Out in the fields ...

There is a choice besides 'Sheep' or 'Wolf'

2004-10-13T13:21:00.000-07:00

BlackFive has a post that puts our current world in context.

Let me expand on this old soldier's excellent model of the sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs. We know that the sheep live in denial, which is what makes them sheep. They do not want to believe that there is evil in the world. They can accept the fact that fires can happen, which is why they want fire extinguishers, fire sprinklers, fire alarms and fire exits throughout their kids' schools.

But many of them are outraged at the idea of putting an armed police officer in their kid's school. Our children are thousands of times more likely to be killed or seriously injured by school violence than fire, but the sheep's only response to the possibility of violence is denial. The idea of someone coming to kill or harm their child is just too hard, and so they chose the path of denial.

The sheep generally do not like the sheepdog. He looks a lot like the wolf. He has fangs and the capacity for violence. The difference, though, is that the sheepdog must not, cannot and will not ever harm the sheep. Any sheepdog who intentionally harms the lowliest little lamb will be punished and removed. The world cannot work any other way, at least not in a representative democracy or a republic such as ours.

Still, the sheepdog disturbs the sheep. He is a constant reminder that there are wolves in the land...... The sheep would much rather have the sheepdog cash in his fangs, spray paint himself white, and go, "Baa."

Until the wolf shows up! Then the entire flock tries desperately to hide behind one lonely sheepdog.

My lovely bride sums it well "...I sort of wish the girls could be lambs, but they are puppies...arf"

I am what I am, a sheepdog. Fleas, fangs, and all.

One man's version of an Islamic Republic

2004-10-05T16:38:00.000-07:00

This was just priceless:

Ah, yes, the religion of peace. One nation under jihad, with liberty and justice for Allah.

What a dicing perversion; it artfully parallels our hertiage with a cannard.

A modest proposal for educational improvement

2004-10-04T16:00:00.000-07:00

This latest piece from Vox makes this an appropriate time to offer a straightforward adjustment to our Education System.

Starting next year, make the 12th grade attendance voluntary. The year after, 11th grade. You're smart, so I'll leave it to you to complete the series.

The basis for this incremental adjustment is as follows:

Education of a child is the responsibility of their parent. No, really! Don't look so surprised.
We hear the steady drumbeat of how terribly overcrowded schools are, why not let the malcontents free up some class room?
Since our children en masse have become targets - decentralize the targets.
This may be the fastest way for schools to improve their test scores!

So, set aside your shock for a moment, and contemplate an educational system where the students actually want to learn. Isn't that the purpose of our schools?

I can hear the keening wail building "What about our children not in school?!" How is the situation so different than our current one? Latchkey kids are on their own already, and in our affluence TVs, computer games, and computers are in ever-increasing abundance.

If the argument is that we need baby sitters for our children, why insist on a degree and a teaching credential?

Oh, and for those of you already educating through your home, disregard the spectacle - just keep doing what you are doing already.

Who will pull down the house (of cards)?

2004-10-04T14:37:00.000-07:00

It appears that United Airlines, after filing bankruptcy, is close to folding it's pension plan.

United Airlines has told the bankruptcy court that the "likely result" will be a decision to terminate all of its pension plans.

.... and as you look around, you might *gasp* and wonder"Who will save us?" Silly you, as the cry rings out a Federal (caped?) crusader will arrive to announce that the Government has this under control.

In the end, if you pay taxes, you will pay for this. Sadly, you need to figure a significant increase in what taxpayers will eventually pay - someone has to pay for all the newly required bureaucracy as well!

Precious daughter

2004-09-23T13:49:00.000-07:00

Education in the home is a choice that should not be made flippantly, but is an endeavor that bears a lasting fruit in vibrantly alive young adults whose hearts are fixed on Christ, even as they strive to become what Christ has birthed in their souls. For Background: Chris Davis

The Home Schooled Girl
by Chris Davis

She lives in a small town in Tennessee, or in a subdivision in North Carolina, or on a ranch in Montana .

She may be 15. Or, she may have graduated from college. Either way, the odds are no boy has ever paid much attention to her. She may wonder if she will ever get married. She is lonely.

What’s her problem? The answer is simple: She is different.

