my misguided daydreaming adventures I can't help but think with all the technology available today, that Volkswagen (or any other car manufacturer for that matter) can surely come up with a simple, cost-effective and environmentally sound re-visioning of the vintage Volkswagen today and not some futuristic wanna-be knockoff concept.

Guard Your Tongue

  When I used to smoke I enjoyed it and didn’t think much about it... until I stopped. After not smoking for a while I would watch other people smoke and it just looks so stupid and unnatural.
   There was a time in my life I cussed fairly regularly. Then I stopped. Now when I hear people cuss (especially when they say the f-word) I cant help but realize just how juvenile it sounds. I mean it’s almost like everyone who cussed is determined to out cuss everyone else. This was hammered home to me a few years ago when I went to a rock festival in Charlotte, NC. (And subsequently to many live music performances locally). When I made that observation I realized it IS juvenile! It’s like a bunch of kids at the playground during recess trying to out cuss each other when the teacher isn’t listening. In reality though the teacher is ALWAYS listening! He hears everything!
   There was a time when if you were out to eat nobody would use foul language, even if a person did cuss he respected that others in the restaurant didn’t want to hear it and they also didn’t cuss because they respected the possibility that kids might be in the restaurant and they didn’t need to hear it.
   Fast forward to 2018 and people have become so desensitized to vulgar language that they have lost all consideration of others and think nothing of cussing in public, be it a restaurant, a store or someone else’s home. It’s time we got back to decency in our society and our language is a great place for each individual to start. Each individual is responsible for the words that come out of their mouth. Once something is said it cannot be unheard. Everyone should guard the words they utter for their words reflect their soul and if your soul is darkened by foul language then your soul will be lost. Sound like a bold statement? Possibly it is, but then the Bible IS a bold book, for James 3:16 and James 1:26 tell us a person who uses foul language has a worthless religion and it follows that if their religion is worthless they will not see heaven.
   If you've read any of my past blog posts you will see this topic is one I have written about several times. I suppose you could say it is an issue I champion. The morality of our society is in shambles today and I firmly believe of the many things we need to do to fix our society, cleaning up our language is something each and every one of us has the ability AND the responsibility to do. I hope you as an adult reading this post will remove yourself from the playground and be an actual responsible adult by guarding and protecting your language.

You Can't Handle The Action!

It seems after every shooting, and especially school shootings, we hear the clamor from the out-of-touch leftist celebrity elite for changes. Liberals call not only for gun control but gun banishment. In fact a headline in the news just this week has singer Kelly Clarkson DEMANDING action be taken (click here for link to news story).
  The problem isn't that these people seek changes to fix the problem, the problem is they want a quick fix to the problem and they don't want the changes necessary to fix the problem. You see, fixing the problem will take time and it will take commitment and most importantly it will require a change in thought - none of which the vocal minority is willing to accept.
  The problem of shootings, be it one on one shootings or mass shootings, is rooted in our society's lack of compassion and love for our fellow man. And where do we as individuals in our society find that compassion and love? It can only be found in one place... God.
  Now regardless of your views on religion the fact is love is from God and compassion is a by-product of that love. If we are to attain that love we must seek to put others before ourselves, we must put the love and nurturing of our children before our own desires. Single parent homes, once rare, are now the norm. By and large the perpetrators of a vast majority of the shootings in our nation are from a single parent home or from children in foster care. That is NOT to say single parents and foster parents are to blame. It is however a condemnation of parents who do not work to stay together and to demonstrate love and a loving family to their children.
  So the first step to solving our national crisis of shootings is to turn to God. Turning our lives over to Him will naturally lead to the second step of committing ourselves to maintaining a traditional family unit with love and devotion.
  The third step would require our anti-religion zealots to step back and allow God back in to our schools and government buildings. Teaching and posting of the ten commandments and allowing prayer in school. There is no need to teach or indoctrinate our children in school with a particular religious dogma but the basic tenants of Christianity are applicable to all people regardless of religious views.
  Sure there are plenty of other things we can do along the way to turn the tide of the shooting epidemic going on in America today (such as advocate for restrictions on the porn and video game industries as well as the entertainment industry which also glorifies violence and sex), but at the root of it all... the basis by which our nation can regain it's strength and moral fibre is God. For God IS Love (I John 4:8)
  So you want to demand action? So do I but, to paraphrase Jack Nicholson's character in A Few Good Men - "I don't believe you can handle the action!" Because the action required is for YOU to change YOUR heart, as I have worked to change mine.

