Don't Do What They Do.

You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt,
where you lived,
and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan,
to which I am bringing you.
You shall not walk in their statutes.

— Leviticus 18:3 (ESV)

Hashem pulled Israel out of a depraved society and put them smack-dab in the middle of a land surrounded by more depraved people. The life of a believer in Messiah is not a cakewalk. We are to be in the world but not of the world. We will always be surrounded by the morally corrupt. We will be tempted by their ways, but we cannot give in and participate with them. We are called to be set apart and by living set apart we, in turn, set apart His Name. How can we say we are His if we are living like the world, contrary to His instructions?

It is a constant uphill battle but with His help, through the power of the Ruach, we can make it.



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Too Smart To Have Children

Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD,
the fruit of the womb a reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
are the children of one’s youth.
Blessed is the man
who fills his quiver with them!
He shall not be put to shame
when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.

– Psalms 127:3-5, ESV

The recent census has reported that children are now making up less of America's population than ever before. According to the passage of Scripture above, children are a heritage (an inheritance, a gift) and a reward from Adonai. What can we deduce from these two facts?

Adonai has given us a choice; we choose if we want to be blessed or cursed. The Bible says that children are a blessing but Americans don't want children. In fact they consider them 'inferior goods.' The Bible says that debt is a curse but Americans will take take as much of it as they can get.

As our nation moves further and further away from God and His Torah (instructions), it becomes more and more profane. In the US it is now the norm to choose curses over blessings because the curses make more sense in this secular society and the ways of God are seen as archaic, antiquated and flat out foolish.

Last week I came across an article from Time Magazine that labels fertility [in women] as a stumbling block to higher education. A recent study has found that:

"...women who had children early — by their mid-20s — were much less likely to continue their education beyond the required first two years of high school; they were also less likely to achieve a higher degree later in life than women who delayed childbearing until they finished their education."

The researchers of this study find it is necessary to inform young women about this potential difficulty in pursuing an education. It is their belief that by educating young women, they will be able to make better decisions, like how many children to have. But what does God have to say about education?

With the help of Bible software, I searched for the word 'education' in a few of the more popular translations of the Bible and did not find it once. However, the Bible does mention the word 'knowledge' 130-169 times, depending upon the translation. In fact, Proverbs 1:7 declares that "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge." Before we can have a proper understanding about anything, we must first acknowledge Adonai as God and His Holy Word as relevant for our lives today. Only then will we be able to see the world through His eyes and make decisions that are in alignment with His will.

Am I saying that women should not pursue a higher education? Of course not. The point I am trying to make is this: we must be very careful when we handover our young adults to professors and teachers in secular universities and colleges. When believing young women become immersed in a secular educational system, they can sometimes become too smart to have children. They may end up rejecting the blessings that our God desires for them.

We may be one of the smartest nations in the world but we are obviously not receiving all the blessings that God intends for us to have.

Related articles listed here:

Census: Share of children in US hits record low
July 12, 2011

Less-Educated Women Have More Children. Or Is It the Other Way Around?
July 5, 2011

Americans prefer smaller family size
July 5, 2011

Richer People Want Fewer Children
July 1, 2011

Parenting myth No. 427: Little kids are expensive
May 22 2009



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Sermonettes Make Disciplettes

Listening to our positive and encouraging radio station yesterday, I heard a news clip about an article from the Christian Post called Would You Go to Church if Services Were Shorter? The premise of the article is this—some church leaders believe that church services are too time consuming. People nowadays have short attention spans and church leaders need to cater to this modern phenomenon.

What? Adonai, the King of the Universe, sets up a weekly, all day appointment with His people on Saturday (Lev 23:3). His people shorten the appointment to a 2-3 hour meeting in the mid-morning on Sunday. Now, they want to reduce this time with Him to no more than 50 minutes because they cannot focus their attention to hearing His Word. This is utter foolishness!

Short attention spans are the result of the world we live in, especially here in the US. This idea to shorten church services is nothing more than an excuse to get out of God's meeting and back into the world in order to partake in more of it's indulgences.

If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath,
from doing your pleasure on my holy day,
and call the Sabbath a delight
and the holy day of the LORD honorable;
if you honor it, not going your own ways,
or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly;
then you shall take delight in the LORD,
and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth;
I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father,
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
— Isaiah 58:13,14

I think this week I'm going to teach for 2 hours!

You can read the entire article here:
Would You Go to Church if Services Were Shorter?, By R. Leigh Coleman



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The Pink Toothbrush

My toothbrush was too gnarly to display here, so I posted this stock photo.

