It's a 10!

Thankful today for our two kids and their life-mates: Erin & Matthew; Joseph & Miranda; immensely talented people with great character, gripped by passion for life and their life's work, committed to making a difference. Guys...humbled  by your friendship, blessed by your love. You have enriched us, thanks so much.

One for Daisy...

Friends...passing this along for Daisy and for you--a friend passed it along to me. 

It seems to me that together we, those who feel compelled to, might enter into the suffering of this little girl and her family. I think it will bless them. I think it will change us in a profound way. I think it's an amazing opportunity to use FB, and the information highway, as powerful and redemptive tool.

Read the blog entry--allow it to penetrate and teach you, then click on the "video" tab and learn more about Daisy and her family; follow your heart, it will point the way.  

Start the journey by clicking on the link below...

http://blog.prayfordaisy.com/

Vexed. NOT Beaten.

Someone recently asked me about a passing comment I'd made about the Tower of Babel; wanting me to expand on what was said.

Over the years I've always attempted to find "dynamic equivalents" in the culture around me to help people understand a deeper principle from the Scriptures. The Tower of course was the ultimate expression of hubris on the part of humankind; our effort to shake a collective fist at God and say "See, you aren't so transcendent after all." Foolish pride led to an inflated opinion of who we were; God breathed, language changed and chaos ensued. We discovered we were no match for the transcendent God.

Fast forward to modern culture: God, in his grace, has allowed mankind to apply his intellect and ingenuity, these also graciously granted by God, to "discover" thousands of things that insulate us from the ill-effects of the fall: drugs, asphalt, steel, plastic, roads, air conditioning, engines, automation--the list is endless. We in turn, tainted by sin and swelled with pride, believeing ourselves to be wise "shake our fists" at God and say, "You see, the Scriptures are myth; there was a big-bang and then there was mankind and look at how we have evolved...we have the power to give and take life. We don't need myths to prop us up anymore. We are God."

In reality, everything we touch we corrupt. Look at what we call our "system of Justice." We condition the air at the same time we poison it with hydro-carbons. We pollute the planet, poison our bodies, can't beat cancer or aids and when/if we do, something else always emerges. Regardless of how effective we are at blunting the effect of sin on life and the planet, sin always trumps our best efforts...and God allows it, to point us to our need for a Savior and His gracious provision for our redemption.

The farther evolved civilization becomes the further it devolves into moral and spiritual chaos--abortion, failed economies, addiction, violence, corrupt governments, greed, broken relationships, idolotry, shaminism, social injustice. Think about it, in 1965 LBJ gave us the Great Society. These unfunded mandates have done nothing to enlighten culture and end poverty--but they have driven us to edge of bankruptcy and destroyed families while perpetrating genocide on the poorest of the poor. The smarter we get, the dumber we are. We can run from God, but we can't hide.

So then, civilization as we have fashioned it, has become mankind's' most recent "Tower of Babel;" the work of "our hands" which demonstrates our independence, our ability to "get it done without God." We set out to be like God, and in a final irony, we create the very modality that could be the end of life as we know it. We can destroy it, but we can't fix it..."and all the king's horses, and all the king's men, couldn't put humpty-dumpty back together again."

The lie that deceived Eve, continues to vex us; but we aren't beaten. This Truth has set us free..."When we were utterly helpless...God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners." Romans 5.6a,8

Hallelujah, what a Savior!

AWOL.

Education in America, and educators are in trouble. 

By any reasonable measure, what we are asking our educators to do is unreasonable. The result: the implosion of the system.  It's happening right now, this year, this month, TODAY. Entire teaching staffs being reassigned; schools closed or being "taken over" by the State and teachers dismissed.

Effective education is a partnership on at least four levels.

Level 1: Parents and teachers. I don't know why we tolerate it, but I do know we, our culture, have lowered our expectations for parents and shifted many parental roles onto public education. It's a fact, parents are AWOL; parents from every demographic: busy parents, tired parents, distracted parents, ambitious parents, selfish parents, economically disadvantaged parents. Unless and until parents see parenting as a worthy vocation--a selfless vocation--a social responsibility, and we can build accountability into the system for PARENTS, as well as teachers, our system will continue to devolve.

Level 2: Teachers and administrators. The current "political climate" makes this partnership difficult, if not hopelessly ineffective. "No Child Left Behind" has administrators focused on the wrong outcomes: Administrators chasing the holy grail--passing scores on standardized tests.  Under pressure to achieve a "passing grade" Administrators have dumbed the system down and mandated teaching to the lowest common denominator. The result: a brain drain of gargantuan proportions.  We've given up too much real education in the race to measure "skills." 