Nazi Educators In America

  I am deeply disturbed today as i read the news. In particular I just read a story about a young man, a college student in fact, who was “booted” from a class he was required to take in order to graduate because he dared to voice his beliefs in class which were contrary to his professor.

  Lake Ingle, a senior at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (I know a weird name for a school) was attending a lecture entitled “Christianity 481: Self, Sin, and Salvation” by Professor Alison Downie. After showing a 15-minute TED Talk by transgender ex-pastor Paula Stone Williams, Professor Downie asked the women in the class to comment. Mr. Ingle, after seeing no women were responding, spoke up and presented his views. He told the class that biologists maintain there are only two genders - male and female. Instead of allowing Mr. Ingle the opportunity to speak freely and have an open discourse on the subject, Professor Downie proceeded to shut Mr. Ingle down, had him removed from class and referred him to the school’s Academic Integrity Board. Subsequently he was barred from attending the class and his graduation put in jeopardy.

  It is not only shameful but also repugnant that so-called “educators”  at schools of higher learning are given free-reign to indoctrinate young adults in such a horrific manner. Our universities teach false-hoods of multi-sexual identities (a fancy way of saying they believe there are more than two sexes in our species), they teach that those with opposing views should be silenced, that their view is the only view allowed. Sadly these indoctrinating thugs are no different than the early rank and file members of the National Socialist German Workers Party, more commonly known in English as the Nazi Party. Yes, I said it. The Nazi’s sought to exclude those whose political ideals were not in line with their own, they sought a collective subordination of individual rights and persecuted those of faith. How is that unlike our liberal educators, in fact how is that unlike most of those who follow liberal ideals? Conservatives are eager for open free debate while liberals try to shut down free speech and truth in deference to their own ideals.

  Obviously not all liberals are so close-minded and not all conservatives are so open to debate, it is however the pre-dominance of close-minded liberals who have created such a great chasm socially, politically, spiritually and economically in the United States with freedom loving conservatives. It is the pre-dominance of these close-minded liberals who have fostered and encouraged hate in our world. 

   If we as a people cannot learn to allow freedom of speech, to allow for the free and open debate of issues without threat of backlash, if we cannot tolerate differences among ourselves we are doomed as a country to the fates of the great empires of history - annihilation and destruction.

Righting the Wronged One

Have you ever behaved badly toward someone and hurt them? What did you do? Did you try to fix it? Was it even fixable?

I hurt a woman once. She was my best friend, my biggest cheerleader, the love of my life. She was that one person in my life (other than my mother) who was a constant. She loved me beyond measure and without reservation. But I hurt her. Not once. Not twice. But many times. Yet she remained loving and loyal to me in spite of myself. I certainly didn’t deserve such a wonderfully fantastic and loving woman. And she deserved much better than me. At least the me I was at the time anyway.

Then one day the pain I caused her yet again was greater than she could bear and she put me out of her life. 

Have you ever hurt someone so deeply they disappear from your life? I did. I could give you all kinds of reasons, excuses and scenarios to explain why I did the things I did that caused her such pain, but the truth is at the time I was a low-life, pond scum-sucking piece of used toilet tissue. And I certainly didn’t deserve her.

Now… well, I’m still not the greatest person in the world, but I’m trying to be at least a good decent person. It get’s easier every day. What doesn’t get easier is knowing I threw away the very best woman I can ever hope to have in my life. Now, I am trying to make right in any way possible the great wrongs I cast upon my greatest love. Now I live for the opportunity to show her I can be the man she once thought I was. I can be a man who will never ever cause her pain. I can be a man.

Have you ever behaved so badly toward someone that you hurt them? Well don’t just sit there… fix it. And when you think you’ve got it fixed… keep on working to make sure it stays fixed! 

Moral-less

  Today I read an article about an incident in Florida where a disabled man was in a pond drowning and frantically crying for help while a group of teenagers not only watched and yelled obscenities at him but also videoed him drowning and not one offered to help him. The man did drown and the kids posted the video online. (Click here for the news story)

  While the behavior of those teens is horrific, it is hardly shocking in this day and age. Similar stories of youths and young adults sinister behavior are a regular fixation on our news outlets. The regularity of such occurrences raises several questions. Questions such as why do these children and young adults not have any moral compass and what can be done about it?

  Sitting back and reflecting on my 50+ years of life I consider the changes our society has gone through in that time, some good (civil rights, gender equality) and some bad (general loss of morality, intolerance of opposing ideals, and civility in general). Yet why have those changes occurred, more specifically what has given rise to these bad changes - changes that have given birth to hostility and hate?

