Contentment, the Internet, and Marriage

The internet has been a huge problem for me for quite awhile. Sure, I was able to hide all the time I spent idly roaming the internet by doing mad cleaning dashes before my husband came home. Or by sending the kids out to play so I could get my facebook and forum time without any little witnesses to tattle on me.

Not only was the internet a huge time waster that took me away from duties as a wife and mother, but it also robbed me of my contentment . As I hopped from blog to blog, and inserted myself into the virtual lives of other people, I began to compare my family to other families.  As I saw what other large, homeschooling families were doing, I started becoming bitter against my husband. Why can’t he take us to Argentina and we can live in tents and preach the gospel to the natives? He must not love God enough.  I would ask myself. Why can’t we live on a farm and make our own soap and wear calico dresses and sell vegetables on the side of the road? He just isn’t adventurous enough.

Homemakers of today have to deal very strongly with the temptation of the internet. In 1 Timothy 5, when Paul is talking of young widows, I believe these verses can be aptly applied to us homemakers:

“Besides, they get into the habit of being idle and going about from house to house. And not only do they become idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying things they ought not to. ¹⁴So I counsel younger widows to marry, to have children, to manage their homes and to give the enemy no opportunity for slander. ¹⁵Some have in fact already turned away to follow Satan."

With the instant access of the internet, we can go “from house to house” without ever leaving our chair. We can become idle as we live life through other people. Notice, that this is not a ‘small’ sin. Paul says that women who do those things have “already turned away to follow Satan.” That should be enough to get the attention of any woman who claims to love the Lord.

So, I’ve chosen to bite the bullet and get rid of that which causes me to stumble. Perhaps in a year or so, I can come back, a better wife and mom and blog all about it. But not today.

1:36 PM - Jun. 30, 2009 - comments {1} - post comment

Summer Meals

Did you know that people in the south are shiny? We are. Its called sweat, and it makes us glisten. Southerners are just shiny, happy people. Summer in the south is HOT! Because of that  I try not to turn my oven on the summer, it adds to the heat in the kitchen and makes an already long, hot day even more miserable.  I like to plan meals that don't require heat or that I cook in the crockpot or on the grill.

Here's my menu for the summer. Its pretty basic, and I'll try to just repeat it every week. Obviously, something always comes up and we don't follow it exactly, but its a start.

Meal	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
Brekky	Biscuits & egg casserole	Oatmeal & toast	Toast & boiled eggs	Oatmeal & toast	Scrambled eggs & toast	Oatmeal & toast	Pancakes & bacon
Lunch	BBQ Chicken & Baked Potato, green beans	Veggie burger & buns, cucumbers w/ dip	Lentils & Rice w/ tortillas	Cheese Quesadillas & Beans	Black bean burger & buns,	Salmon Patty & fruit salad	Grilled hot dogs, chili & pasta salad
Dinner	Deli Sandwich & Chips	Chicken Hamburger, Corn Salad	Chef Salad (Ham, Turkey)	Deli Sandwhich & garden salad	Grilled Chicken, & corn on the cob Tortillas, cheese & rice	Pizza & Cinnamon Rolls	Taco Salad w/ beef, chips, rice &
Snack	cookies	Apples & peanut butter	Bananas	Oranges	Veggie tray w/ hummus?	Apples & peanut butter	Fruit salad

3:20 PM - Jun. 23, 2009 - comments {1} - post comment

"We Don't Eat Poop"

“We don’t eat poop.”

It’s a common phrase in our house. Often followed by “Only food.” As in “We don’t eat poop - only food.”

It is so common that the disgusting little phrase has even shown up in our prayers for loved ones. Don’t ask me why.

The origin of the phrase is a bit sketchy, as, you know, I have five kids and that does nothing for my ability to remember important facts, such as when the whole family started saying “We don’t eat poop – only food.” But I’m fairly sure it came out of my mouth first when our little dog wolfed down a hunk of my three year old’s fecal matter. We won’t get into the gag reflex that I still have when I think of it.

Today was by far the worst moment involving poop that I’ve had as a mother. Which is quite amazing, as I’ve had many poop moments to speak of with my four crazy boys.

