I have been very reluctant to comment regarding the recent court ruling in California to anyone but my DH because I know that each of us is called in a different way at a different time.  We must choose our own actions and sometimes we are called to wait, sometimes not.  Quite honestly, I don't know what my calling now is so I can only observe and wait for my direction to come. 

But...

What I *see* is one more step being taken down a path that I don't want to be marched down.  IMO, if there was a 20 year history with a particular family that necessitated intervention by the courts on behalf of the children, then a finding could have been made using those facts that resolved the issue without creating a constitutional question.  Perhaps the appellate court felt that it could not do so because of the need for deference to the trial court on issues of fact. But it is my experience that if a judge wishes to make a ruling, his clerks can find a way to make it happen.  Thus, for me personally the decision by the court to create a constitutional issue is telling.  This is a step toward an ultimate federal constitutional challenge in which we face the outcome being a declaration that the state's right to indoctrinate and socialize our children to conform to the state's standards supercedes individual parental interests.

I'd like to think that such a ruling would never happen in this country.  But look around and you'll see that it has been happening, step by step for some time.  The court is the final determinator between the state's interests and yours.  That's why you are pushed to vaccinate your child, regardless of his or  her personal risk of infection.  That's why certain behaviors are outlawed and others made compulsory.  The state has a recognized interest and to the extent your choices interefere with that interest, the court will decide whose interest supercedes. 

This situation (and it isn't new- just newly relevant) impacts every parent, yet many parents will never realize that they are next until it is too late.  Don't count on the next generation of jurists and citizens to be willing to make the sacrifices necessary to maintain liberty for all.  Complacency is not the standard bearer of freedom. 

We know that we serve an awesome God who is all powerful and laughs at the plans of man.  But know also, He has told us that the day will come when we are persecuted for His sake.  Know what you believe and why and always seek His guidance.