This morning we went up to the office to pay rent on our apartment. While my wife ran in to pay the rent I sat in the van with my younger two daughters. During this time, my five year old and I had the following conversation. Of course this is probably one of those, you had to be there moments, but I wanted to try and share it as best as I could anyway.
May
2
A new study finds that children from religious homes behave better than children from homes with no religious influence. For those of use who grew up in a Christian home, this comes as no surprise. I’ve been witness to this all my life. But now, thanks to some sociologists at Mississippi State University, we have a study that confirms this.
In this study, parents and teachers of more than 16,000 children were asked to rate how much self-control the young people had and how often they exhibited poor behavior. The same group was then asked how frequently the family attended worship services and discussed religion at home. The scores from the two sets of questions were tabulated and compared and MSU researchers concluded that children whose families regularly attended worship services or talked about religion at home were found to have better self-control and social skills than children with non-religious parents.
John Bartkowski, a MSU sociologist who helped conduct the study, stated, “What we found is that religion matters. Not only does parental church attendance or religious worship service attendance positively affect child development outcomes, but the frequency at which parents and children discuss religion has a beneficial effect on children’s development.”
For the full article, see the OneNewsNow website.
Mar
15
Came across an interesting article today. It seems that Deerfield High School in Chicago has a class called “Freshman Advisory,” in which ninth-graders are required to attend a panel discussion led by the Gay-Straight Alliance Network (side topic: how many people in the Gay-Straight Alliance Network are straight?). Now, this by itself is bad. It would be one thing if it was optional, but the fact that it was required infringes on the civil liberties of the students. But then, to make matters worse, “students were required to sign a confidentiality agreement saying they would not tell anyone about the discussions, including their parents.” Huh? I’m no expert on Illinois law, but where I’m from people under 18 can’t sign any sort of legal document without there being a parent’s signature along side the minor’s. And I’m sure the school knew this, which leads me to believe that the signing of this agreement was a scare tactic to try and keep the kids from telling their parents.
It’s amazing really. When it’s all said and done the best we can hope for is a slap on the wrists of those involved in violating the students and their parents rights. Had this been a mandatory meeting of a Christian group where the children were taught the 10 Commandments everyone would be fired by now. It’s sad… really, really sad. I just pray that none of the kids forced to attend this meeting buy into the lies that were undoubtedly told during this indoctrination session.
Sep
17
Most of you who read my blog know that I was raised in Arkansas and now live in Florida. But what you probably don’t know is that I was born and bred in Texas. So, when the following was emailed to me, I just had to post it. 
People here in Texas have trouble with all those shalls and shall nots in the Ten Commandments. Folks here just aren’t used to talking in those terms. So, some folks out in West Texas got together and translated the “King James” version into “King Ranch” version: Ten Commandments, cowboy style.
Cowboy’s Ten Commandments posted on the wall at Cross Trails Church in Fairlie, Texas.
- Just one God.
- Honor yer Ma & Pa.
- No telling tales or gossipin’.
- Git yourself to Sunday meeting.
- Put nothin’ before God.
- No foolin’ around with Another fellow’s gal.
- No killin’.
- Watch yer mouth.
- Don’t take what ain’t yers.
- Don’t be hankerin’ for yer buddy’s stuff.
That’s kinda plain ‘n simple don’t ya think?
Jun
30
For the last couple days it just seems that every time we turn around something else is going wrong. Then today I realize that I’m about $500 short of what I need to move and we’re suppose to be moving a week from today. Then tonight while boxing some things my wife notices water dripping from the ceiling in one of our daughter’s bedrooms. After checking to see if it’s raining, and finding that it’s not, I grabbed my ladder and rushed up into the attic to find that the drain hose to the furnace was stopped up. While working on that, I dropped my hanging light and popped the bulb. Then my flashlight went out. Lot’s of fun. But, Praise God, I got it.
A month ago I would have just called a repairman because I know nothing about these sorts of things. But when my dad came up from Texas last month he got on to me for that. He said that if I was going to pay a repairman, I could at least try and fix it first. The worst case scenario would be the exact same as the beginning, I’d have to call a repairman. So, Dad, if you read this, I actually fixed something!!! 
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