A Pilgrim's Journey - Homeschool Blogger

My Apologies

Fri, 23 Jun 2006 15:27:00 -0500

I'm not dead.

To all three of my readers out there, I've had a change of address for my day-job and with all the evening activities that come with family, I haven't had time (until now) to even get to my blog. Hence my lack of posting. Don't fret, gentle ones, I still have opinions, lots of them, and will soon be back to exposing them to Sonlight. Until then, cheers.

russ

Community Centers

Thu, 8 Jun 2006 13:45:00 -0500

Steve (go read his blog), in response to this gem by Tozer, mentions:

Still, people would argue that we're not putting in as many community centers as we need to in order to keep the teens off the streets. Put in sports and games as a god to serve.

One of the things that mystifies me about the whole community center issue is this: when I was in the "at risk" years, I didn't have a community center. I hung out with a group of guys, too, �on the streets,� but we never even thought of criminal activity. None of us did. All of us now, by societal standards, are "normal" (I know, debatable) and "contribute to society." No one is in jail.

Why do today's youth, "need" a community center to "keep them off the streets,� and by direct implication, out of jail? Why is it different today?

I think that, by and large, it was that my parents took personal responsibility for my behavior when I was out of the house. NOT that �it� wasn�t my fault, nor that they were at fault if I made a bad decision. It was that they understood that I was theirs; my bad behavior reflected badly upon them (�Smiths don�t do that kind of thing.�); and that they were responsible for setting the standard for �good� and �bad� acts. Yes, some behavior was inherently bad, some good, but there was a standard to which I could always be referred by a board of education applied to my seat of learning.

My parents, and my friends� parents, NEVER expected the community at large to create character in us: the community, in an unspoken-sort-of-social-compact-way, REINFORCED (and sometimes repudiated) the character created at home. My friend�s parents felt no hesitation or remorse in notifying my parents if needed. And neither did mine. The repercussions at home, knowingly expected, were truly feared. We didn�t dare be stupid away from home. We knew our parents would ACT to enforce the standards, and to CORRECT our thinking and behavior so as to not repeat the offense.

In reality, our community �center� wasn�t a place or a building; it was a common set of expectations, created at home, regarding right and wrong behavior that everyone accepted and helped enforce. The �center� was a broad feeling of �community� that bound everyone, across generations. It indeed took the village to raise, not the child, but the community.

Why is this important? Ever heard �a rising tide raises all ships?� How about �one for all, & all for one?� (Should be: One for all, all for One.) I believe we who are Christ-followers are called to create that same sense of community. First, do it in our families. Second, in our local Body. Then, we can reach across and help in the entire HS Family. We are NOT alone; we ARE connected, by Christ. We are EXPECTED to make a difference. Let�s do it.

Which is another reason why we homeschool.

Praise Him!

Fri, 2 Jun 2006 10:31:00 -0500

Andy over at zu Hause sent me a link that just blew me away. This is the "hammer quote" that drove it home:

Jesus did not die so we could conduct religious exercises in memory of His great sacrifice. He suffered, died and rose again so He could bring us into unhindered fellowship with the Father, the Spirit, and Himself.

How often I've been guilty of just having, in my heart, a memorial service for Jesus instead of an active, unhindered experience with Father in worship! This is one idea that will stick....

More on worship: June's focus in the AW Tozer devotional over at LMI is worship. Visit & enjoy.

Salt & Light in Public Schools

Wed, 31 May 2006 17:44:00 -0500

Steve has a great discussion post regarding the Christian's role in Public School. I happen to agree with Spunky and her arguments in the debate with Dr Tony Beam. The crux of my agreement:

Spunky writes...

�This is not a retreat from the culture. But the best armies do not train their soldiers on the battlefield.�

I am in agreement, but from a different slant. We�re probably all familiar with Psalms 127 and its description of children as arrows in our quiver. However, do we ever think about how arrows were made back then? Today, we go to a store & buy hi-tech aluminum arrows, but how did David make them? If my history sources are accurate, here�s my understanding: a young, near-straight branch was selected and cut off the tree. Its bark was stripped, and the wood submersed in water until it was water-logged. Then, to dry, it was suspended with a stone tied to the end. The weight of the stone straightened the wet wood, creating an arrow that would fly true when released. Only after the wood was properly prepared was it used in battle.

I think the analogy is obvious. If our children are arrows, to be sent out with purpose toward a target, they must be properly prepared before they can be effective. It�s our job as parents, arrow-crafters, to properly prepare those arrows for their intended purposes, and to not release them prematurely. An arrow shot before it�s straight & dry will not shoot true; an unprepared child will not be able to hit their target, either.

I think Dr Beam is confusing the role of parents/adults with that of children. I agree with him in his post completely, if viewed through the filter of the role of an adult. None of the battles he describes-PTA, government, culture, school board-are roles for children. All are battles for adults.