Leaders in education must get back to "leading."  They must be good managers; they must also be effective Innovators, Team builders and Coaches.  They must get out of their offices and into the halls and classrooms of the buildings they manage.  Teachers must be challenged to grow as professionals, taught to, and rewarded for, "thinking outside the box."  The system must be able to shed under performing (based on fair-minded, role appropriate, measurable, attainable and negotiated standards of praxis and outcomes) teachers and administrators.  Otherwise we will, without question, produce underperforming schools.

Teachers must be coachable.  Unions must be student as well as teacher focused.  Department Chairs must be trained as Master Teachers and empowered to Coach teachers under their charge, evaluate them and reward merit or remediate poor performance.

Level 3: Education and the public.  Federal oversight is an impossible burden.   There is a role for the Federal government, but not what we've seen develop over the last decade.  Educational oversight and policy creation must be sent back to the most local units of government possible and/or practical.  In most cases, that would be the locally elected School Boards.  

State oversight is critical to resource multiplication, curriculum development standards, training, and compensation.  But the State must also recognize the limits of effective management.

Communities must create opportunities, then call their citizens to participate as volunteer tutors, mentors, after-school staff, security workers and any of a dozen other functions that can be filled by people willing to give-up time, and get training or invest their expertise to give school age kids a shot at a brighter future.  This would, at the same time, preserve and extend financial resources which in turn would make it possible to provide funds for merit based pay incentives.

I challenge families who've abandoned public education for private, private-parochial or home-shooling to re-engage and re-think their decision.  It is in the long-term best interest of their kids to support and work to reform and strengthen public education.  Their unwavering commitment to quality education and the quality of the kids their raising is integral to lifting education for all our children to the next level.  This has significant implications on so many elements that are critical to the future of our nation and our children.  Look back at the 19th Century to discover what a culture of "education haves" and "have nots" becomes--and it's a most unsavory image.

Level 4: Education and the private sector.  I'm a small business owner.  Much of the property tax bill I pay every six months goes to support education.  But that's not enough.  The partnership with local business, while it's there, needs to be expanded and much more highly developed.  The answer isn't higher taxes, it's bigger hearts, fueled by shared vision and better communication.  Not only should business be there for internships, but for aggressive sponsorship--without expectation for anything in return--beyond all the significant benefits local business enjoys from a sterling school-system.

Parents need to be selfless.  Politicians need to chill.  Educators need to step-up. Citizens need to act like partriots.  It's easy to blame someone else; the problem is us. 

Meanwhile, another generation gets left behind.

Going, going, gone...

The smarter we get, the dumber we are.  It's true, people tend to go the way they're going.  Can anyone say "Chicago Cubs?"

How Democracy ends...

While I don't believe the answer to our education challenge in America is to turn the keys back over to the unions, this is a clarion call to citizens; it's time we take the education of our Kids back from private and public politicians--regardless of who they might be, who they work for, or their party affiliation. It's been hijacked and demagogued by adults, labor AND management; they have all forgotten who matters--KIDS, and what's at stake--THE FUTURE OF THE NATION.

Follow this link..."This is how Democracy ends: Apology from a former teacher"
http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/2013/01/this-is-how-democracy-ends-apology-from.html

Don't waste another minute...

"This So Called Love" by MercyMe

I can be there for you when it can't get much harder

I can cover your head when life starts to rain

I can hold on tight when you feel like you're falling

I can bread crumb the path when you've lost your way

I can make you laugh when the whole world is crying

I can build you up when you're broken in shame.

But if all that we do is absent of Jesus,

     then this so called love, is completely in vain...

2013...Don't waste another minute.

What are you doing with yours?

Quick thought: we tend to get what we aim at;  

good, bad, indifferent, unhealthy.

The "cause/effect" relationship between the way we think and the outcomes we achieve is uncanny.  A "mind," even a poorly developed one, is a powerful force.

God blessed us all with "beautiful minds."  Having been fashioned in His image gives us access to resources beyond "the natural" built right into our DNA!  Our minds are, of course, the most unique aspect of our beings.  So...what are you doing with yours?  It's January 1.  A great time for resolve to retool the way we think and as result, the way we experience life.  Here's my list for 2013:

Give up painful thinking.

Seek balance in your life.

Look for the best in people.

Refuse to think like a victim.

Go to and get out of bed earlier.

