Mental Musings

An Open Letter to the American Church: Political rights and doing the right thing often have nothing in common. Currently in the United States individuals, with varying ages of consent, have the right to kill their unborn baby, to marry a person of the same sex, to use the f-word in public, to have premarital sex, to pig out with fatty foods, to purchase pornography, and in some states to smoke marijuanna. These are rights endowed, not by our creator, but by our government. Yes, as Christians we can do whatever we want because God has given us free will. But this does not mean that it is pleasing to God just because it feels right or it makes us happy. "Everything is permissible, but not everything is helpful. Everything is permissible, but not everything builds up." 1 Corinthians 10:23 (HCSB) We were given specific guidelines by God as to what constitutes sin. That word is, or at least it should be, important to Christians because it was our sin that separated...

My dad with my brother and sister in 1963 If only I could have been a perfect dad. Imagine all of the wonderful accolades that I would receive from my family and my community and even the media. There might even be books written about my life and people would be requesting that I write a book sharing my secret to raising children and being a good dad. But I am not perfect. Far from it, in fact. Any man that becomes a dad will experience the same thing. You will be amazed that someone as smart as you could possible say something as dumb as what you just said to your daughter. You will regret many things that you did and things you failed to do. There will be days when you will feel as though you have ruined your son's life. And if not, he will probably be more than happy to tell you that you have ruined his life. No, father's are not perfect, but, in a day when so many children have absentee dads, those fathers who stay the course and put in the effort regardless of...

Every year, sometimes two or three times during the year, schools hold graduation ceremonies. When I was a student, I couldn't wait until graduation because I knew what that meant. It meant I was done. Finished. No more need to study. No more need to learn. No more papers to write. No more reports to make. No more tests. No more grades. No more pencils, no more books, no more teachers dirty looks. That feeling lasted for maybe a weekend. Then reality started to sink in. I had to get a job. That required me to write a paper, known as a resume. Then I got a call from a company and was told that I had an interview. That required me to study up on how to interview well. Then I got the job and was told that I would spend a week in training, which is job speak for learning. And at the end of the week I had to take a TEST. After a week of working I was told that I had to complete a report detailing what I did during that week. And none of this mentions all of the new thin...