Teachable Moments In The News

As I sit and wait for my oldest son to finish soccer practice, I listen to a lot of AM radio. Of course, it’s the conservative AM radio station, but in the evenings, the host is more funny and sarcastic than he is serious, like the day time hosts.

I was listening to him tonight discuss the story of Governor Spitz*er and the call girl, Ashley Du*pree. It appears that she has discovered the error of her ways and is attempting to turn her life around. For her sake, I hope she does, it’s really heartbreaking to see anyone living such an empty life…the same for the governor.

Well, the host of the radio program I was listening to was less than gracious… He sounded like a high school/college boy talking about a girl with a bad reputation… But as I listened to him, it dawned on me that as mothers, this is a great teachable moment, if you have teenage daughters. I will probably even discuss this with my 10 year old, in a much more subtle way…

I think our daughters need to hear how men talk about women, or boys about girls, who behave as Ms. Du*pree chose too… I am not holding her responsible for the governor’s choices, only hers. But sadly, in situations like this, it is primarily the woman/girl who takes the brunt of the nasty, condescending remarks. The radio host said, "This is just not the kind of girl you take home to meet mom." I think that sums up men's attitudes about women who behave like this young woman did. As I sat listening to him, I thought, "Why would any girl or woman want to be known this way?"

The other opportunity that we have right now is to teach them what an empty life this is…

If you read some of the recent interviews with her, she appears to be a girl with hopes and dreams who simply stepped off onto the wrong path… She ran away from home at 17, she starting drinking and partying and one night stands soon led to a life of prostitution. Often all it takes is one step onto the slippery slope… And even she recognizes her part in the destruction of the lives of the governor's family.

As I said, Mackenzie is only 10, so I’m not sure how I’ll use this yet. I may just file it away for future use… Or, in a few years, I’m sure they’ll be another story… It wasn’t that long ago that we had Monica Lewinsky…

But I do believe that we need to make the most of these teachable moments with our children… Drug related incidents in the news, accidents realted to alcohol, even Oprah (who I'm not a fan of) has the occassional story that is worth having our kids watch, like the young man who was addicted to methamphetamine, it made a huge impact on my children...

We need to be on the lookout for anything that will open the doors of conversation with our children and allow them to see that living for the moment will often lead to heartache and destruction.

I'm Just So Tired Of It...

The election that is! I can’t wait for Tuesday to come and go… If I don’t hear another scathing political ad for the rest of my life, it would still be too soon!

I am a conservative Christian and yet, I am so tired of hearing the “hate speech” about the other “non-conservative” side…it’s bitter, angry and just plain hateful. I’m tired of Christians speaking out against each other with hostile, judgmental, self-righteous statements like, “I don’t know how you can be a Christian and support ‘x’.” I hear that from both sides…I’ve heard Christian Republicans say it about Christian Democrats and vice versa…

The Bible tells us to guard the unity of the body of Christ… to live in harmony with one another… we need to watch what we say and how we say it! The unity of the body of Christ is FAR more important than who our next President is! The unity of the body has the potential to impact lives for eternity…our next President only has the power to impact our lives on earth…the temporal!

I know STRONG, godly Christians who are supporting McCain and equally STRONG, godly Christians who are supporting Obama!

Christians who support McCain inevitably talk about the issues of abortion and homosexual marriages, the desire to protect the family… Christians who support Obama inevitably speak of social justice and mercy, they demonstrate a tremendous compassion for “the least of these,” as Jesus Himself referred to them.

Why is it that we can’t have respectful, gracious dialogue on both sides and challenge each other, in love, to become more Christ-like?

I’ve had an on-going dialogue with a dear friend of mine for several weeks now. We haven’t changed each other’s intent to vote, but God has used my friend to educate me and to grow my heart for mercy… I clearly see the Christ-likeness of her desires and I have been deeply convicted by my lack of compassion in some areas. We don’t agree on how to address the issues, but maybe the point isn’t so much the ‘how’ as it is the heart.

And, I would challenge anyone to be as informed on the issues as my friend is…she is careful before she speaks, you don’t hear her regurgitating sound-bytes and she seeks out the source of everything, seeking to discover its original context. She approaches the issues with an open mind and she examines them from both sides of the aisle. I can’t always claim that… I am a more educated voter now because of my friend…if I want to talk to her, I better be able to back up what I say…what I heard on R*ush or Fo*x News just isn’t going to cut it!

But let me say this…as passionate as she is, she has NEVER once crossed the line of being disrespectful! She listens to my thoughts, she turns them over, tries them on and researches the points that I bring to the table… I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anyone so intent on discovering God’s will for her vote…her heart’s desire is to please Him, not the rest of the world, or even her friends… And for that, I have the utmost respect…

This past week in CBS, I had the week off and our Assistant Teaching Director gave a wonderful lecture. We are studying 1 Peter and we were talking about being persecuted and suffering for the name of Jesus, and she said something that I can’t stop thinking about.

She drew the distinction between suffering for the name of Jesus and suffering for other reasons…ie, political candidates, causes, etc. and she asked the question… Who, or what, are you holding out (to the world)? Jesus or your cause, your political party, etc.?