She doesn’t particularly like being different. She may tell you that she doesn’t care; but she does.

Her peers think she is a snob. Her mom says the reason other girls don’t want to be around her is because they are jealous. That doesn’t help much. So she tries to be friendly and kind but that doesn’t help much, either. She may be shunned by other girls and ignored by boys.

She is different. And who wants to be different? Nobody likes others who are different and nobody likes being different.

I have met hundreds of homeschooled girls like this around the world. Each girl thinks she is the only one who is having these experiences. But, there are thousands just like her. If they ever find one another, there would be a huge group hug. And, yes, probably lots of tears. They would finally have found others like themselves who aren’t interested in what girls normally think or talk about. Their talk wouldn’t center around boys or movies or how stupid some other girl is. They would talk about their families and about what interests them and about God and about Jesus. They would pray together and for one another.

That girl from Tennessee who is 15. She’s actually 15 going on 21. She seems to have skipped the teenage years altogether. The girl who has graduated from college without meeting her future husband has been told many times not to worry. “Mister right” is just waiting somewhere in the future. She struggles to believe it and to trust God for her future family.

These girls are different. Not because they wear Christian hairdos or clothing. It really has little to do with externals. But it has everything to do with their Father and what He has done inside them. They are just different, whether they like being different or not. Everyone can tell.

One day I was trying to understand this regarding a young girl who was a friend of my son. All at once the Lord showed me a kind of vision about this girl. Here’s what I saw:

The girl was in her Baptist Sunday school class. All the kids were sitting in a circle. Just then I saw Jesus open the door to the room. He walked directly to this girl and held out His hand to her. She took His hand and got up from her chair. Then Jesus took her out of the class and closed the door. I understood Him to be saying, “This girl doesn’t belong in the same way other people belong. I have made her exclusively Mine.”

I knew this didn’t mean she would never have a family or always be by herself. But the Lord made me understand that He is using the home schooling movement because it is the easiest context in which to raise young people who can be truly “different.”

Why do I keep using the word, “Different”? It is because of the origin of that word. The word “different” is the most exact translation of the Greek work, HOLY (hagios). These kids are different in that the Lord has placed in them something which makes them holy unto Him. They are not really trying to be this way. It’s something He has done. He has separated them from the kind of things normal young people find important. They may struggle with what God has done. They may be terribly lonely. But they ARE different and it is the work of God, Himself.

It is not easy to encourage these girls. Loneliness is no fun and being different can be a real bummer, too. Telling someone to “have faith” can sound pretty shallow, even though it’s the truth. The girl who graduated from college and never had a boy who was a friend ended up meeting “the man of God” she had always dreamed about. They are married now. Another is still waiting, praying for faith to believe it will all turn out as her heart hopes it will.

This is a holy generation. It is a generation set apart unto Him. It is a generation of young people the world has not seen in so long it doesn’t remember what real holiness looks like. The purposes of God rest on our children being willing to walk “in the world” but, at the same time, separated from it. The world waits for a people to show them that a relationship with Jesus isn’t a religious put-on, but is worth giving their lives to, too.

Our girls have been created by the Lord to show everyone what the Bride of Christ looks like, sounds like, acts like, believes like. It can be a burden, but it is precious. We need to deeply respect our girls for what they have been called to be. They need to be encouraged to understand who they are to a world (and, yes, even to a Church) who desperately needs to see the kind of “Lady” Jesus is returning for. We need to give them a vision for who they are that is deeper than simply saying to them, “the other girls are jealous of you.”

If you would like to email me your comments about this essay, please send your comments to chris@elijahco.com.

My mate and I have always desired that our children stand on our shoulders, and exceed us in their life and service. Chris provides an excellent prospective on what is coming about (in indivdual efforts, humble beginnings, the miss & try again of life) - I pray that this might a small portion of ...

"and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land." 2Chron 7:14 (NASB)

coming about in America. It is by individual efforts that great things can be accomplished.

Thus it begins ...

2004-09-01T10:28:00.000-07:00

Everything seems an ellipsis today. Fine.

Everything other than God has a beginning and an end. Look - I did it already, I mentioned Him. Yep, He is also not neuter or female. To appropriate a phrase of the current culture, "get over it".