But it wasn’t one of my rowdy boys that disgusted me so badly. It was my beautiful, delicate little Miss Darlin that catapulted herself into the poop-eating hall of fame. I know you are thinking, “What could she have possibly done that was so bad.” Well, it involves poop. And it involves eating. Of course, you knew that.

I was giving her a bath when the two year old decided that he wanted one too. As I was taking his clothes off, I realized he had a dirty diaper. He brought me some wipes and I began to clean him up in preparation for bath time, which doesn’t exactly make sense, but we wouldn’t want poop floating in the bathtub, would we? I wiped him up, shoved the dirty wipes in the diaper, but didn’t fold it over and close it up. Mistake #1. I laid the diaper on the side of the tub, because our trashcan was sitting in the kitchen with powerful cleansers working magic to get some gross smell out of it. Mistake #2.

I finish cleaning and drying the kids off and I take both of them into the bedroom to diaper and dress. As I was chasing the two year old around…ok…I wasn’t actually chasing him around. I was sitting on my fat, lazy butt in the middle of the floor, trying to grab the little booger without getting up. I digress.

The sguirmy little thing came close enough to grab, so I dressed him and diapered him (but not in that order.) Before I could finish with Miss Darlin, one of the other boys needed something, so I ran off to see what was going on. I mentally told myself that I shouldn’t let Miss Darlin wander into the bathroom because she might fall into the toilet. But, since I’ve had four boys who never managed to fall into the toilet, I ignored my ‘inner voice’. Mistake #3.

I got done with whatever had taken my attention away from dressing the kids and began to look for a naked child crawling around in the house. Perhaps I should have sent my husband to look for her. When I found her, she had pulled herself up to the side of the tub, stuck her tiny fist into her brother’s diaper, retrieved a great big, blob of black poop, and was licking it like it was lollipop.

Yeah, they don’t sell those at the candy store.

I tried not to throw up all over my daughter, further adding to her absolute disgustingness and I sat that child back in the bathtub and scrubbed the fire poop out of her.

All of my children have eaten poop, they get it from their father, but up until now it has only been their own poop that has made its way into their mouths.  What? You have perfect, little robot children who don’t pull their dirty diapers off in the middle night and paint poop murals on their wall (while taking a few tastes?) Well, I feel sorry for you. Life just isn’t exciting until you have witnessed poop-eating. Come to my house, I can probably arrange a showing.

8:56 PM - Jun. 18, 2009 - comments {8} - post comment

Sunday School Part 2

If you read my post about Sunday school, you probably thought that I don't send my kids to SS...right? I tend to write (or speak, if I'm with someone that I know well) in a very black & white, idealistic way, and I have a hard time bringing ideals down to real life and vice versa.

We actually do send our kids to Sunday school. Can you believe it? There I go, revealing our horrid secrets to everyone.  For me, the ideal is to attend an age-integrated church that focuses on discipling mom and dad so that they can better disciple their children. But then the ideal meets reality and it doesn't always work out that way. There are no family-integrated churches in our area, and its highly unlikely that we will ever attend one. We could always move to Texas and go to Voddie Bauchum's church!

The church we attend is one my husband grew up in and God has not called us to leave. So, we send the kids to Sunday school with the very cynical notion that they are there for basic childcare. Unlike most moms, I don't really care if they learn about Jesus, specifically the youngest children. I just want the workers to not hurt my children, to come and get me if my kid is causing problems or crying too much. I don't have very high standards, do I?

I know it seems weird, but its MY job to disciple my kids, so I don't really expect anybody else to do it.  What they get at church is just gravy. And gravy without meat is just plain gross.

4:22 PM - Jun. 18, 2009 - comments {2} - post comment

Is Sunday School Bad for Kids?

The best way to insure our kids grow up to love the Lord is to get them to the church everytime its open, right? I don't think so. Especially if that means that once the family enters the church, they all go their seperate ways, each to his own age-segregated classroom, never learning together or ministering together.