Comments?

cheers

russ

Homeschool Competition

Wed, 31 May 2006 11:02:00 -0500

Is competition appropriate, or even part of, your homeschool?

Interesting article & comments over at

http://earlychurchfathers.org/fullcircle

Read the whole thing.

cheers

Memorial Day

Fri, 26 May 2006 11:16:00 -0500

Today starts the Memorial Day weekend. A day to honor our fallen military, true, but also, I believe we should remember anyone who has sacrificed to attain and preserve Liberty. We need to remember those men who sacrificed personal fortunes, their families and often their own lives to build America. We need to remember those unnamed families whose children preserved the Union. We need to remember those who fell hoping to contain communism and those who eventually succeeded in helping destroy it. We need to remember those who sacrificed to see �All men are created equal� actually become �All men.� We need to remember those who are today fighting to keep Liberty alive in America. Some of these are Freedom Fighters in the social/cultural/political arenas: home-school advocates, those fighting to keep marriage sacred, those helping to preserve the family, those fighting to keep our religious freedoms.

Thank you Treon G.

Thank you Kevin S.

Thank you Mike Farris.

Thank you Jim Lundberg.

Oddly enough, I think, the military in town all have today off.

What do you do with the mountain?

Thu, 25 May 2006 10:13:00 -0500

A friend asked:

If:

Matt 17:20 So Jesus said to them, "Because of your unbelief;^{[ a]} for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. (NKJV)

Then:

Gravity (anything) can hold you back, or keep us afraid, or... (you get the point) as long as our faith in him isn't like a mustard seed. Even a mustard tree has it's limits, but what do we do with "If you tell this mountain to move, surely it will"?

So, what do we do with the mountain?

Lots of ways to unpack this, but here's my take. (Turns out this is a little longer than I expected it to be. But it's not a trivial question or answer. Pls be patient.)

Context: Jesus & the disciples had just come down off of the mountain & experienced the Transfiguration. Jesus had been communing with Father and the group. They came to a waiting group of people & one man asked Jesus to help him, where other disciples had been unsuccessful. Jesus rebuked the demon & it left. Then He speaks about the mustard seed.

First. He says "faith like a mustard seed." I don't believe He means that like a mustard seed is limited (by the tree) so should our faith be. I believe our faith should be EXACTLY like the mustard seed. Hebrews states "Now, faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." Faith IS the seed of that which you hope for & can't yet physically see. Just as you nurture, feed and protect a seedling, so should you protect your faith so that it grows. Also, I believe the mustard seed shows us true liberty in Christ: it became EXACTLY what it was supposed to become-a mustard tree. Not an oak, not wheat. Our faith will become EXACTLY what the seed is supposed to become.

Second. I believe the reference to the mountain is allegorical. (Although, God does move "real" mountains all the time: volcanoes, earthquakes, etc. His time is not our time.) But the allegory speaks to challenges, difficulties, anything for which you need a good and sustained faith to overcome. Jesus didn't say that the mountain would be removed INSTANTANEOUSLY; He just said it would be moved. (See again--"assurance of things hoped for, conviction of things NOT SEEN.)

Third. This is an often untaught part of this passage. He rebuked the demon. He spoke to it. And it left. Jesus said "...SAY to this mountain..." Prov 18: 21 says that life and death ARE IN THE POWER OF THE TONGUE. Rom 10:9, 10 says that "if we CONFESS WITH OUR MOUTHS..." We must speak what we want. Out loud. Let's divert to Mark 4, the Parable of the Sower. In verse 13 Jesus says, "if you don't understand this, how will you understand ANY parable?" Vs 14: the sower sows the word. Yes, this is God's word, but it isn't relegated to only "sharing the Gospel." It is speaking ALL God's promises, all God's assurances about us, into the circumstances of life. Our WORDS are seeds. A mountain in our life may be the appearance of limited finances; God says "I will supply all your needs" (Phil) and "I will give you an abundance for every good deed." (2 Cor) Plant those seeds with your mouth to move that mountain. A mountain may be "I'm not good at talking with people." God's word says "I will give you power" and "I can do all things thru Christ..." Facts are not truth. The "fact" may be, yes, you are shy; but God's truth is that you have power. Speak God's word into your life and it WILL change the facts. (Isa 55:11)

Also, look at Mark 4:35-41. I had often wondered why Jesus asked the disciples

"Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?" I believe it's because they forgot that at the outset, Jesus said "let's go to the other side." He didn' t say "Let's get in the boat, get to the center of the lake, and drown." He'd already told them they were going to the other side but they could only see the storm.

So, what do we do with the mountain?

