Sisters

New Flash: Raising Children Waste of Time?

"It is not the number of books that makes the learned man, nor much reading,
but good books often read, however few, makes a man learned in the Scriptures
and pious.” Martin Luther

The age of the internet allows anyone to publish their thoughts on life. It can be interesting and even scary to look into the minds of some people. Some may consider it scary looking into my mind through this blog. I read an article (click here to read it) that says child rearing is not worth the time and talent of intelligent humans. Oh that we weren't bombarded with false truth all the day long.

Don't fall into the trap of lies. Exposing ourselves (especially our children) to all the possible worldviews and ways of thinking in life does not bring us closer to the truth, and can quickly lead to confusion.

========UPDATE=======

It's funny how one minor word can really change the meaning of something. I left the word "not" out of the last sentence when I first wrote this blog, which conveyed the complete opposite of what I wanted to say. I've just now noticed it and corrected it.

Through Gates of Splendor

I just finished the book Through Gates of Splendor, and am once again amazed to see what men will do when gripped by the hand of God. My sin leads me too often into comfort with my life causing me to be overjoyed at the "sacrifices" I make for Christ, and it is times like this that I am brought face to face with reality. The life I live in America is easy, and what I call sacrifice, the men in this book (and many other Christians throughout history) would call luxury. I am blessed by God more than I can fathom, and when I read stories like this one written by Elisabeth Elliot I am challenged to live for Christ recognizing a little more what Paul means when he says "to die is gain."

A couple of times over the past few years I have asked Frank Barker what are some good books to read, and each time he has given the same answer. He has told me to read missionary biographies. Well, I headed his advice this time and I can see why he gave it. This book is encouraging, challenging, eye opening, and much more. Looks like I'll be reading more books in this genre. I've already started The Savage: My Kinsman, which is the follow-up to Through Gates of Splendor, and I cannot put it down either!

My hope and prayer is that God will grip me and use me in ways beyond my comprehension. I don't know that that will look like of course, but I am praying it now.

Looks like the DaVinci Code has been unlocked

Kate-18 months old-6-22-06

Kate,

You are 18 months old today and you are so adorable. You talk ALL of the time! You can walk, run, sing, dance and do just about everything now. Everyone always commits on your beautiful eyes and your long eyelashes. Your hair is dirty blonde and has cute curls in the back. In the last 2 weeks, you’ve started to resist taking 2 naps a day so it looks like we’ll be spending more time together during the day. You love your little sister and are very sweet to her. I am beginning to teach you the children’s catechism and was so proud when you started consistently answering the first question correctly. Q: Who made you? A: God. I then moved on to teaching you how old you were. You were doing pretty well at that but the other day I asked, “How old are you”? and you said “God.” It was so cute. You obviously you don’t really know who God is or how old you are but you will. You LOVE “Veggie Tales” and “Barney” and you like to color. We are beginning to discuss now when to start potty training you and when to move you into a “big-girl” bed. You are growing up so fast and soon will no longer be our little baby girl. We are enjoying our time with you at this stage in your life but I must admit, it is moving too fast. You are beautiful and funny and happy.
Your father and I love you now and always,
Mommy

Skating on thin ice

Some people do not deserve to be American citizens. Make me king for a day, and I will remove all the ignorance that seeks to take away the basic liberty that this country was founded upon. Christian or not, freedom is at the of defining our country, and ignorant people continue to try and "save" the world from us crazy Christians.

Are people not intelligent enough to understand that once liberty is removed from the group they dislike, it will one day be removed from them as well. I have nothing more to say about this. Please read the article, and judge for yourself.

Skating rink investigated for playing Christian music

Educating Children - Discussion of school options (Part 1)

The government run school system has become central to
our society in regards to educating children. As we plan the education of
our children, it has come to my attention that many people in the Church feel
responsible Bible believing parents should not send their children into the
public school system. A multitude of arguments exist, but the base of each
is that our government schools do not teach from a kingdom worldview and
actually reject that worldview at its core. Over the next few days (or
weeks depending on time), I'm going to write on this topic. My main
purpose is to organize my thoughts on this topic, but hopefully someone else may
benefit from my writings.

