Parenting

Over these many years we have birthed 5, count them, 5 children.  All are now grown and on their own.  All seem to be doing well.

If you are a parent, you know that this is much cause for rejoicing.  Parenting is a tough row to hoe!  Christian author James Dobson wrote a book, "Parenting isn't for Cowards".  I never read the book, but do agree with the title.

As I have mentioned herein before, whenever I learn of a new parent, I encourage them to memorize Psalm 127.  It tells us that we have little to do with how our kids turn out!  It reminds us that children are a blessing- something that can be easily overlooked in the midst of temper tantrums.

Parenting is not innate.  I think we can learn some good parenting ideas from good parents around us.  G^d gives us some instruction in Scripture, though not as much, nor as specific as I would like.  I'm sure there is a reason for the paucity and generality of this advice, and one day I'll understand.

So, let me offer a word of encouragement to all parents.  Hang in there.  Do your best, and leave it in G^d's hands.

Remember, "Children are a gift of the L^rd, the fruit of the womb is a reward.  Like arrows in the hand of a mighty warrior, so are the children of one's youth.  Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them."

You Favor Gun Control? So You're a Prohibitionist eh?

My son Andrew made an interesting observation about deaths in the USA.  He noted that deaths from alcohol substantially outnumber deaths from firearms.

“Interesting point.” I said.  I began to investigate, and this is what I found:

"Excessive alcohol use is a leading cause of preventable death. This dangerous behavior accounted for approximately 88,000 deaths per year from 2006–2010, and accounted for 1 in 10 deaths among working-age adults aged 20–64 years. Excessive alcohol use shortened the lives of those who died by about 30 years."  http://www.cdc.gov/features/alcohol-deaths

"Car crashes killed 33,561 people in 2012, the most recent year for which data is available, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Firearms killed 32,251 people in the United States in 2011, the most recent year for which the Centers for Disease Control has data."  http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/01/americas-top-killing-machine/384440/

(We won't even mention the 480,000 deaths annually (including deaths from secondhand smoke) from smoking (http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/health_effects/tobacco_related_mortality/) and the quarter million people who die annually from smokeless tobacco.)

250,000 people die each year from using smokeless tobacco, researchers at the University of York have concluded - See more at: http://www.stonehearthnewsletters.com/250000-people-die-each-year-from-using-smokeless-tobacco-researchers-at-the-university-of-york-have-concluded/smokeless-tobacco/#sthash.7xYbqD8x.5MluIxmS.dpuf

Although auto deaths roughly equal firearm deaths, we would NOT argue against the use of cars because automobile travel is highly utilitarian, whereas firearms use is NOT utilitarian. Firearms possession is mostly for hobby, hunting or self defense- hardly necessities.

Fair enough, but what about alcohol?  Is alcohol use utilitarian or mostly  recreational- not really very much different from firearms ownership?

Sooo, it looks like to me that all of those interested in protecting American lives from guns, ought FIRST to protect lives from alcohol.

But most alcohol death is self-inflicted, whereas most gun deaths are… wait a lot of those are self-inflicted too.  Guns kill others…but so do DUI drivers.

OK, when does the big PROHIBITION of alcohol campaign begin??

Refrigerator Disaster - Could be Worse!

Yesterday we came home from an extended time at the beach to find...

our refrigerator stopped working about 5 days earlier.

Whew, you do NOT want this to happen to you!!!  It is a stinky, expensive mess.

Could be worse I guess, much worse.

Let's think about it:

• Everyone is healthy!
• We have employment in a great, enjoyable job.
• We have NO felony convictions.
• We live in a nice place where we enjoy peace.
• No one, except for maybe a few students, is trying to kill us.
• We have freedom of religion.
• We are part of a great Christian congregation.
• We have lots of good Christian Ministry opportunities.
• We have food to eat (though not cold food at the moment).

G^d is good!  He has Blessed us abundantly.  I often think that along  with David, I say, "Who am I and what is my house that you have brought me this far?"  2 Sam 7:18.

G^d is good all the time.  Indeed.

A Tale of Two Beaches (yes bEAches)

Brenda and I had a terrific two weeks over a Gulf Shores, west beach.  Then, due to an unforeseen opportunity, we got a week at Panama City Beach.  We have moved between beaches before, but not exactly like this.

