my story – Page 14 – The Welcome Home

Why Go To Home-School Conferences

Really… why go to Homeschool Conferences year after year?

As I’ve spent all these quiet hours here in bed, I’ve pondered the last several days… the keynotes and the workshops. There was sort of a hidden blessing to getting sick at this time. In the meantime I’ve had opportunity to give thought to the Christian Heritage Homeschool and Family Discipleship Conference… not only to the remarkable effort on the part of those who laboured to present such a fine conference, but to all who participated and to all the families in attendance. It really was quite an unforgettable and inspirational weekend.

I always appreciate listening to Doug Phillips and am inspired by the ‘veteran’ moms who share their ideas, methods and encouragement. I love browsing the vendor hall exhibits and seeing all the wonderful new material each offers. But, I suppose more than all of those things, I love seeing the old friends and familiar faces and meeting new ones as well. It’s the sort of thing that bolsters my resolve and joy to carry on in home education and child training. Having a website that addresses all of those things has given me the privilege of corresponding with people in many places and occasionally I have the great honour of meeting them face to face — such was the case this past weekend. What a delight to meet women who were familiar names to me and now those names have faces in my memories.

We’ve had the distinct honour and privilege to attend many, many such conferences and conventions through the years — to try new curriculum and programs — but I suppose age and perspective makes these more recent conferences more meaningful to me than the earlier ones though, truly, time does not erase the memory of great excitement and anticipation in those early days when everything was new, fresh and uncharted.

Perhaps it’s the fact that we’re not attending conferences looking for ‘the key‘ any longer… you know, that key to success that unlocks the mystery – the mystery revealed that will produce the bright and shining faces we so long to see in our children. You might laugh, but truly, there was a time when I saw all the bright smiling faces and I thought it would truly be worth anything to have that in our home. I thought the outward was indicative of the inward — and it often is… but it often isn’t. So we bought… or were caught, hook, line and sinker. And we bought and bought and bought — until we stopped. buying. that. We eventually went back to a very basic education with a great emphasis on missions and knowing the Word of God. We determined to just train up the children in the Ways of the LORD… and not in the ideals of a particular man or program.

Now, in attending homeschooling conferences, we’re not hoping to see or meet someone who will tell us it will be worth it all… we’re not hoping to buy just the right curriculum to make every day run smoothly and we’re not hoping to see or meet the ‘who’s who’ in homeschooling and see if we can duplicate their story and success. No… none of those things draw us… because we know it is worth it all… we know it’s our life, our mandate from Scripture and is our joy. It is our honour to have our children in our care from sunrise to sundown to sunrise day after day. It is our privilege to train them up in the ways of the LORD and to walk, talk, rest in the Word. I think there is no greater honour than to train up children in the Way of the LORD. And truly, no greater joy than that our children walk in Truth.

Now, when we go to conferences and see dear old friends and dear acquaintances it’s like I want to just smile and raise my hand to them all…. sort of a: high-five y’all – let’s stay at it… it really is: worth it all.

And the tide rolled out…

It seems that for the last several weeks the tide has come in and gone out stronger and higher day by day. It seems that in all the get up, clean up, wash up, hurry up, make more food and clean it all up and put it all away… lather, rinse, repeat another day, we’ve just barely kept pace with all the demands of the day. And then the tide rolled out…

I’ve been in bed the last couple of days… cough-cough-cough-ing. I was in almost a panic as I thought — with dread — that I was entering another bout with pneumonia. It’s been three-plus years since I last had pneumonia and several years since that episode. It’s always sort of stunning to me to get sick like that — Whaaat?? Noooo. not. this. And then for weeks I battle the giant. Well, this current sickness has not actually been much of a surprise as I’ve sort of been shelving it for a few weeks – visitors and guests have brought different gifts… some in our family have accepted the gifts (colds, flu, achy bodies, coughs) and all have been short-lived gifts. It’s sort of been like: sorry, no time for that right now, come back later. It did.

