Do We Give Our Kids Too Much, or Not Enough Freedom?

In January, 16 year old Abigail Sunderland set sail to become the youngest person to sail around the world alone without stopping.  Unfortunately, yesterday she ran into some trouble on the high seas in the Indian Ocean.  Reports say that she battled 30 feet waves caused by the southern hemisphere's winter season.  During the wave swells, her mast broke and she was stranded.  She set her emergency beacons off and was found today by a plane flying overhead.  She is currently so far away from anything remotely resembling civilization, that it won't be until tomorrow before the closets ship in the area (a French fishing boat) will be able to get to her.

Many people have questioned whether or not Abby's parents should have let their 16 year old daughter take on such a feet.  Some people say she is just a child and way to young to have taken on such a venture.  Some people have even called the Sunderlands bad parents and guilty of negligence  for letting her do such a thing.

So my question to you is this.  What is too much to let out kids do?  Are we to protective of our children these days?  Do we pamper them more than we need to?  Are we hurting our children in not letting them pursue things that might be considered dangerous?

I would love to hear your thoughts on this matter.  If you could please your comments on the blog as opposed to facebook etc.  Blessings.

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I'm Tired of Feeling Bad for Being a Christian

I have to admit, I have been one of those people that make fun of other Christians.  I have even been one of those Christians that have apologized for what we (the church) have done to others in the name of Christ. On one hand this needs to be done.  Christians continue to hurt others every day.  But how far does it have to go?  When do we stop apologizing?  When do we just live our lives as we should, as the bible shows us?  I for one, am tired of minimalizing my relationship with Christ.  It defines me, it makes who I am for better or worse.
I know I have screwed up in judging.  I am sorry.  I know that I have been your typical American Christian.  I am sorry.  But, I don't apologize for being a Christian.  I am not ashamed of calling myself a Christian.  I am not ashamed to admit to people that Faith is a narrow road.  I am not ashamed to tell people that there is a savior who died for their sins.  I am not ashamed to tell people there is only one way to the Father.

I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.

What do you think?  Should we feel bad that we are Christians?  Should we constantly apologize.  Should we rethink the narrow road?  I would love to hear your feedback.

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Do I Need To Love Them?

Recently the country has been captivated with the story of a young girl who was kidnapped back in 1991. She recently was reunited with her parents at the age of 29. Her story is one of horrific tragedy that we, looking from the outside, can never truly understand or comprehend.

The human side of me thinks this man should be put through every single torture device that the human mind has ever invented. There is nothing that could be done to this individual that would ever be enough to make up for the evil things that he did to this child and the emotional trauma that she suffered over the years and, consequently, will have to wrestle with for the rest of her life.

Now, I believe that this country is founded on a sense of justice. And because of this, we have laws in place to at least administer some sort of justice. Our system may not be perfect, but it's the best we have and it is as fair as any system in the world.

What concerns me is our response as Christians to this story. I have heard many comments that disturb me deeply. We place ourselves in the shoes of the victims which we should rightly do. But, then we completely dehumanize the criminal. We act as judge jury and executioner. We make comments about how this person does not deserve fairness, mercy, grace, love etc.

The message of the Gospel is that love transcends all evil. It lifts us out of the muck and the mire that we swim and relish in. For us to begin to put weight on different kinds of sin is a dangerous slippery slope. What this man did to this poor innocent little girl is no different than Hitler's murdering of millions of Jews and others. What both of these man have done is no different than my sin. When it is boiled down to brass tacks, we are all sinners and we are all separated from the love of God. I deserve death as much as Hitler or this pathetic man. The only difference between me and these other men is I have trusted in the one who gives grace and gives it abundantly. Because of which I should be more willing than others to extend that same grace and mercy to people such as this.

If we think that this man does not deserve mercy. If we think he does not deserve a voice, then lets look at some of the people in the bible that we look up to so fervently.

Apostle Paul-Murderer
Peter-selfish liar
King David-Adulterer, Murderer, Polygamist, liar
Moses-Murderer
Abraham-War Monger, Liar

This, of course, is just a short list of the people we look up to and the awful things they did. In fact if we were to judge everyone who wrote the scriptures we so dearly love, all we would be left with would be the red letters. When all is said and done, maybe that's enough. Because the message would still stand; love unconditionally, love God, love your neighbor.

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Warning: Do not attempt!

We had been having a very active summer. Camping, fishing, circus, Independence Day activities. It was simply nice to be able to do things with having to worry about me working on the weekends and overnight. For the first time in years, I was able to enjoy my family and be awake during the day.

But on Sunday a few weeks ago things changed and became hectic in a whole new way. while my wife was attempting to move a railroad tie in our front yard from point a to point b, she managed to drop it on her toe. She tried to bounce it away from her and unfortunately it bounced back onto her. What made it even worse, was the fact that my poor wife was not wearing any shoes.

I was in the house working on some homework and decided to get up and go ask her a question (I now can't remember what that question was). As I was walking towards the front door, Kim was walking (or hobbling) up to the door as well. I asked what was wrong and she explained to me that she had dropped the tie on her toe. She limped up to the shower to wash the blood off and see how bad it was. She said that her toe had exploded and she need to go to the doctor. Even after that description, I was still thinking that all she would need was a few stitches to recover. Little did I know that the entire top piece of her toe was now detached from the rest.

