Michael Yon’s latest dispatch from Afghanistan.
For more Air Force studliness, read his earlier dispatch Pedros.
Must Read
The firefight ebbs. The mortar fire ceases. A few last stray rounds streak past. A cry from behind causes me to turn. Lying in the road is a young Iraqi woman. I run over to help. She’s caught a round just below her temple. Her stunning beauty has been ruined forever.She cries, “Paper! Paper” over and over until the ambulance arrives to take her away. An old lady emerges from the schoolhouse-turned voting site, sheets of blue paper in hand. She gives one to the wounded girl, who clutches it to her like a prized possession even as the ambulance carries her away.The ballot was her voice. All she wanted was a chance to exercise it, just once, before she died.
via Our Mission is Finally Accomplished… Anyone Care? | David Bellavia.
David Bellavia puts into perspective what our troops accomplished in Iraq. This should be a must read for every citizen. Agree with the invasion or not, it cannot be denied that our fighting men and women secured a brighter future for an oppressed people.
Read the whole thing.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Click to listen, right click to download
Does Christianity teach that men are superior to women?
No, it most definitely does not. In fact, Genesis 1:27 affirms that God created both man and woman in His image—thus we share a common dignity and value. The confusion comes in when we recognize there are obvious differences in our creation. Those differences, physical, emotional and so forth, indicate God had distinct, complementary purpose in our creation. In other words, we are equal but different. Men aren’t women and women aren’t men. Nor should we try to be. Instead, we should affirm our distinctives.
Unfortunately our culture equates value with roles. And so women are often made to feel less valuable because they are distinct. This is where the drive to ‘make it in a man’s world’ often comes from. The woman feels she cannot really be considered an equal unless she is climbing the corporate ladder, or earning a similar wage or what not. Thus, we have the modern family where everyone is busy, everyone is stressed and no one is really happy. Of course, history is full of men who, ignoring our inherent equality, abused the physical differences in order to dominate the fairer sex.
The solution is embracing our Creator’s design—equal but distinct roles. Scripture teaches that men and women are of equal value and distinct roles. You might say we were created like a team—we fulfill different roles, but we cannot succeed without both.
Ask the Pastor runs weekly in the Beecher Herald. Got a question? email us at comchurch@sbcglobal.net
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Click to listen, right-click to download
U.S. Starts Afghan Surge – WSJ.com
MARJAH, Afghanistan—U.S. and Afghan troops invaded this Taliban-held town early Saturday, launching the main thrust of the largest coalition offensive since 2001, a test of whether Americas surge strategy can rescue the faltering war effort.
via U.S. Starts Afghan Surge – WSJ.com.
As our forces ratchet up the fight in Afghanistan, please pray for them and their families back home. Regardless of your view on our present conflict, we can all agree that lasting peace and safe return for these men and women are goals worth praying for.
What is the Evangelical Free Church?
I get that question a lot. Many visitors are curious about our movement, our beliefs and practices. The Evangelical Free Church of America (EFCA) is a movement of about 1500 autonomous congregations that began in the Scandinavian countries of Sweden, Norway & Denmark. In the 19th century a growing number of Christians saw the state church becoming nothing more than an arm of government.
Though it was illegal, small groups of men and women began meeting in house churches (referred to as free churches). These groups centered on a few common convictions such as the authority of Scripture and the urgency of missions. Eventually, these churches received official sanction from the state church.
As Scandinavian immigrants moved to the new world, they brought their free churches with them. In 1884 the first Free Church in America was founded in Boone, Iowa. Over the next 65 years, the Free Churches would grow closer together until 1950, when they formally joining together as the Evangelical Free Church of America. Holding to the same convictions that started the first home groups, the EFCA is devoted to glorifying God by multiplying healthy churches around the world.
For more information on the EFCA, check out efca.org.
These posts come from Ask the Pastor, a weekly column published in the Beecher Herald.
Be a Parent
Yahoo! News is reporting a study that links some traditional family behaviors with healthy kids.
Apparently eating dinner together 5+ nights per week, making your kids sleep 10.5 hours a night and limiting TV to 2 hours a day correlate to significantly lower obesity rates. It is almost like spending quantity time with your kids is more important that quality time.
The saddest part of the story?
Helmcamp said it can be hard to institute some of these behaviors. But she suggested that parents “make these behaviors a priority. Sit down and figure out how you can make it happen. Maybe your child doesn’t need to be involved in four or five different activities.”
She said if it’s tough to eat together five times a week, shoot for at least three nights a week. And, she also recommended removing TVs from children’s bedrooms, which can help with limiting screen time and with getting enough sleep.
Seriously? ‘It can be hard?’ I didn’t realize parenting was supposed to be easy. Of course it’s hard; it is supposed to be hard. How could shaping and forming the next generation of mankind be easy?
Anyway, read the whole thing.
Barna on Media Exposure, Addiction: Part III
Scary media – whether that be in the form of slasher films, episodes about demonic possession or other portrayals of the dark side and sick behavior – have become the favorite genre of the Mosaic generation. One noted result is that feelings of fear about one’s environment are reaching record levels, manifested in nightmares, judgment of other people based upon appearance or stereotypes, and changes in daily behavioral routines to avoid scary places.
Okay, one more point I want to make. This one is simple. The fascination with slasher flicks is nothing new. I can remember Friday the 13th movies, Halloween and Nightmare on Elm Street. While a part of this is simply human nature, another part of this growing fascination is a failure of parenting.
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things,” Philippians 4:8 tells us. Yet, what are these kids consumed with? Violence, fear, pain and all the ‘sick behavior’ of horror flicks. Where they never taught that the Christian is to train their mind to meditate upon the things of God? Have they not been taught that perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:8)? Or that we are not to fear anyone other than God (Matthew 10:28)?
So, simply put, I believe this growing fascination with horror results from 1) the de-Christianization of America and 2) Christian parents failing to disciple their children.
Media Exposure, Addiction Part II: Parenting
Two decades ago, the average child under 18 spent about 15 to 20 hours per week digesting media content. Today, it has nearly tripled to almost 60 hours per week of unduplicated time. They now devote more time to media than to anything other than sleep.
Another aspect of Barna’s post on media addiction: kids media consumption time. It seems he includes in this TV, Movies, Internet and Gaming. My question is, ‘How much of this reflects the increase in how much media we have?’ We didn’t have the internet when I was a kid. Television was new when my parents were kids, and the radio was new before that. Perhaps a part of this is simply a consequence of more media options.
At the same time, I can’t help but notice another trend. Parents who have little or no time to spend with their kids. Mom and Dad both work (for the kids, of course), so Tommy is carted off to all day preschool, before and after school care and eventually becomes what we used to call a latch-key kid.
Perhaps, then, it’s not simply how many options we have, it’s that parents don’t want to be parents-and media provides an easy babysitter. Who doesn’t know the bliss of letting the kid play Wii so that you can get some work done?
The answer, then, is simple: parents being parents. Parenting, from a Christian perspective, is discipling. We are training our kids to be men and women of faith in Christ. That takes time–a lot of time. It requires parents prioritizing how much time they spend with their kids, and making sure that time is well spent.
Family game night, with good old-fashioned board games, is a great way to connect with kids and teach them about healthy competition. Family devotions are a great way for the family to read, pray and discuss God’s Word together. Family movie night can not only be entertaining, but can provide fodder for faith building conversations.
Of course, each of these has a common denominator–parents actively and personally involved in the lives of their children.
Brandon Markette 