Ken Ham, a well-known creationist and founder of Answers in Gensis, has co-written a new book,"Already Gone: Why your kids will quit church and what you can do about it", that explores why so many young people are leaving the church. One of his findings, after commissioning an in depth study, was as follows:

 

The survey found, much to Ham's surprise, a "Sunday School syndrome," indicating children who faithfully attend Bible classes in their church over the years actually are more likely to question the authority of Scripture.

"This is a brutal wake-up call for the church, showing how our programs and our approaches to Christian education are failing dismally," Ham writes in the book.

As a young adult, I remember being very upset when I read Genesis 7 for myself and found that Noah actually took 7 of the clean animals and only 2 of the unclean. I just remember feeling jipped, as if every Sunday School lesson and BIble storybook I'd every read was a big lie. The way the Sunday school lessons are taught, focusing on the big "characters" and "morality" instead of hard-hitting doctrine and apologetics is one reason why church kids usually leave church.

Honestly, I've been much more in favor of the age-integrated system of worship for a long time, and this article by World Net Daily just confirms the wisdom in keeping our children with us in church, rather than shirking their bible-teaching onto someone else. Here's the whole article:  Why Are Young People Leaving the Church

I do tend to have a fairly negative view of Sunday School. In the younger years especially, I see it as glorified daycare system so that parents can enjoy their 'break' from the kids. While the older kids do get more learning, the negative peer influence is enough to undo years of parenting in one hour.  Obviously, every church is different and every family has to decide its own way, but I think we do need to be aware that sometimes church and Sunday School can do more harm than good.

Perhaps, I'll post a history of the Sunday School movement later.

12:38 PM - Jun. 15, 2009 - comments {1} - post comment

Good Mother

I did what any good mother would do after finding my kitchen floor had been fingerpainted with four different dipping sauces, sprinkled with an entire box of baking cocoa, and topped off with a bag of chocolate chips...I invited the boys who weren't involved in making the mess to finish off the chocolate chips while the offending little boy watched.

That's what you would have done, right?

4:14 PM - Jun. 11, 2009 - comments {2} - post comment

My Husband

Today is my husband's 33rd birthday. Happy birthday, BC!

God has indeed blessed me with a marvelous man. He turned a sinful woman and an innocent baby into a large happy family through His grace and the willingness of a young man who loved Him. When my husband met me, I already had a baby and he never shied away from me because of that. In fact, he'll tell you that he fell in love with my son before he fell in love with me. He wanted that child as he own, so he adopted him and gave him his name, one that had been passed down for four generations.

My husband is a great father, selfless and giving, and totally unafraid of his children. There are plenty of times where he has all of the kids by himself and he doesn't complain or get upset about it. He encourages me to take time for myself and he always puts his family first.

He if a good provider, a strong leader, and a caring partner. His acts of love constantly amaze me. He deserves a much better wife than me. Happy birthday, hubby.

2:22 PM - Jun. 4, 2009 - comments {1} - post comment

Weight Watchers

A month ago a slightly nervous friend approached me at church to ask if I would be her weight loss buddy. We both knew we wanted to approach weight loss in a God-honoring way. Meaning, mostly, that rather than just focusing on worldy goals of looking better, buying new clothes, or even being healthy, we wanted our goal to be glorifying God and getting freedom from the sin of gluttony.  Now, lest you think we be spiritual giants, we spent our first meeting at Weight Watchers together being very "inspired" by the awesome outfit our skinny leader was wearing. Her skirt was to die for, or at least to lose a hundred pounds for.

I am so very thankful for this friend. Had she not approached me a month ago, I would never have joined Weight Watchers. I've been a member in the past, but always quit after having a bad week or looking around and realizing that most of the women there had very little weight to lose and being overwhelmed by the amount that I had to lose.

Joining Weight Watchers was hard because of the cost and the time involved. We don't live on a super- tight budget, but I feel incredibly guilty asking my husband to forfeit $40 of his hard-earned dollars each month just to pay for my needs. Then there's the time that I have to take away from the family to attend the meetings, which is about an hour an half including travel time each week. After the first week, I almost quit because of the guilt I was feeling about the time and money involved.