Ahhhhhhhhh for this little laptop. thank you, wes.

Happy Birthday Sweet Kathryn

Another birthday away from home… we’re missing you so far away in Jinja, Uganda… but we praise the LORD for His work in and through you and trust Him to continue blessing and blessing you as He has all of your days. We know that the best place and the safest place to be is in the Hand of the LORD – wherever that is in all the world. Thank you Lord — thank you, Kathryn, for the precious gift of you. Happy Birthday, darling! I. love. you. I. miss. you. today. See you soon.

kathryn feeding Massesi children

It’s all THEIRS

Well, if there’s any money today, it’s all theirs. And all along you thought it was the IRS. Well, if you’re like us, you’ve spent this day wisely calculating every penny and every documented deduction, receipt, form, etc., etc. And if you’re like us, you’ve taken a look at your bank account and have reached the annual conclusion that it’s all theirs — or break that word up and see it: the irs.

So another year… a few more dollars… $6. in gas to drive to the post office to receive the permissible April 15th after hours post mark. I’m always glad that Samuel’s and Kathryn’s births occurred on the dates they did – the 12th and 17th – and that they were not born on April 15. I think some birthdays would have been rather awkward had either of them been born on the 15th. O, I know… we have 365 days to prepare for this day — or perhaps more accurately, we have about 100 days to do so, but alas… we’ve only on very rare occasions had our return in the mail before the 15th. It’s on these days that I am grateful that Wes keeps such meticulous records and every single receipt and documents in the exact same manner year after year every single expenditure and source of revenue. An early brush with the IRS taught lifelong lessons and, experience being the best teacher, we’ve never forgotten the importance of precise record keeping and full and timely payment of taxes due. Yes, an early major business failure taught us exceedingly valuable lessons.

It’s that sort of experience that taught us to back-up, back-up, back-up our computer data. And that resolve and importance of backing-up data early and often was surely demonstrated yesterday when Wes came to his computer and the screen was black and nothing at all could be done to restore the program’s function – what to do, what to do? Usually, when something like that happens, we think: O, no… well, hopefully the important communiques are still there… the websites, the documents, the photos, etc., etc. But yesterday Wes was struck with the thought: O, no… I need to do the taxes. So then, over lunch, we discussed the problem with our son who works in downtown Seattle – he’s in computers, IT, etc., etc. He said: bad news – your hard drive’s toast. Okay… well, that news is bad on most any day of the year but on this particular day that news is, well, particularly bad.

Fortunately… don’t you just love fortunately or words that seem to imply luck or chance? Well, then, providentially, Wes had bought another computer to have for the children to work on in his office and he was able to use that one to access files and information on a back up. Uh-oh… somewhere along the way in March, the back up failed to do so and so some information that he needed had not been backed up. However, it took little time to work around that relatively minor problem and he was up and running again… and then there was a minor problem with his tax accounting program that continually shut down following a sequence of operation. Again… working around that problem he was able to manage. So all this to say, if you’re experiencing glitch after glitch in processing your information and filing your tax return, take comfort in knowing you’re not alone – that, and the fact that after this – well, you don’t need to worry about a thing for 364 days – 365 if you procrastinate. 😉

As for the money? Yep… once again, it’s all the.irs.

intentional or haphazard…

When days are busy, there’s just no way around it — not everything gets done that ought to have been done – but haphazard or intentional (or vice versa) what’s really most important usually does (get done – even if poorly). That’s how things have been or have seemed in the last couple of weeks. I’ve wanted to blog so many things – for there have been so many great things going on – so many things to comment on or to share with you. It seems that for the last few weeks life’s been almost a blurry series of hurry up, clean up, make food, hurry up, wash up, eat up, get up, clean it up, make food… and it’s all good. There’s a big difference between being tired in ministry and being tired of ministry.