The State of Our Nation and Its Affect on Public Schools

An argument often made against the public school system is the humanistic values that are guiding it. I've often looked at this argument and found it hard to believe that the people setting curriculum and performing other administrative duties in the public school system are purposely pushing their ideas hoping to make our society more humanistic. After hearing this many times, I think I finally get it.

Humans are fallen and totally unable to do anything good in the flesh (Romans 8:8 "So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.") and since this is true, we cannot do the one thing that we were created to do, which is to bring glory to God (I Corinthians 10:31 "So, whether you eat or drink, or uwhatever you do, do all to the glory of God. "). So, to the humanist mind, which is in direct opposition to Christ, the glory is directed toward man. Fallen man considers himself as the most important object in the universe. All things exist to bring man enjoyment.

Christians understand that all things exist to magnify God's power and grace. Humanists believe all things on earth are meant to be used for to make man's life better. So, the problem with public schools is not that every single person in the system is pushing humanist ideas, but rather that a large majority of people making the rules are grounded in humanistic thinking to various degrees. Other non humanistic thinking people involved in the government system support this worldview out of ignorance or denial. A self esteem program at a local high school seems like a good idea on the surface. The problem is that the school cannot teach children to look to God for their self-esteem. We are strong people because we lean on God for all things, and no government entity will ever teach this.

Ultimately, a government school system run by a government that continually pushes against Christian values and supports humanistic thinking cannot raise children properly. On the contrary it can make it very difficult for parents to break the incorrect teaching in a child. The people leading our school system honestly think they are working to build strong people ready to lead our nation in the next generation. The truth is that the core values of this government school system actually removes all possibility of creating strong Christian leaders; therefore Christian parents should seriously consider the consequences of putting their children into the hands of this system.

If he were only gay

An article I read just now talks of a first grader beaten because his parents have tried to keep him from being exposed to teaching that says homosexuality should be an excepted part of life. Why on earth are people not talking about this?

As we are trying to decide whether to send our children to public school, private school, or home school, stories like this make it easier to rule out public schools. These things may not be in Alabama yet, but they are coming. Human depravity runs rampant when the common grace of God is removed from a pagan society.

Click here for the article

Knowing God's will

The Holy Spirit moves in every believer to create a person more like Christ every day. In 1 Thessalonians 4:3, God tells us His will for His people "For this is the will of God, your sanctification:". How do we know if the things we are doing, thinking, and saying are within God's will for our lives? After all, most people will say that God has a plan for our lives.

The following is a list of items that are important for knowing God's will:

1. Trusting in the death, resurrection, and power of Christ alone for salvation
2. Seeking intimacy with God through prayer daily
3. Personally reading and studying scripture
4. Sound preaching

This list is by no means exhaustive, but it can be exhausting since we are weak in the flesh. A few notes:

• We are told to pray continuosly so consider praying multiple times per day
• For studying, commentaries are extremely helpful, but should not be overused
• All preaching is not sound

Today's church contains much preaching that is void of truth or lacks solid meat. If you hear more about what you should be doing than about who Christ is and how majestic He is, it may be time for concern.

Claire-2 months old-6-19-06

Claire,

You are such a joy to your father and I. We love having you in our family and I can’t imagine it without you even now. You are an easy baby and you hardly ever cry. You have been sleeping 9 hours straight since you were 5 weeks old so I really like that! Right now you go to bed around 9:30 and wake up around 6:30. You are holding your head up really well and have the cutest little smile. People say you look like your father and you still haven’t lost any of your beautiful jet black hair. This month you took your first overnight trip with us to your grandparent’s house in Gadsden and did great. I can’t wait to see what you will do this next month!