  Once we knew how to argue with each other then share a meal and enjoy each others company afterward. Once we held respect for life, for our elders and for authority. Once we were guided by high moral standards - even those who were not religious did as well. What has driven our country to the precipice implosion?

  It is all too easy to point fingers at innovations of technology such as television, computers and the internet yet I believe the real culprit is much deeper, after all a TV and a computer are simply inanimate objects and can't do anything we as humans don't tell it to (at least until full on Artificial Intelligence becomes a reality - if it does).

  No, I fully believe the cancer plaguing our society today is caused by the removal of religion from our secular landscape. Removing the ten commandments from schools, not allowing prayer in school and at school related events such as sporting events and graduations has removed the teaching and integration of moral values from our youth over the years. Those youths have in turn grown into adulthood and now hold positions of power in business and government from which they can influence decisions which are designed to remove God from our society all-together.

  Not only has this crusade removed God from our schools but it has also encroached further into our society in a drive to obliterate God from our country. The Boy Scouts of America are routinely under fire and often forced into subjugation because the organizations core principles are to teach patriotism and morality (regardless of religion) to boys and young men. Other secular organizations also face similar assaults on their core principles.

  This cancer of trying to remove God from society must end if our nation, indeed even our world, is to survive into another century. How do we stop it? It won't be easy and we who seek to instill a moral compass into the world must stand firm in resolution to oppose those who would remove our God from our halls of justice, our government, our schools and our public spaces.

  Secondly, we must educate the fact that our nation was founded on Biblical principles beginning with the pilgrims who were seeking escape from religious persecution much as we are persecuted today, albeit in different ways. While all who accompanied the pilgrims may not have been religious (possibly the soldiers and sailors who stayed on in the new world) the great majority of the early settlers were. A hundred years later the leaders of the colonies gathered and drafted a document that clearly included a belief in God when they referenced God four times in the Declaration of Independence.

  While a parent is ultimately responsible for instilling a child's moral values it is reasonable to assume many parents fail in that responsibility for a variety of reasons. While it should not be a school's mandate to instill moral values I would argue that simple things such as teaching the ten commandments and saying prayer in school would go far in improving our nations morality. Teaching that it is wrong to murder, steal, lust, bear false witness, respect your parents or to covet are all parts of the ten commandments that certainly can cross no religious lines or offend non-religious society.

  In my opinion the answer is to have a constitutional amendment which allows specific teachings that may address issues of morality based on religion yet are not religious indoctrination. A pipe dream I'm sure, nevertheless our nation is doomed to annihilation unless we are proactive in restoring moral responsibility within our borders.

   

A Child's Place

NOTE: I came across this article courtesy of a friend who posted it on their Facebook page. It so eloquently expresses beliefs I have tried to express in the past but not nearly as well as the author John Rosemond does here.

            I recently asked a married couple who have three kids, none of whom are yet teens, “Who are the most important people in your family?”

            Like all good moms and dads of this brave new millennium, they answered, “Our kids!”

            “Why?” I then asked. “What is it about your kids that gives them that status?” And like all good moms and dads of this brave new millennium, they couldn’t answer the question other than to fumble with appeals to emotion.

            So, I answered the question for them. “There is no reasonable thing that gives your children that status.”

            I went on to point out that many if not most of the problems they’re having with their kids  - typical stuff, these days – are the result of treating their children as if they, their marriage, and their family exist because of the kids when it is, in fact, the other way around. Their kids exist because of them and their marriage and thrive because they have created a stable family.   

            Furthermore, without them, their kids wouldn’t eat well, have the nice clothing they wear, live in the nice home in which they live, enjoy the great vacations they enjoy, and so on. Instead of lives that are relatively carefree (despite the drama to the contrary that they occasionally manufacture), their children would be living lives full of worry and want.

            The issue is really the heart of the matter. People my age know it’s the heart of the matter because when we were kids it was clear to us that our parents were the most important people in our families. And that, right there, is why we respected our parents and that, right there, is why we looked up to adults in general. Yes, Virginia, once upon a time in the United States of America, children were second-class citizens, to their advantage.

            It was also clear to us – I speak, of course, in general terms, albeit accurate – that our parents’ marriages were more important to them than their relationships with us. Therefore, we did not sleep in their beds or interrupt their conversations. The family meal, at home, was regarded as more important than after school activities. Mom and Dad talked more -  a lot more – with one another than they talked with you. For lack of pedestals, we emancipated earlier and much more successfully than have children since.