We jumped in the car and drove recklessly to the doc in the box. The doctor rushed us in immediately and diagnosed the situation. He informed us that most of the top her toe was hanging by mere pieces of skin and that over a quarter inch of bone was showing. He was unable to do anything with it except bandage it up and see if he could make an appointment for Kim to see a podiatrist the next day.

The doctor was able to secure that appointment and my wife went to see the podiatrist the next day. They decided to do what they call Hyper Baric Oxygen treatments and they had planned on doing twenty of them. So basically she gets stuffed in a giant clear tube that spits out 100% pure oxygen. She has the privilege of staying in there for 90 minutes a day.

Since then my poor wife has not been able to drive. And since I just started a new job that works slightly different hours then her, I am unable to give her rides. She has been forced to find somebody that will take her to her appointments and drive her back home. It has been incredibly frustrating for her, but she has been a trooper.

As my wife said, the moral of the story is:
Good idea: Wearing gloves while working in the garden
Bad idea: not wearing shoes while working in the garden.

Pray for my dear sweet wife.

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Want to Have a Bible Study in Your Home?

Better think twice if you live in San Diego. Some friends of mine who live in San Diego informed me (via facebook) that the county is telling a couple that they cannot have a bible study in their house because it violiates the "property use" clause. Hmmm. This one smells fishy to me. Watch the video and decide for yourself.

Thanks Denice for letting us know what is going on in your city.

http://www.10news.com/video/19563319/

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Win a Copy of the New Book "Divine Commodity"

My friend Chad is offering a copy of a brand new book that he recently reviewed. The "Divine Commodity" asks the questions of how Christians can deal with the consumerism withing the church. He is giving away five free books to readers of his blog, Captain's Blog. All you have to do is go to his blog and leave a comment and your email address. Good luck!

Chad Estes' Captain's Blog

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10% (or two and half bags of sugar)

I just went to my latest weight watcher's meeting. I got a cute little gold key-chain because I have officially lost 10% of my body weight. For me that translates into 23.4lbs. I am now currently the lightest I have been since high school. my goal is to lose at least another 40 pound by the end of the year. If I reach that weight, it will be the skinniets I have been since Jr. High school.

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How Far Would You Go For Love

A New England Pastor has taken in an convicted child killer that has recently been released from prison after serving more than 30 years in prison. People have threatened to burn his house down. The neighbors have set up a tent across the street to monitor the convict's movements, and the cops have an hourly drive-by of the residence.

Is this what Jesus called us to do? Is this over the top. Is this showing love to somebody who doesn't deserve it? follow the think, read the article, and watch the video. Please leave a comment. I am curious as to what you think!

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=7102901

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Latter Day Saints Mad at HBO

It seems that members of the LDS church are mad at HBO's depiction of their Endowment ceremony on TV. The Endowment ceremony is one of the most sacred (and secret) temple practices that the Mormon's have. Here is the link to the news bit on Good Morning America this morning.

http://abcnews.go.com/gma

click on the link and scrool down through the videos. It will be close to the end.

Also here is HBO's apology to the LDS church.
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/story?id=7059130&page=1

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Pharisees Be Warned! We Can Now Dance on the Sabbath!

The Idaho Falls chief of police wants to repeal a ban on dancing on the Sabbath in places that serve alcohol. The ban has been in place for 84 years. It doesn't really matter though, because bars that are not attached to restaurants are still closed on Sundays because of another ban of selling hard liquor on the Sabbath. The chief also stated that no one has been charged for dancing on Sundays in many years. Whew! That's good to know.

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Mileage Tax Because Our Cars are Too Efficient

I just heard on the news that Massachusettes is thinking about putting GPS chips in cars to track people's car mileage.  The idea is, as the cars get more efficient the amount of money that the state goes down because people aren't fueling up as much. 

Oregon already has this in place.  So now matter what we do, we are screwed.  My only reason for buying a fuel efficient car would be to save money on gas.  That idea is out the window if this idea catches on.  Forget the environment, if I am going to be charged for the amount of miles I drive, I am going to buy the biggest, baddest gas guzzling suv or 4x4 truck and enjoy every single one of those purchased miles!

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Steve Jobs Sick!

It's amazing that a once failing company has such power and prestige that Its ceo stepping down is headline news. Steve Jobs announced that he is retiring for the time being because of an illness that is rumored to be cancer. I have read reports that he is to have his pancreas removed after cancer treatment. If it is cancer of the pancreas, the chances of recovery is usually very slim.

It was just a few years ago that we talked about Bill Gates the way we now talk about Steve Jobs. Back then Steve was nothing more than a side note and a joke. People liked the Apple products, but it was just a fad. But nonetheless, when Jobs said he was coming back as the ceo. Things began to take off. just a few years later, Apple has gained significant marketshare in personal computers. Not only that, Apple has managed to dominate the music industry. The Ipod is the only media player that matters, and itunes sells more digital music than any other company. Only WalMart beats Apple in general music sales.

The future of the company remains to be seen. Stocks dropped sharpley after Jobs announced his desire to step down. Can they find another charismatic visionary such as Jobs? Companies (as well as other institutions) rise and fall when they lose such a person.

The computer world needs Apple. Whether you are a PC fan or a Mac fan, you have to agree that there needs to be competition in the market place. There is no other company that gives Microsoft a run for their money such as Apple. It is the only way to keep the once all powerful Microsoft humble.

Long live Steve Jobs and long live Apple.

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