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Saturday, November 28, 2009

This is Protection??????


I don't know about you, but all the hoopla around H1N1 has had me spinning. At the end of it all, I chose not to get the vaccine. My feeling is that the whole thing has been blown out of proportion, and it might be riskier to get the shot than to risk getting the virus. I just don't trust "the powers that be" or the media to present all the facts.

What about you? What are your thoughts? Take a moment to share them in the comments section. I would be really interested to hear them.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

A Dream Comes True



There was a miracle in my family recently. Thirty-four years ago, my then fifteen year old sister had a baby boy. She chose to place him for adoption. Since then, she has wondered about him, and that wondering evolved into a desperate desire to find him. Her situation was made more poignant by the fact that she was never able to have another child.

Over the years she has tried every avenue to find out where he was. Some weeks ago, she finally discovered his adoptive name. Greatly encouraged, she searched countless online resources, and placed ads everywhere that she could think of. But frustratingly, there were no results. Finally, at the end of her rope with desperation, she called out to God, tearfully pleading with Him to find this son that, though she had not seen him since birth, she loved. Two days later she received an email.

It turns out that this son, Jason, had been searching for her all along. His wife, on a sudden impulse, had simply “googled” his name, and there before her was an ad my sister had placed on Kijiji. She immediately emailed my sister, and you can imagine the rest of the story. Needless to say, our entire family is elated, and rejoicing with my sister.

God has blessed me with three children. Though she is a mom also, my sister cannot relate to me in so far as what it is like to raise a child. On the other hand, I cannot begin to enter into her experience of having finally found a child that she never knew, yet longed to have in her life. He was, in practical terms, “lost” to her. At times, she wondered if he were even still alive. The joy she has now is something that I can only look at from a distance, and I thank God for His mercy in her situation.

Jesus told a parable about a lost sheep. A man who had a hundred sheep lost one of them. He left the ninety-nine others and searched for the lost one until he found it. When he came home, he called his friends and neighbours to rejoice with him. Jesus compares that one lost sheep to someone who turns to Him for forgiveness:

“I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” (Luke 15:7)

Having witnessed my sister’s joy, I can begin to imagine the joy in God’s heart whenever someone trusts in Jesus Christ, and a soul is saved for all eternity.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

What's Controlling You?

I had a bit of an epiphany last night. While chatting with friends, the subject of a certain television series came up. One of the ladies present said that she had purchased the series, having heard that it was quite good. It chronicled the marriages of Henry VIII of England, and all the political intrigue that went along with them. This lady admitted that she hadn't watched television in about three years, for various reasons. She brought the dvds home and suggested to her husband that they watch an episode. Not long into the program, a rather explicit sex scene unfolded. She fast forwarded the dvd, hoping that there would be no more. Alas, along came another one. They stopped the dvd, and didn't watch any further.

My friend was shocked at the sexual content of this program. She returned to Walmart, and expressed this to the clerk, stating that it was nothing short of pornographic. She couldn't believe that this type of thing would be allowed on televisoin. At first I was tempted to think that she was exaggerating. Then I realized that she was right on.

The first time that I watched the same program, I was shocked by the sexual content. I decided that I wouldn't watch any further episodes. But as is too often the case, I found myself tuning in again. I justified this by telling myself that having no cable or satellite, I didn't have much of a choice in programming. Also, I reasoned that perhaps the next episode wouldn't have such blatant sexual scenes. I was wrong.

As I sat and listened to my friend express her shock, I was convicted of how lax I had become around what I was watching on televison. Not only television programs, but movies that I rented or borrowed from the Library. All too often, they were filled with cursing, violence and sex.

In the morning of the same day, I had listened to an interview on a Christian radio station. A woman author was talking about her book. In it, she encourages parents to do all that they can to guard their children from being polluted by the influence of a morally bankrupt worldview. She told of how parents were so shocked to find that their young sons were viewing pornography on the Internet. "What do they expect? Garbage in, garbage out," was her response. She was referring to the influence of televison and movies on children and teens today. Sexual content has become commonplace, and we are being de-sensetized to it.

Thinking about these things has brought me to a resolution to be stricter about what I allow myself to take in, when it comes to televison and movies. My flesh doesn't object to mindless consumption of garbage from the idiot box, but I know from past experience that whatever I watch is automatically saved in my memory bank.

There seems to be no limit to the crudeness and blatant sexual innuendo that is allowed on televison today. It's not only the children that need to have their minds protected; we adults have to make sure we choose wisely what we allow to enter through our eyes and ears. So much of what is on television and in movies today is nothing but sin in action; we accept as "normal" what God finds offensive and an abomination. I don't know about you, but I think I had better find other things to occupy myself with for "relaxation". There doesn't seem to be much on televsion that is edifying or glorifying to God these days.

"Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things." Rom. 4:8