Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. – Psalm 127:3
Last week a friend asked me what I thought about a recent CNN article entitled "I don’t own my child’s body".
In the article, author Katia Hetter explains that she does not require her daughter to hug or kiss anyone she doesn't want to. "I would like you to hug Grandma, but I won’t make you do it" says Hetter to her daughter.
A friend of mine recently shared an astounding fact. 90% of children who grow up in evangelical homes make a decision to follow Christ but only 22% of that group are still following Christ by age 35.
Before they are 35 years old, 80% of children who grew up in evangelical homes are not following Christ.
EIGHTY percent.
I had to check this out.
My precious daughter (a senior attending a local high school) came home one day with tears in her eyes.
"Sweetheart, what’s wrong?", I asked and gave her a hug.
"Nothing," she sniffled.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"No."
"Okay. I love you and I want to help in any way I can. Just let me know," I said with another brief hug.
I began to turn away but was immediately engulfed in a 30-minute, non-stop, emotionally-charged account of a heated conversation between three of her close friends that resulted in all three of them being mad at her and each other. It all stemmed from a single question one of the girls had asked about someone completely unrelated to their group.
Jeff let out a shrill whistle and Sarge charged the first obstacle, leaping over it. He low-crawled under the next barricade and then sprinted on to the next challenge. Running, jumping, crawling, and balancing his way through the course, the three year old German Shepherd constantly watched his trainer’s hand signals and listened to his voice. The bond of love between master and dog was plain to see.
...
George knocked on his neighbor’s door then rang the bell after nobody answered. Eventually, a disheveled, tired looking man opened the door and grumbled, “Whadda ya want? I was watching the game.” George handed the man a rope and replied, “I believe this belongs to you.” At the end of the rope was a dirty, scruffy looking mutt. “He got out again?” “Yes, and this time he tore up two more pillows on our back porch chairs.” The man jerked the rope, yanking the whimpering dog inside the house. “This stupid pooch is more trouble than he’s worth.”
...
My daughter’s cry pierced the darkened hallway.
"Daddy, don’t leave!"
I turned back to her room and sat back down on her bed. "What’s wrong, sweetie?"
"I can’t go to sleep if you aren’t here."
Joyful tears well up in my eyes as I remember that moment from a decade ago. It seems like only yesterday. It was the day that the Lord taught me the meaning of the word "abide".
Proverbs 22:6 tells us
Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it.
The responsibility of a parent is to train a child... not just raise a child. People can raise dogs, cows, chickens, or any other kind of animal they like. Scripture tells us that we should train our children. We have a responsibility that is greater than just providing food and shelter and raising them. If anyone is interested I highly recommend Reb Bradley's Child Training Tips book.
The work of our heavenly Father (through the Messiah) is to author and perfect our faith (Hebrews 12:2) and conform us into the image of His Son (Romans 8:29). We as parents should actively assist in this effort rather than oppose it through laziness or passivity. Unfortunately, I find examples of such opposition to be far too common in the world.
I just sat and shook my head in amazement at the hypocrisy.
I have seen the word flabbergasted before and even used it at times but I had not ever felt it to this degree.
I was embarrased on behalf of those who would exhibit such a double standard. It made me enormously uncomfortable even being aware of it. No... I am not talking about the behavior of someone in my congregation, community, or office. I'm referring to certain individuals with the medical journal "Lancet".
CNN ran an article entitled Home births: No drugs, no doctors, lots of controversy on August 9th. In it they quote a Lancet editorial as follows:
Back in January of this year, Josh and John Duggar (yes, those Duggars from "19 kids and Counting") were having what seemed to be an ordinary day at the office of Josh's used-car dealership.
The day would turn out to be far from ordinary.
The dealership is located along a main road for business travel where minor traffic accident are common.
This article from MSNBC details the events.
What is sin? Sin occurs when a person violates G-d's Law (1 John 3:4). When we violate G-d's commandments, either those given broadly in Scripture (e.g. do not commit murder) or those given directly to us as individuals by the Holy Spirit (e.g. "go minister to that guy sitting by himself in the cafeteria"), we are sinning.