Then I reminded myself of my recent VBA3C (Vaginal Birth After 3 Cesareans). At 36 weeks I switched care providers to one who was two hours away right in the middle of the $4/gallon gas hike of last summer. Each week my husband had to take an entire day off of work to drive me to my doctor. Some of the weeks, we had to ask grandparents to take time off of work to watch the kids. The gas alone cost us $50 each week. We lost money that we had paid the original doctor. We lived on the edge not knowing how labor would occur and wether we would make it to the hospital in time. My whole family sacrificed time and money so that I could experience my VBA3C.

Was it worth it? YES!! Both my husband and my mother, who attended the birth, will testify to the miraculous nature of the experience. I remind myself of this whenever I start feeling guilty about the time and money involved in Weight Watchers. Yes, I will have to take time away from my family for meetings and for exercise, but in the end my whole family will be blessed by my obedience to the Lord and my good health. And no matter how much time, money, hard work, and inconvenience it takes to get freedom from the sin of gluttony, it will be worth it.

So, thanks my dear weight loss buddy. Thank you for listening to the Lord and approaching me, even though you thought I might be offended.

*** the pics you see are my Weight Watchers record book. It started as plain grey, and I figured that if I had to look at it for the next year or more, it needed to be pretty.

1:34 PM - Jun. 2, 2009 - comments {2} - post comment

How to Turn a Posterior Baby

A baby in the posterior position is one with his head down, but facing the mother's tummy. His back is against her back. This position accounts for many cesareans due to failure to progress and maternal fatigue. Usually a posterior position causes severe back pain during labor, know as 'back labor'. The pain is so intense (believe me, I know) that the mother will beg for intervention or give up.

The top picture show a baby in the posterior position, with his head facing the mother's tummy. The bottom picture shows a baby in the anterior position with his head facing toward the mother' spine. Notice how much smaller the anterior head is? When the baby is in the anterior position, the head fits better into the pelvis, putting more even and adequate pressure on the cervix. This aids the cervix in dialating quickly and effectively. Also, pushing is easier, simply because the portion of the head presenting is smaller in the correct position. It may only be a couple of centimeters, but when the opening is only 10cm large, a few centimeters makes a world of difference.

Here are some more pictures to help you visualize the baby's position.

Anterior position (the ideal position)

 Posterior position

It is best to prevent the baby from getting into a posterior position by practicing good posture. The baby's back and head are the heaviest part of his body. The baby is effected by gravity and the heaviest parts will natually rotate down. When you recline, that heaviest part will roatate toward your back. When you sit straight up and even leaning forwad, the baby's back will turn toward your front.

Once you realize your baby is in the posterior position, here are some things you can do to turn the baby:

• diaphragmatic release
• lunges - put one foot on a stool or chair and lunge foreward, making sure the knee is facing out. Hold fo 5-10 seconds. This widens the pelvis, and gives baby room to rotate.
• Avoid deep squatting
• Use the 'knee to chest' position. When on hands and knees, stick your bottom (butt) in the air, to tip the baby back up out of your pelvis so that there is more room for him to turn around.
• Sway your hips while on hands and knees
• Crawl around on hands and knees. A token 5 minutes on hands and knees is unlikely to do the trick - you need to keep working at this until your baby turns. Try crawling around the carpet for half an hour - while watching TV or listening to music. It is good exercise as well as good for the baby's position!
• Don't put your feet up! Lying back with your feet up encourages posterior presentation.
• Swim belly-down, but avoid kicking with breaststroke legs as this movement is said to encourage the baby to descend in the pelvis [3]. You can still swim breaststroke, but simply kick with straight legs instead of "frogs' legs".
• Try sleeping on your tummy, using lots of pillows and cushions for support.
• Take a warm bath, and get in the tub on all fours, do pelvic tilts while relaxing your tummy.

6:48 AM - May. 28, 2009 - comments {5} - post comment

More News You Don't Hear About

A California pastor is told he can't hold Bible studies in his house until he gets a permit from the city.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=98895

Does this sound like persecution, anyone? Folks have said it is coming for years. Well, its here.  The article also stated the importance of home fellowship.