            The most important person in an army is the general. The most important person in a corporation is the CEO. The most important person in a classroom is the teacher. And the most important person in a family are the parents.

            The most important thing about children is the need to prepare them properly for responsible citizenship. The primary objective should not be raising a straight-A student who excels at three sports, earns a spot on the Olympic swim team, goes to an A-list university and becomes a prominent brain surgeon. The primary objective is to raise a child such that community and culture are strengthened.

            “Our child is the most important person in our family” is the first step toward raising a child who feels entitled.

            You don’t want that. Unbeknownst to your child, he doesn’t need that. And neither does America.

-by John Rosemond

I Was Convicted

  I know what it is like to be on trial and hear the words no defendant desires to hear - "We find him guilty!" I know what it is like to be bound in chains, and discarded from those you hold dear and love to enter a life of uncertainty, of fear, of knowing you are where you are because of your own decisions and actions, torturing yourself knowing the time you spend incarcerated could have been better spent, could have been spent in joy and happiness and love with a future to look forward to.
  Yes I know what that feels like. Not because I was a criminal and actually sent to prison, but because I was a child of God and turned my back on God and the church purposely. When I left the church in 2009, I didn't leave it suddenly, it happened over a period of weeks. At a time of weakness, at a time when I was not a mature Christian, I let evil into my life. Not once, but several times. Not in a huge ugly heap but with small little things that chipped away at my soul. I knew I was sliding downward even as I sporadically went to worship services.
  It was in those worship services I attended though that I learned and felt the anguish of being convicted. Convicted as I listened to the words of the songs being sung. Convicted when I partook of the Lord's Supper when I knew in my heart I was lost. Convicted when the heat of the words the preacher spoke singed my heart. Convicted at the invitation because I knew I was headed for death for not surrendering to Jesus.
  But especially the songs. The songs haunt me even today. For now my soul and spirit has clawed from the mire of a sinful world, I have been released from my prison, I have returned to the fold. I sing with joy and love the words of the hymns. And now I am revived, reborn, renewed and redeemed. Some songs are almost impossible for me to sing now, not because they convict me but because of the joy and love that wraps and protects my heart and knowing how close I came to eternal death.
  I was always told of how easy it is to fall away simply by missing a worship service. How easy it is to miss a second service after missing the first one, easier still a third service, then a fourth and on an on until one day you just stop coming to join the family and worship God altogether. Don't think "that's not me," or "I'm not worried about that," or "It's just one time." Falling away always starts with  "just one time."
  If I had an absolutely, positively, can't miss, sure-fire way to make a million dollars with virtually no effort you'd probably listen up and follow my instructions wouldn't you? Well, I have an absolutely, positively, can't miss, sure-fire way for you to live a joyous life both here and now and in eternal life. You see, there is another type of conviction. One that pierces your heart and soul. One that makes you fall to your knees and cry in joy and happiness. Will you listen? Will you follow my instructions? See me at worship services this Sunday and I'll tell you how. Hope I see you there.

OM?

  I feel compelled to write about something of a religious nature. Many of you reading this might not agree but I hope you will consider my point and give it due diligence.
  The topic is the ambivalence the world has with respect to taking God's name in vain. It is especially troubling in this day and time to hear those who profess to be Christians absent-mindedly insert "God" into their remarks - something God has expressly forbidden

"Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain." Exodus 20:7

  When we insert "God" into a remark as just a flippant annotation to some abject comment we utter during the course of our day we are in fact using God's name in vain because we are not recognizing the omnipotence and holiness of God when we do so.
  "But!" you say "God's name isn't God so it's okay to say 'Oh my god.'"
  No. No it isn't okay. True the term "God" is a word that recognizes that God is a position or title and Isaiah 42:8 God himself tells us his name is Jehovah. Consider for a moment though that any reference to our Creator spoken loosely and with little consideration for what and who he is can only serve to trivialize him. And in our society now we have found a way to trivialize God even further when in our digital universe we exclaim "OMG!" throughout our social comments. Think of it... we have reduced God down to a single exclamation, to a single word in our society, failing miserably to recognize the awesome power of a Creator who loves us. How sad.
  Having grown up in a very conservative and religious family I have heard it said that even words such as "gosh," and "golly" are extrapolations of God and we should even remove those words from our language. Whether they are or not (and there are those who claim to trace the etymology of the words back to God) the point is still valid - ANY word we use in reference to God would be a practice in trivializing God and reducing him to an afterthought. I don't know about you but I don't ever want to minimize our Creator in ANY way and I pray you wouldn't want to either.
  For another commentary on this subject I came across please click here.