Sin comes in many shapes, forms, and sizes. There have been books and books written about sin including "respectable sins"... those sins that we tend to trivialize because they aren't in the Ten Commandments or aren't terribly offensive to us as individuals. We should be aware that, in the sense of salvation, a sin is a sin is a sin. Any one of them ("big" or "small") merit G-d's judgment and separate us from Him. Praise be to G-d that He has provided forgiveness for our sins as a consequence of faith in His Messiah.
Recently there has been news that a pill to help you live past 100 may be available in two years. Fox News was one of the news sources that carried the story. Here is a quote from the article:
The New York professor's [Nir Barzilai] own team at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine has pinpointed genetic variants that let people live to a "ripe old age."
That story got me to thinking... What does G-d's Word say about how we can live to a ripe old age? I was definitely surprised as I searched the Torah.
Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, that your days may be prolonged and that it may go well with you on the land which the LORD your God gives you. (Deuteronomy 5:16)
The recent recovery of Nadia Bloom in a dense swamp in Florida has many singing the praises of G-d. Why? Because James King, the man who is credited with finding her gives all the credit to G-d:
"I see it as an answer to a lot of people's prayers," King told CNN. "I'm just very thankful, I'm thankful that God used me as a part of it to be able to find her. It's definitely a miracle.
King describes the events surrounding his discovery of the missing girl:
"I didn't know where she was. The only person who knew where she was was God, and I asked him and he led me directly to her, straight -- well, as straight as you can go through the swamp."
Each morning when I arrive at work I have a digital version of the newspaper that I briefly browse: CNN amFIX. Before I get any hate mail, yes, I prefer Fox News, however, they don't have a "daily news summary via email" service of which I am aware. Moving on...
In this morning's news there was this article about kids taking yoga classes. Apparently some kids as young as 3 are taking these classes. While I am not in any way opposed to kids taking yoga or other activities to promote physical and emotional fitness I had to laugh out loud at one line from the article:
Except for a few tears and a brief tug-of-war over a mat, it all seems nothing more than cute until this stunning moment: Many of these first and second-graders remain completely still and quiet, in a meditative pose, for nearly five minutes.
The Merriam-Webster Word of the Day for June 17th was preeminent. They provided this definition:
having paramount rank, dignity, or importance : outstanding, supreme
G-d is supreme (Revelation 5:13). All believers would agree upon this... but who among believers is preeminent? The Catholic church says Peter is preeminent. Others say Paul since he wrote much of the New Testament. The disciples had this same question:
I disagree with many things taught in the Catholic church but opposition to abortion is not one of them. I received an email that pointed to these powerful videos. I was sick to my stomach when I viewed this... not only by the procedure itself but by the number of people that have died in the manner described.
Here is a brief blurb from the page:
If you’re going to take a position on abortion, then you’re going to have to come clean about what it is. We are no longer going to let you obscure or trivialize the issue. Whether people agree with you or not, you owe it to them to be honest about what you’re talking about. Therefore we issue this simple call to honesty: We will describe abortion to you, and you tell us if that’s what you’re talking about.
Normally I would say "enjoy" as I referred you to another site but with this one I cannot offer that. Instead may I say "be exhorted to take action".
http://www.priestsforlife.org/action/abortion-procedure-revealed-2.htm
Hi. I'm Nathan. I am 13 but I have only gone through a bar mitzvah in a spiritual sense not the physical ceremony. The reason why is because I didn't know Hebrew very well when I turned 13. My father asked if I wanted to do my bar mitzvah ceremony when I was 13 or 14 and I chose to do it when I was 14 so I could learn Hebrew for one more year. The reason why I am writing this is because my father wants me to become more of an adult and share my thoughts with other people. This requires that I organize my thoughts more like an adult which helps me mature and grow out of childish ways. [I definitely look forward to more. -Ed/Dad]
On Monday Fox News reported that a large crane fell and killed several people. What is believed to be the last of the bodies were recovered today. The Associated Press reported an additional development today: a city inspector was charged with falsifying an inspection report related to the crane that collapsed.
Yom Shabbat, 19 Nisan, 5784 - Chag Hamatzah
Saturday, April 27, 2024