On a personal note, Broyles added, "I've been leading Bible studies in my home for 13 years in San Diego County, and I personally believe that home fellowship Bible studies are the past and future of the church. … If you look at China, the church grew from home Bible studies. I'm deeply concerned that if in the U.S. we are not able to meet in our homes and freely practice our religion, then we may be worse off than China."

Broyles also explained to WND that oppressive governments, such as communist China or Nazi Germany, worked to repress home fellowships, labeling them the "underground church" or "subversive groups," legally compelling Christians to meet only in sanctioned, government-controlled "official" churches.

I do believe our government, our nation, is headed toward this sort of regulation against Christianity. It started small, with the control over the public schools, and through the indoctrination of  two generations of children, our country is ripe for a take over of atheistic, socialistic, Marxist mentality.

2:59 PM - May. 23, 2009 - comments {0} - post comment

Courage Quote

This is a perfect quote for the weary woman.

Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, "I will try again tomorrow.”

                                                    - Mary Anne Radmacher

9:18 PM - May. 21, 2009 - comments {0} - post comment

Missing Link

Get the real scoop behind the missing link monkey that is apparently 47 million years old at Answers in Genesis.  AIG is an apologetics ministry that helps Christians to defend the faith. Take some time to poke around the site.

http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2009/05/19/ida-missing-link

11:12 PM - May. 19, 2009 - comments {0} - post comment

Tudes

"What are you looking at? So, I've got no shirt and a big bow. You got a problem with that?"

"Mom, will you please stop looking at me?"

"My pretty."

"We're not really interested in having our pictures taken!" And yes, that's laundry in the background. Usually its worse.

10:34 PM - May. 13, 2009 - comments {1} - post comment

Homeschool Update

Teaching my oldest son (he's 10)  to read has been such a struggle. He is one of those kids who loves math and science, but not reading and writing. Couple that with the fact that I was a first-time homeschool mom and I didn't know HOW to teach a child to read, and we had several years of slow movement in the reading department.

Every year I use the online DORA reading assesment from www.letsgolearn.com. It helps me to see his progress and where he needs work. Yesterday he took the test and I'm happy to announce that his reading comprehension went from mid-third grade last year to mid-ninth grade this year. I'm simply amazed.

I don't write that to boast, but to encourage other moms that your struggling reader really can improve. I believe the improvement is due both to simple maturity and to practice, practice, practice.  Some children, especially boys, are just not ready to read at age four or five. I think consistent exposure and TIME do wonders for boys who are struggling to read. Find books that your boys will want to read and then give the chance to read to you, to their little siblings, to anyone who will listen and not criticize.

I was convicted about the criticism aspect when I took my child to a reading specialist and saw how she interacted with him. She was so laid-back and encouraging. She was not all frustrated or critical. As homeschool moms, we feel so much pressure to get our kids to 'perform' and make sure we prove ourselves to non-homeschoolers. I struggled with this and I created such a negative enviroment, its no wonder the kid hated reading!

Now, we will not talk about spelling. Oy, we have A LOT of work to do in the spelling department. Several ladies have reccomended Sequential Spelling for remedial instruction, so I ordered it last night. THe first eight lessons are free online, so we'll work on those until our order gets here. Next year, I hope to report that his spelling ability has increased by as much as his reading comprehension.

9:15 AM - May. 5, 2009 - comments {6} - post comment

Treating Little Girls Like Ladies

Recently at the ball fields I watched my oldest son practice with his team. My little boys climbed up and down a big hill of dirt and built a seesaw with some abandoned lumber. What more could a little boy want? My baby daughter sat on my lap, proudly displaying her two new teeth and her innate knowledge of the feminine art of batting her eyelashes.

Down on the field below us three male coaches put their team of tiny softball girls through the paces of throwing, batting, and catching. I didn't pay them much attention at first, why would I? I had the cutest little girl in the whole world in my lap entertaining me. But when the abrasive shouts of the male coaches became more than I could bear, I had to start watching.