For the last ten days we’ve had missionaries, students and other guests here — and before that, we had family from all over. Now, all the hurry, hurry, hurry has passed and all those days, events, and activities are part of a mental scrapbook of sweet memories. So, today is the first day of the new normal. I’m trying to unwind the reel and review the events – and as I do, I’ll write about a few of them… you know… now that things are back to normal (?). Through the years I think we redefine normal about every three weeks or so — for that’s about how long things seem to stay essentially the same — about three weeks. Maybe two. Maybe a day.

So, we’ve had students here from the same mission’s school that Timothy attended. It was great to see them bright and early each morning, to listen to their classes and to serve them meals each day. They had opportunities each day to go street preaching, witnessing and to do door to door evangelism. From Oregon to Seattle provides quite a different venue and mix of people to talk with. They had ample opportunity to sharpen their skills, to listen to the LORD and to *see* people. It’s one thing to walk along and see the masses, but it’s wholly another thing to *see* people and hear their stories and share with them the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And around Seattle — at Pike Place or Union Square or at the University of Washington, or Western Washington U, there were plenty of people with strong views – plenty of people gathering ‘knowledge’ but none of that knowledge will save, none of that knowledge has eternal value. So, they talked… they walked… they heard and they spoke of the Truth. We pray for God’s Word to not return void – that those who spat on them, those who burned tracts, those who ate tracts would one day come to the knowledge of the Truth – and we pray that God will continue to strengthen the church that the church would see the mandate to go into all the world preaching the gospel and making disciples.

We had a tremendous answer to prayer… One of the young women Wes was talking with, on one of the days street preaching, was a woman new to the area. She asked if Wes was a believer in Jesus – and when he said, yes, she asked if he was a born again Christian — a follower of the Saviour, Jesus Christ the Son of God? She wondered if there were believers in the area – Wes told her he didn’t know specifically in that particular area – but that if she was looking for an opportunity to hear the Word, to sing and to fellowship that she could join us in our fellowship of beleivers on Sunday. Problem – no transportation. Wes told her no problem – he & our family would pick her up. He gave her our phone number. She gave her address – no phone. So, Sunday when looking up her address on Streets ‘n Trips, no location found for that address. Sigh. What to do, what to do? Mapquest? No such address found. So later he came downstairs and asked us all to come into the kitchen and pray with him that Ruth would call. He prayed in earnest to the Lord that the Lord would have her to call, that he would be able to bring her up to our fellowship that was to meet later in the day to accommodate all the guests, students and families. He prayed; we joined him and asked the Lord for His will to be done. Riiiing, riiiing…. Riiiing, riiiing… (we have caller ID announce) call from _________. We had never heard the name before (nor could we understand it), but we knew who it was and we praised the Lord that He had, indeed, heard our prayer and He intentionally answered.

Wes and a few of the children went to pick her up and eventually brought her to the home where our church met. I had gone ahead with a few of the children and waited there for his arrival. When he arrived, he introduced the beautiful Ethiopian woman, Ruth, to the church and they welcomed her. It was lovely. What seemed haphazard was truly an intentional blessing of the Lord. She was blessed and was a blessing. At the end of the day when Wes and I brought her back to our home briefly, she looked at all the photographs in our living room and her eyes landed lovingly on the photos of Kathryn and the Ugandan children and Timothy in Ghana… she turned and saw another photo of Kathryn kissing a Ugandan baby — her eyes welled with tears, she smiled and hugged our younger children… they hugged her with smiles and told her they’d see her again. We drove her home — talking the whole way about her life here and her desire to find work. I don’t know what the Lord has in store — but I do know He did bless that meeting — some might have called haphazard or coincidence.

The students saw the hand of the Lord – we all saw His hand. They saw the intentional work of the Lord when believers simply walk in His ways and follow Him. I don’t know when or if we’ll see her again — she lives such a far distance from here… but God knows — and now, more than ever, I’m sure He’ll make it very clear. Intentionally.