Don't allow yourself to be a cynic.

Transform obstacles into opportunities.

Refuse to associate with negative people.

Find ways to add value to other peoples lives.

Read good books that make you feel enriched.

Begin something that makes you feel challenged.

Volunteer and serve in some fashion, some place.

Mentor someone younger and/or less experienced.

Don't participate in throwing others "under the bus."

Find someone to mentor you; be accountable to someone.

Make the effort to grow your intellect and expand your perspective. 

Journal...keep it simple and short; then watch that discipline begin to expand.   

Finally, and most significantly...

"Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom He gives.  Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts.  And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks through him to God the father."    Colossians 4.16,17 NLT

Why we need Jesus...

"Reason and morality cannot show us a good and gracious God.  For that, we need the incarnation...The God revealed in Christ does what reason and morality cannot to...Many people today act like someone has created a peace treaty between reason and faith, after reason won the war...Special revelation, especially the incarnation, is precisely where the Christian faith breaks down the wall our culture has erected between faith and reason...The gospel creates not speculative pundits, spiritual gurus, or moralists but witnesses."

Excerpted from "The God Who Came Down" 

by Michael Horton

What a difference a day makes...

Each year, on December 28, I pause to reflect on my story.

Life moves past us at such a brisk pace that it's easy to forget what life was like 44 years ago; what life could have been like, had God not intervened that night in 1968.  It was the last Saturday night of the year; I had a plan for my evening, and it certainly did not include an up close conversation with God.  But, He had a different plan...and, as it turns out, it changed my life forever.

But the path to that evening in 1968 started many years before...when my Grandmother, who lived with us at the time, would gather me up and carry me off to Church and Sunday School--I still have my first Bible, the one mom gave me to take to church with Grandma.  I didn't know, until I was a young adult, that my grandmother faithfully prayed for me each day--that "BJ would experience the power of Christ in his life and embrace Jesus as his Lord and Savior."  She eventually moved back to her roots in Fort Scott Kansas.  But I continued to get myself to church until about the 8th grade.

I don't recall why I decided to "drop out" but I'm sure it just didn't feel very "cool" to attend church and sunday shcool any longer--and since I went by myself, it was my decision to make.  Fast forward to the fall of my Jr. year in High School.  One evening I landed at a "Campus Life" meeting at the home of a classmate (Jim Rehnberg)...it was the kickoff for the school year and as advertised, it was a "Burger Bash"--all you could eat--and a huge crowd of students.  But I got more that evening than a big meal.  The Campus Life leader, Mark Zier, gave a short talk at the end and he asked the crowd..."If you died tonight, do you know where you're going?"  I didn't; it bothered me, then I moved on.

On the evening of December 28, 1968 I was set to attend an "Afterxms" party with some buddies (Jerry McClain was driving).  Our "wires got crossed" (coincidence?) and they never showed up; stuck, I recalled something was happening at the Rec-center with Campus Life that night--they called it a "Campus Life Rally."  There was a girl I had some interest in (Colleen Rehnberg) and I knew she would probably be there (I was right);  I managed to catch Mark (Zier) before he'd left his house.  He was delighted when I called, and he swung by and picked me up.  An evening of activities, music and then a guy, Roger Cross, got up and challenged me again about my life and death.  This time I was ready and wanted to get this question resolved; Mark talked with me and then invited me to pray a short, simple prayer, and the rest...is history.

Three weeks later I went to the Ventura "Rally" because Mark asked me to share about my recent conversion experience with that half of the county we lived in. Mark mentioned a girl he thought I'd really like, a cute sophomore at Buena HS named Laura--he wanted to introduce us; he was right.  In that span of three weeks I'd had two introductions that literally changed the direction and the outcome of my life: I'd trusted Christ and met my future wife--we married 3 years, 48 weeks and 6 days later.

My home was a rather complicated place.  Lot's of love and pain.  I was carrying some emotional baggage by that time and was making some bad choices.  Christ changed all that in an instant.  The baggage was there--if fact it didn't get fully "unpacked" for years.  But His presence in my life set me in a "best direction" that just never wavered.  Laura's family became a surrogate family for me as our relationship grew; they, especially her dad (my dad died suddenly in 1970), filled a great need in my life.

In the 80's there was a popular gospel song written by Bill Gaither that describes my story, I get choked up every time I sing it; the chorus declares..."Something beautiful, something good; all my confusion He understood, all I had to offer him was brokenness and strife, but He made something, beautiful, out of my life."

December, 28, 1968.  What a difference a day makes.