What I saw was sad and typical. These three men treated these extraordinarily precious little girls like rough and tumble little boys. They shouted "Get in front of the ball!" "Come on, what are you thinking?" "Stop throwing like a girl!" They didn't treat these little girls with the kindness, gentleness and softness that suits the female gender. No, they acted as if they were just little boys with ponytails.

Parents, grandparents, Christians, please listen...if you want little girls to act like the ladies that God created them to be then you must begin by treating them like ladies. It is time for Christians to look feminism in the face and say "No thank you! I don't want what you're teaching, I'll take the Bible instead!"

Feminism seriously robbed and handicapped our mothers' generation. Our generation must not let it rob us and our daughters. We must begin treating little girls DIFFERENTLY because they are different. Little girls are not little boys. Forget the mantra "You can do anything a boy can do!" Why would a little girl want to do anything a boy can do? We weren't created to do what the boys do. We were created for our own precious purpose.

That purpose is to be a lady.

We are here to soften the world, not to dominate it. When we treat our little girls like boys we are calling out of them an aggression and competitiveness that will stifle their natural femininity. We are squelching their created passion for care-giving and nurturing. We are essentially telling them that they are nothing special. When we treat them like little boys we are teaching them that their very gender is worthless.

A little girl who feels worthless is a heart-breaking thing.

6:23 AM - May. 1, 2009 - comments {4} - post comment

Swine Flu - Fact or Fiction?

Dr. Mercola has an article about the recent swine flu scare. Read it here.

Here's an excerpt:

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This is NOT the First Swine Flu Panic

My guess is that you can expect to see a lot of panic over this issue in the near future.  But the key is to remain calm -- this isn't the first time the public has been warned about swine flu. The last time was in 1976, right before I entered medical school and I remember it very clearly. It resulted in the massive swine flu vaccine campaign.

Do you happen to recall the result of this massive campaign?

Within a few months, claims totaling $1.3 billion had been filed by victims who had suffered paralysis from the vaccine. The vaccine was also blamed for 25 deaths.

However, several hundred people developed crippling Guillain-Barré Syndrome after they were injected with the swine flu vaccine. Even healthy 20-year-olds ended up as paraplegics.

And the swine flu pandemic itself? It never materialized.

More People Died From the Swine Flu Vaccine than Swine Flu!

It is very difficult to forecast a pandemic, and a rash response can be extremely damaging.

As of Monday April 27, the worldwide total number of confirmed cases was 82, according to WHO, which included 40 cases in the U.S., confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control.  But does that truly warrant the feverish news headlines?

To put things into perspective, malaria kills 3,000 people EVERY DAY, and it's considered "a health problem"...  But of course, there are no fancy vaccines for malaria that can rake in billions of dollars in a short amount of time.

One Australian news source,³ for example, states that even a mild swine flu epidemic could lead to the deaths of 1.4 million people and would reduce economic growth by nearly $5 trillion dollars.

Give me a break, if this doesn't sound like the outlandish cries of the pandemic bird-flu I don't know what does. Do you remember when President Bush said two million Americans would die as a result of the bird flu?  

In 2005, in 2006, 2007, and again in 2008, those fears were exposed as little more than a cruel hoax, designed to instill fear, and line the pocketbooks of various individuals and industry. I became so convinced by the evidence AGAINST the possibility of a bird flu pandemic that I wrote a New York Times bestselling book, The Bird Flu Hoax, all about the massive fraud involved with the epidemic that never happened..

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So, what do you think? Is this just another scare tactic from the government and the media? Or even a way to pave the path of national healthcare?

1:01 PM - Apr. 29, 2009 - comments {3} - post comment

Muslim Demographics

From Youtube:  Islam will overwhelm Christendom unless Christians recognize the demographic realities, begin reproducing again, and share the gospel with Muslims.

"As the population shrinks, so does the culture."  A birth rate of 2.11 children per couple is required to sustain a culture. Europe's birthrate is 1.38, at that rate it is impossible for their culture to sustain itself. But Europe's population has been growing, 90% of the growth from 1990 has been due to Islam Immigration. The United States birthrate is 2.11, but only because of the Latino immigration. The Catholic church has recently reported that Islam has just surpassed its membership numbers.  The German government recently stated " The fall in German population can no longer be stopped. It will be a Muslim nation by 2050."