We recognize it as an obstacle to overcome. We find the already-supplied promise of victory in the Word. We speak that promise to that mountain and into our lives, into our Spirit. We keep faith: we hope and we persevere. God is reforming us into the image of Christ (Phil 1:6, and Rom 8:29). The mountains in our life are there to be moved; they are the stone upon which God sharpens us.

I believe we tell the mountain to move and it will. It has to. God said so.

Hope this helps.

russ

Is College Necessary?

Fri, 2 Jun 2006 12:30:00 -0500

This post has been in the mulcher for a while. Pls excuse my tardiness.

Inkwell posts an intriguing thought about college. Why college?

Do you, homeschooling family, encourage your children to attend college? Why or why not?

Personally, I don't think a college education is necessarily good or bad. I believe there are good, valid reasons to go; I also believe there are many more not-so-good reasons. I think there are three prevalent, universal misconceptions about college:

1. What is taught at college is what's learned. Those of you who are college educated: how many are working in your degree field, and can confidently say you will be for the foreseeable future? (Statistically, from many sources, the average American worker changes professions, not just jobs, 7 times over a lifetime.) Also, for those who like me have fruits from a misspent youth, how many of you even remember the majority of classes you took?

2. A college education directly translates to economic success in life. A college education used to be a significant discriminator for employment. It is, today, fast becoming a "right" for anyone who wants to attend. College often does make for economic differences, although not in the best ways: debt from tuition costs and the ubiquity of credit cards now allows students to start their �adult� lives, after college, with anywhere from 30k to 80k worth of debt. Is this really the �discriminator� we�re looking for? We have been taught the mantra:

Get good grades in high school so you can get in a good college. Do well in college-get good grades, get a degree in a good field-so you can get a good job with a solid company. Do well in your job; stay with that company, and later on, you�ll be taken care of.

This thinking is based on an Agrarian/Industrial Age mindset. For our grandparents, certainly, and to some extent, our parents, this was a �safe� path for your working life. But can anyone honestly look at today�s marketplace and have the same confidence in ANY company that previous generations took for granted? Two examples: one, General Motors. Once the world�s largest company, it�s now struggling to avoid bankruptcy. Many reasons for that, but is it a company you could whole-heartedly endorse to your offspring for employment? Two: IBM. For over 80 years IBM was the epitome of stability, profit and corporate rectitude. They boasted that they had never laid anyone off. And that was fact. However, over the last 4-5 years, they have �outsourced� over 100, 000 jobs. And with the volatility in the tech field, is IBM a �sure thing� anymore?

3. A college degree is necessary to be successful in business. Some of the world's most successful businessmen (Gates, Dell, Biezos, Walton) didn't attend. They're did/ are doing OK w/o a diploma. Again, the issue is �what do you learn.� College textbooks, when addressing business trends and capability, are hopelessly outdated even as they reach the classroom. Also, the teachers have seldom been "doers." For instance, how many business professors, at any level, have ever been in business, either as an employee or an owner? How can you learn business administration from someone who has NEVER been in a workplace, �administering a business,� and is teaching from a text that, at its most current, has data 7 years old?

Enough doom & gloom for now. I�ll think about the positives for a later post.

Cheers.

Praise for The Essential Bush

Tue, 23 May 2006 14:48:00 -0500

The Anchoress (http://theanchoressonline.com/2006/05/22/the-essential-president-bush/) has posted what I believe to be the definitive exposition of what our President has accomplished and demonstrated so far. The current fire-storm over immigration, and its corollary eddies of discontent, are obscuring the greatness and gravitas of GWB. His major political sin seems to be: he isn't Ronald Reagan. RR was the last Great Man to sit in The Chair; GWB is well on his way to becoming the latest.

I post this because I think those of us engaged in the Good Fight need to pray a lot more for our President. He faces enormous decisions and pressures; he is assailed even from within; yet he continues on path, sure of his convictions and directions. He is (in a temporal, political sense) our best hope to maintain the Liberty we have enjoyed. [Can you imagine the world today if the other guy had won??]

Read the Anchoress and pray for GWB.

Thanks.

Code Words

Tue, 23 May 2006 11:42:01 -0500

Dennis Prager, in a new Townhall piece, has described a particularly odious phenomenon in current political debate (http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/dennisprager/2006/05/23/198416.html).

I agree with Prager's premise that this labeling prohibits decent discussion about real problems.

My question is: do we homeschoolers do this, maybe unconsciously & unintentionally, WRT public schools? What are our code words?

I'm not advocating that we somehow compromise with the PS regimes, but do we unfairly paint an inaccurate picture? None of my kids have ever been in PS; therefore ALL I know about PS is what I hear, read and see in print. Code words have a pernicious way of developing into theories and then "facts."

Are we succumbing to a similar trend?

...just wonderin'

cheers