When the members of the church turn on each other over a political candidate, a cause, etc., then we are NOT holding out the name of Christ…we are doing NOTHING to reflect His grace and mercy…we are harming the name of Christ, we are not, in any way, shape or form, glorifying it.

Let’s get to the bottom line here…Daniel 2:21 says that “God sets up kings and deposes them…” Romans 13:1 says, “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.” Even Jesus said to Pilate, before he was handed over to be crucified, ““You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.” John 19:11

Ultimately, God is the one who is in control…He ALONE is Sovereign…Government is for His purpose, not ours! I believe that with all of my heart and I will trust Him, no matter who wins on Tuesday. If God is going to use what is happening in our country to destroy some of our idols of materialism, immorality, etc. and draw us closer to Him…then fine…it might not be fun, in fact, it might be painful…but every day, I will pray for the strength to live with my eyes set on eternity…to hold out His name in a dark world.

If, as Christians, we truly believe that God is good…that He is faithful and just and sovereign…why would the thought of either candidate ‘scare’ us? As Christians, it’s time that we start considering how our rhetoric is reflecting on our heavenly Father…it’s time for this election to be over! But here’s the thing…when the election is over, we still need to remember who we represent…it’s not the Republican or Democratic party, or even America…First and foremost…it’s the King of Kings…God most High…I wonder how pleased He is with our representation right now?

What Would You Be Willing To Give Up?

(This will be the one and only political comment you hear from me…I tried to post something similar before, but the time wasn't right and I deleted it...but every once in a while, a girl just has to say what’s on her mind…)

We have a dinner-time tradition at our house…when we are blessed enough to sit down as a family, usually several nights a week, Scott or I try and come up with a question for the kids that will help in-still a Biblical worldview.

For instance, last week we talked about civil disobedience in light of Scriptures that tell us to submit to the government in authority over us…another time we talked about Romans 12:1-2, where we are told to not be conformed to the world, but transformed by the renewing of our mind and we discussed what it means to live conformed vs. transformed…

So last night at dinner, Scott had a question for us… “Considering the Constitution, what 3 freedoms or rights would you NOT be willing to give up? Which are most important to you?”

(Quick summary: freedom of… speech/press, religion, assembly, to petition; right to… vote, bear arms, for due process…there’s more, but these are the highlights)

Wow…what a question! For the kids, it was a little harder to answer, but I knew immediately… Freedom of religion, speech/press and the right to vote…although, right to due process is a close fourth….

Freedom of religion and freedom of speech have been on my mind A LOT lately…

It started with an incident at the Democratic National Convention when an ABC News reporter was arrested for filming high powered D. senators and donors leaving a private meeting at a hotel in Denver…the reporter was outside the hotel…if you click on this LINK, you can read the story and see the video of what happened…when I saw it, I thought, “Surely not in America.”

And then the latest incident with Joe the Plumber…I realize there are a lot of questions about Joe the Plumber… Who is he? Is he licensed? Some have even accused him of being a plant by the R. party…Who knows? I mean, D. candidate O, was in Joe’s neighborhood, Joe didn’t come to him…but in politics, anything is possible…

So for argument’s sake, I’m willing to pretend that he is not licensed and that he is a plant, maybe his name is not even really Joe… But my question is, SO WHAT? Joe didn’t make Candidate O, say what he said, “I think when you spread the wealth around it’s good for everybody.” O said that all on his own…from the overflow of the heart, come the words of the mouth…

But instead of holding O accountable for what he said, he still hasn’t explained it…the liberal media, even O himself, is attacking “Joe.” His name is being smeared… The focus is being totally deflected from what was said!

So here’s the thing…frankly, I’m not thrilled with either candidate! Usually, I vote for the candidate who most closely reflects my views on the most number of issues…this year though, I don’t really care for either candidate, so I had been planning to vote for the man that I saw as the least bad choice of the two…

Until these incidents…now, I will strongly, and with great confidence vote for the man whose actions do not in any way threaten my freedoms. Now, you might argue that O is not directly responsible for either of these incidents…maybe, maybe not...So, I'll even give you that he's not directly responsible, but his party clearly is!

At the very least, I don't want that said party in control of both the Congress and the White House...Rumors of the Fairness Doctrine (you'll have to google this one, this post is already long enough) keep floating around...it was re-introduced, shot down...but H. Clin*ton, John K*erry, have all acknowledged they would support it's return and while O. says he opposes it, he hasn't gone so far as to commit that he would veto it! I'm just not willing to risk my freedom of speech.

Here’s the bottom line, if I’m in prison because I choose to worship as I believe, my focus won't be on the economy...

So, you might be thinking…this chick is a little extreme...how did she go from a news reporter being arrested to losing her freedom of religion? Fair question…but did you watch the video?

That was one slippery slope that got stepped on...and one thing living has taught me, when you step onto a slippery slope, you’re almost always going to end up on your behind at the bottom…

Once freedoms are abridged on the small stuff…it’s not a very far leap to abridge them on the big things…that’s the bottom of one hill I NEVER want to see!

Am I afraid of what I'm seeing? You bet! Do I trust God more? ABSOLUTELY...whatever happens is because He allowed it and I'm not living for this lifetime anyway...but I have children and while I can, I have a responsibility to speak up...so I spoke...and now I promise, no more politics!