I love you,
Mommy

Can the Pope laugh at himself?

Thought this was funny.

Click this link to read comments on the pope and the davinci code

Why is it always about stopping Gay people's rights?

An article on yahoo is titled "Senate takes up Gay-rights ban amid criticism". This article is about the constitutional "ban" on same-sex marriage. The funny thing about this is that you cannot necessarily place a ban on something that does not exist. Currently, men can only marry women in our country (except for Maine of course since they rewrote their laws). So, a change in the constitution would simply solidify laws that already exist.

Please, watch out for the propaganda that exists in our media. The people writing these articles have a bias and an opinion and they act neutral to dupe people, but truthfully, they do not have the ability to remain neutral. I can hardly blame them. If people would read what I write, they would constantly see Jesus Christ flowing throughout it. We push what we are passionate for.

I've Got You

Rick has this game that he plays with Kate (which I'm sure every father plays with his children) where he'll pick her up over his head, spin her around or run around the house with her. Now, this is supposed to bring joy but from time to time Kate will get nervous or scared and even cries out. Obviously, Rick would never do anything to harm her and will reassure her by saying, "I've Got You....I've Got You."
I can't help but think about my relationship with my Father. I am meant to be joyful but at times am not because I don't understand what He is doing. If only I would be still and listen to His Word, I know I would hear, "I've Got You....I've Got You."

Where do we get these "Experts"?

An article on www.babycenter.com provides information from "The Experts" that isn't very expert advice. If you ask my opinion (which I get to share on my own blog), these experts are not very intelligent. They have turned from the truth. Read my previous post and then read the excert below as it discusses living with a 17 month old child.

You may also notice that your child occasionally
but very deliberately disobeys your orders. You say, "Please stay away from that
vase," and your toddler looks right at you, reaches out, and touches the vase,
or plucks a flower from it. You know he got your message, so rather than let the
defiance become a big deal, experts say to simply ignore it whenever possible.
In fact, it's important to try to avoid a confrontation with every little issue.

Click here to read the full article


If we overlook some disobedience, they aren't learning right from wrong, but rather we are confusing them. They need to learn that what mommy and daddy says goes, and how will they learn this if they ignore us and we say nothing? A 17 month old CAN learn and WILL learn. And they will learn much faster if they respect their parents.

Teaching a child

One thing I've learned is that a newborn baby must be taught everything about life. Right now we are teaching our 18 month old how to use a spoon and fork. She wasn't real interested in learning to put a puzzle together. She likes puzzles, but she doesn't like to play with them the way I do (actually putting the right pieces in the right places).

It amazes me how many people do not understand this basic concept of parenting in today's world. People will probably disagree with me, but a child needs to learn to sleep in their own room. A child needs to learn to be away from a parent for certain periods of time (at night). A child needs to learn to fall back to sleep after waking up. We do not allow this today, though. Children continually sleep in their parents room and even IN THE BED with the parents in some houses. This makes no sense to me. "Experts" suggest putting the child in the parents room because they need to be near the mom or because it is easier on the mom, but this is simply not true.

Let the child sleep in their own room and when they wake up, feed them. I understand that all babies are different, but we have friends with children that do not sleep through the night after an entire year of life. This should not be so, and it can most often be attributed to the fact that they never let the child cry and didn't put the child into their own room for several months after birth.

Children are indeed helpless, but it is the role of parents to raise them up to be wholly reliant on God while using God given abilities to survive. If we as parents raise our children with our own interests in mind (It's better for the mom or dad if ....) or if we raise our children only to protect them from everything, they will never learn to survive, grow, or live in a way that isn't wholly dependant on other humans. Is this what we want?

Finally, this is the duty of the husband. It is natural for the mom to care for the baby and to nurture them. The dad must watch out for the good of his family (wife first), and ensure that his actions along with his wives actions are preparing their children to be children of God relying wholly on Him for life and serving Him through their abilities.