When we first got married, toothbrushes were not something that Margaret and I ever put too much thought into. We would buy the Oral-B 2-pack or whatever was on sale. I would get, what we considered, the more masculine of the two colors. We never formally discussed our method of selecting toothbrush colors, it just happened. If there was a blue and a green, I'd get the blue. If there was a green and a red, I'd get the green. If there was a red and a purple, I'd get the red. You get the idea. Now that we have children, it's interesting that this same method continues without us saying anything about it. The boys select the masculine colors and the girls select the feminine colors. It just happens.

Now with seven of us in the house brushing our teeth up to three times a day, we go through a lot of toothbrushes. We usually keep a few extra packs of 'back-up' toothbrushes in the cabinet, just in case. Recently, our supply ran low and I was in need of a new toothbrush but the only color available was pink. Since I had already thrown my old toothbrush in the trash can, I had no choice but to use this one. That evening, while I was alone in the bathroom brushing my teeth, I considered my feelings toward my new pink toothbrush. Why did it bother me? I guess because it is such a personal item that is never used by anyone else, a toothbrush is like an extension of yourself. When we find a blue toothbrush left out on the sink we know that it belongs to one of the boys; and when we find a purple one on the sink, we know it belongs to one of the girls. But associating a pink toothbrush with me, the Dad—unthinkable!

On occasion, you can find a few of us brushing our teeth together huddled around the sink in one of the bathrooms. Everyone at work, gazing at each other through the reflection in the mirror as we brushed away the grime of the day. But since I've had this pink toothbrush, I've avoided these family gatherings. I felt a little uneasy about using the pink toothbrush, especially in front of my boys.

A few days later, as I was rounding up the kids for bed, I forgot about my toothbrush dilema. I loaded my pink bristles with Tom's of Maine, walked into the upstairs bathroom and joined two of my youngest at the sink. My youngest daughter, Miryam (6), just stared at the toothbrush in my hand; it was the same color as hers. My middle son, Aaron (4), who was standing on the toilet seat, laughed out loud. He could not hold back his big smile and chuckle as he pointed at my toothbrush and asked, "Are you going to brush your teeth with that one? Is that your toothbrush? It's a pink one!" I set it down on the sink and began to help him brush his teeth. I explained to him, in a matter-of-fact adult-in-charge kind of tone, the reason why I was the owner of a pink toothbrush and how it could happen to anyone; even him. He continued to chuckle as I finished him up. Miryam just watched and listened, very respectfully not saying a word. Once they were both finished, I shooed them off to bed and then brushed my own teeth. That night I could not stop thinking about how tickled Aaron was because of my pink toothbrush. Actually, I was pleased with his response.

It is a concern, I assume, with father's of older girls and younger boys, that their boys would look up to their sisters so much that they would begin to 'act' like them. On one occasion my two oldest daughters brought me their baby dolls and a baby blanket so I could wrap them up the same way that we would wrap up their new little sister, Miryam. I wrapped up Michaela's doll and then I wrapped up Maya's doll. As they cuddled their babies and walked upstairs to their bedroom, around the corner came 2-year-old Isaac. He handed me a baby doll and a blanket so I could wrap up this doll too. I remember trying to redirect his attention to his trucks or blocks but he was determined to get his baby wrapped up so he could join his sisters. So I did it for him. As I watched him climb the stairs, doing his best to hold the baby without dropping it, many thoughts came to mind. I must be working to much and not spending enough time with him. He is spending too much time with girls. He needs a brother or a male friend. Before I went into panic mode, I noticed him standing in the hallway at the top of the stairs holding his baby out in front of him, examining it. With both hands, he grabbed the baby by the ankles and began to repeatedly slam it's head against the wall. He then threw the baby and the blanket to the floor and ran into the room with the girls. At that moment I realized that spending time with his sisters was not going to change the fact that he was a boy, through and through.

I'm getting a new toothbrush, maybe a black one...



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TRI Mini Course

TRI Moodle Interface

Just finished the TRI Mini Course. I would love to sign up this September but, like I tell my children all the time, "We'll see."

The Moodle interface was useable and intuitive, but the screen was a bit busy. If this course was only three short lessons, I can imagine with three or more complete lessons, the screen could become a bit overwhelming. Maybe a page for each class would be less cluttered? Just a suggestion.

The course was what I expected and hoped for. Lessons that I can listen to on my own time. It gave me the flexibility to do all the things I need to as a husband, father of six, full-time employee and community leader and still make time to listen to the lessons and do the assignments. However, this was a mini course and for the most part, only a peek into how TRI will hold their online classes and how to use Moodle. It was not an indication of how much time will be required every week. My only hope now (aside from money falling into my lap) is that students will be allowed to take one or two classes at a time. It would take me much longer to finish, but hey, I'm patient.

You can find out more about TRI here: torahresourceinstitute.com



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