Our lives may be or seem pretty haphazard sometimes. Praise God He loves us so. So intentionally.

Train up children in the way they should go…

I think about this verse a lot — I’ve thought about it a lot over the years. What does it mean and how do I practically apply it? What do we, as parents, needs to keep as our focus when we’re training up our children in the way they should go? I think a lot of us started out thinking of this verse and using it as sort of a boundary verse. You know, train up the children in Sunday School and church, pray with them at their bedside after they’ve brushed their teeth at night… be sure they know the books of the Bible and John 3.16 – throw in the 23rd Psalm and Amazing Grace and they’ll pretty much have a firm foundation (and hopefully, cavity free teeth).

Well, the long longer I’ve lived and, actually, the longer I’ve been parenting, I’ve come to see this verse as much deeper and much more important than my earlier understanding from the first cursory reading and subsequent years of listening to radio programs or hearing child-training talks at retreats or homeschooling conferences or when reading how-to books on child rearing. Now, I’m not disparaging the use of oft cited verses for support of parenting methods or directives – not at all, what I mean to say is that there is much, much more to each verse than might be initially understood – or, rather, I think we too often take a very simplistic view of a particular passage. We too often focus on the outward behaviour — and that is very, very important – but what we want to do is reach the heart — train the heart.

Take the Deuteronomy 6 passage, for example. We read it, accept it, believe it and *say* we ~~want to~~ apply it. Now, do we? Do we really? Or do we, in reality, just want to believe it — want for it to have been applied when we look back at our parenting years. I mean, it’s an exceedingly worthy — but extremely challenging standard to bear and goal to attain.

Consider: “… shall teach them diligently unto thy children… shall talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them… and thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house and on thy gates.” (for emphasis, italics mine — Deuteronomy 6.6-9)

Train up a child in the way he should go… I think we, as parents of young children, are so busy with the dailies and the tyranny of the urgent, that we lose sight of the long haul or the end result — the *way* they should go. We get caught up in the “today they shall go” instead of the long “way they shall go.’

Train up a child in the way he should go.
Train up a child in the way he should go.
Train up a child in the way he should go.
Train up a child in the way he should go.
Train up a child in the way he should go.

Too often, we get ahold of some training book, parenting method or homeschooling program, or we go to some seminar or join some organization and we attempt to implement all the right stuff and think that in doing so, we’ll come out with children all trained up the THE way – we see sparkling faces and think: that’s what I want, shining children. We think if we put in all the right stuff, we’ll pull out perfect looking children. And I think we miss a whole bunch. I know *I* did (and, sadly, still do sometimes). We miss the deeper stuff of what God is teaching us in His Word. His Word is great, it’s deep and it’s worth mining. And minding.

I think I erred or missed in the early days the training up a child in the way he should go – bcz God has a specific and marvelous plan for each child. Each child is a story – each child has a story – each child is a unique gift going a unique way and needs unique training for the way he/she should go. O, my, I think I missed that early on. I thought I understood the training — the shaping the will without breaking the Spirit… (Yes, a product of the 70’s parenting and Dobson’s Focus on the Family 6 week film series) the daring to discipline and all of that. I was wanting to do everything right for a proper immediate response and was not focused on the very long term end result so much. You know… sort of like in Willy Wonka… when Mrs. Salt says, “Happiness is what counts with children, happiness and harmony.”

I/we was/were looking for a happy, ‘well adjusted child’ and we did have that — but somewhere along the way, I missed a key point in the training of the first two boys – we both did, my husband and I. We mistook outward obedience for a yielded heart. We see that we really ought to have attended more to very specific idiosyncrasies of each boy – each boy’s bent – or, the way each *he* should go. We knew we were to instill a love for the Lord, a love for His Word – but I think the heart wasn’t always yielded. In the end, it’s to Jesus, it’s for Jesus, it’s with Jesus. So, what I am saying is that there is a way each child should be treated – though using the same material, the same information, the same everything — perhaps the way it’s delivered or the style, etc., will occasionally be unique to each child – thus, a child trained up in the way he should go.