This isn't about being anti-Muslim or pro-white Christian, but I find it interesting that "educated", "rich", Christians are simply not reproducing. Of course, these same people will go to poor countries and try to educate the people there and hand out birth control. We can see from the BIble's examples of Rachel and Leah that ancient women knew when their bodies were fertile, why do we assume that poor people only reproduce because they can't afford birth control or because they don't "know what causes it?"

There are so many aspects of this that are interesting...I wish I had time to hash it all out. I won't even get into the white-Christian-missionary-movement that caused so many Christian missionaries to limit their children because of church support.

Bottom line, learn to evangelize Muslims and have more babies.

10:20 AM - Apr. 29, 2009 - comments {0} - post comment

Refuse to Participate in the Recession

Our church participated in Dave Ramsey's Town Hall for Hope a few nights ago. It was so encouraging. Dave spoke about the spirit of fear that has taken hold of so many Americans. You can watch the full video here and find out that this recession isn't even the worst one since the Great Depression. Are many individuals hurting? Yes, but the facts are being twisted by the media and pehaps, even the government to scare us. Scare us into what?  Well, that depends on how much of a conspiracy theorist you are?

Grin.

Watch the video. http://www.townhallforhope.com/

9:56 PM - Apr. 27, 2009 - comments {0} - post comment

Global Peace Keepers

Have you read The Left Behind series? This sounds a lot like Jerry Jenkins' Global Peace Keepers.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=95674

9:44 AM - Apr. 22, 2009 - comments {0} - post comment

The Narcissism Epidemic

The Today Show had a piece on this morning about the prevailing narcissism of the current generation. You can read the article and watch a video here.  Now an entire generation of young adults, and thirty-somethings are more concerned with themselves and their little space on the internet.

 "The cultural focus on self-admiration began with the shift toward focusing on the individual in the 1970s, documented in Tom Wolf's article on “The Me Decade” in 1976 and Lasch's “The Culture of Narcissism.” In the three decades since, narcissism has grown in ways these authors never could have imagined. The fight for the greater good of the 1960s became looking out for number one by the 1980s. Parenting became more indulgent, celebrity worship grew, and reality TV became a showcase of narcissistic people. The Internet brought useful technology but also the possibility of instant fame and a "Look at me!" mentality. "

Parents and teachers began worrying about children's self-esteem. They gave the children unmerited praise and refused to discipline or correct because the were worried that it might hurt little Johnny's self-esteem. Did it work?

"In fact, narcissism causes almost all of the things that Americans hoped high self-esteem would prevent, including aggression, materialism, lack of caring for others, and shallow values. In trying to build a society that celebrates high self-esteem, self-expression, and "loving yourself," Americans have inadvertently created more narcissists — and a culture that brings out the narcissistic behavior in all of us. This book chronicles American culture's journey from self-admiration, which seemed so good, to the corrosive narcissism that threatens to infect us all."

Why didn't boosting our children's self-esteem work? Because it isn't Biblical. The Bible says that we are made in the image of God (Gen 1:27) and that sets us apart from the animals and gives us worth. Where does our worth come from? From God. Our own works are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6) and none of us are righteous without God (Rom 3:10.) We are to be more concerned with the well-being of others than we are for ourselves (Phil 2:3-4) and we are to live to serve, not live to be served.

Do we understand that, without God we are filthy. There is nothing good in us apart from God. We are totally depraved. Anything good in our life is because of God, why are we giving ourselves the praise?

Why did so many Christians fall for it? Because Christians are forgetting the Bible. They look at psychology or science first, and try to fit the Bible in. Christians no longer know how to think rightly (or Biblically.)  This topic is fascinating to me, as I began to understand the depth of how I am not thinking Biblically. Hopefully, for my own benefit, I will be able to put some more thoughts together on the subject. Until then.

8:56 AM - Apr. 21, 2009 - comments {1} - post comment