The contrast between beaches was noteworthy. First of all, our end of PCB is the non-highrise end which means the beach is almost empty.  No really.  The beach in Gulf Shores was full.  There was space, but it was a valuable commodity.  Today at 10AM we had the whole beach to ourselves.  At its busiest, there were maybe a dozen people within 50 yards either side of us.

The Gulf Shores beach was constantly remodeling- which we enjoyed.  The PCB beach is very stable.  The GS beach was mostly easy walking, but the beach here is so sloped that it is a bit uncomfortable to walk.

The sand is white on both beaches, and the people are friendly. The sun is bright, and the water warm. Both beaches are wonderful, even though a bit different.

It’s hard to complain about a vacation at the beach!

More Small World Stories

26 Jul

We have been at the beach for two weeks.  Brenda knows that I keep on the lookout for someone I know. Last month, on our first beach trip of the summer we saw our optometrist.  This time we had been here for almost two weeks, and I was still looking.

Then there they were, one of my College of Educ colleagues from UA and her husband.  I recognized them immediately and we had a nice conversation.  Whew that box was checked off.

Later that day, I somehow struck up a conversation with a young man playing with his little daughter.  I asked him where he was from.

"Cleveland, TN", he said.

"Yeah, I know it, that's where Lee University is."

"Yeah," he said, "I went to Lee."

"One of my Ph.D. students teaches at Lee, Mike I."  I said.

"Yeah, Dr. I taught me exercise Physiology and Sport Nutrition and a couple more.  He's a great teacher."

Today, I ran into another College of Ed colleague and his finacee.

This AM, in Sunday School, our teacher is good friends with one of my friends.

It's a small world, isn't it?

Yet Another Disagreement

I have a lot of respect for one particularly thoughtful friend, with whom I disagree on occasion wholeheartedly.

My friend makes the good argument that Christianity MUST necessarily remain totally independent, in every way from the US Government.  I agree.

My friend, by application, objects vehemently to any particular recognition of Armed Forces veterans, since they act as agents of said government.  He objects to any recognition by the Christian Church that singles out these veterans. This is where we part company, on this exact point.

My friend never served in the Armed Forces.  He is NOT a veteran.  I went 4 years to the US Naval Academy, then served 8 more years on active duty accumulating over 2500 hours of flight time.  I supposed this partly explains our difference in perspective on this veteran thing. 

I know a lot of military veterans, 3 of my brothers included. Several of my friends are retired military officers. I have a tremendous respect and sense of gratitude for these men and women. Many came into the military largely out of ignorance, but that didn’t last long.  Somewhere in your first couple of weeks of military training it dawns on you that your NEW job is quite dangerous – and not likely to become any safer anytime soon.

We call it military “service” because all who “serve” are putting themselves into a situation where they may well DIE for their country, regardless of their personal patriotism, their political inclinations, or their views of governance.  They are trained to participate in war, in one role or another, but war nevertheless.  Their service does a great deal to protect the peace and prosperity of those back home.

Police officers, firefighters, Emergency medical technicians, and the US military are all part of service professions.  Jesus once told his disciples, “He who is greatest among you is SERVANT of all.”  All of these, much of their time, are serving a great many.  By that token they are great.

I am in favor of recognizing, as often as possible, all who serve in whatever capacity – including military veterans.

But, I might be wrong.

Philip Yancey

If you are not familiar with him, Philip Yancey is a very popular Christian writer from my home state of GA.  Yancey has written extensively about grace.  As a Bob jones Uni alumnus, grace is an important issue to him.  My oldest daughter, the very well-read one, says that all of Yancey’s books are about grace.

Perhaps so.  It is a very good topic, and so often misunderstood in part or in whole. I don’t want to digress.

Yancey is a plain-spoken writer.  I like that. He tells stories about real people, most of them unknowns.  I like that too.  He speaks practical truth. I like that as well.

Yancey has a LOT of Christian books on the market.  Look on Amazon.  I recommend him.

I think that Yancey is a very practical Christian. He sees the faults in the American Christian Church, and admittedly these are hard to miss, but they are difficult to discuss. His writing ought to be a great positive influence on American Christian.

Lord make it so!