I know we’ve sure had ample opportunities to implement this ‘theory’ over the years. What ‘works’ for one child will not or does not necessarily ‘work’ in or for another one. One discipline method for one would be totally excessive for another. In the initial training phase, one child can hear a direction and I can be fairly certain it will be obeyed – another child can hear the same command and will ~~always~~ probably need to be supervised or checked on. After the initial training is done, the discipline to follow through will be different with both children or more. My goal is still the same – my method is not necessarily the same.

In the end, my hope and prayer, my only desire is that our children walk in Truth and that they love and follow Jesus. Wherever He takes them. Whatever the cost. I pray none be lost and that all be found occupying, serving the Lord till He returns.

timothy pounding fufu
Timothy in Ghana

kathryn chicken
Kathryn in Uganda
kathryn village

News du jour

Once again, I’m thinking that the Pacific Northwest missed Al Gore’s ‘global warming’ memo — totally missed the memo. I’m thinking that those of us who were driving in white-out snow last night on I-90 really wondered aloud: global warming? what global warming?

Seems Mr. Gore has a new plan… almost sounds like a government program: we’re telling you there’s a problem… really, we’re telling you there is a problem and we’re going to through buckets of money at it and call it a national crisis demand more money to prove it. Meanwhile, a cold breeze blows and snow lines the lane. See more, here.

The Alliance for Climate Protection’s “we” campaign will employ online organizing and television advertisements… It highlights the extent to which Americans’ growing awareness of global warming has yet to translate into national policy changes, Gore said in an hour-long phone interview last week. He said the campaign, which Gore is helping to fund, was undertaken in large part because of his fear that U.S. lawmakers are unwilling to curb the human-generated emissions linked to climate change.'”

So… if you’re into putting your money where your mouth is — or not, as the case may be, you might want to consider thinking twice before you give into your child’s plea for a cardboard tray of chicken nuggets or toys in happy bags. Seems McD’s is in the news again for endorsing yet another questionable organization… so, you might want to stay home for some healthful, lower fat, lower salt foods, anyway. So, here you go: McD’s latest ~~faux pas~~ move.

Last week there was a blurb on The Drudge Report that there would be a Trucker’s Strike to protest the high price of fuel… I thought it was too far fetched… plausible, understandable – maybe, but still, it seemed to be extreme. Then I received several emails… some current and one from a few years ago (when everyone thought those prices were way too high – near the beginning of the latest US war). So, I checked Snopes and it was thought to possibly be a rumour. Rumour or not, ready or not, perhaps there just might be a Truck Drivers’ strike on Tuesday (which just happens to be April Fool’s Day). I’ve thought about that a lot… what would happen ~~to Exxon~~ if everyone just didn’t drive one or more given days — and, really, don’t you wonder why in the world the price of a barrel of oil has more than doubled in price in the last couple of years?!?! I’m just sayin’

This past week has been like a whirlwind — and not just last night’s snow, either — due to the death of our grandma, we have had lots of family here with us… lots of activity and things to do. Well, last night we came to the end of all the scheduled events and sort of flopped down in the living room to hear work related stories. So, I’ll let you in on one of them… A riddle.

Our (Orange County Sheriff) niece told us this riddle… and asked us if we could figure it out… and then told us if we got the correct answer — it would prove we were psychopaths! Only one of us got the ‘correct’ answer — I will not tell… but it was not me – :o)

——> A woman, while at the funeral of her own mother, met this guy whom she did not know. She thought this guy was amazing, so much her dream guy she believed him to be just that! She fell in love with him right there, but never asked for his number and could not find him. A few days later she killed her sister. Question: What is her motive in killing her sister?

Think.

I will tell you the answer tomorrow.

Today is the first day…

Yes, today is the first day of my 50th year. And, as I alluded yesterday, I am most surprised I lived long enough to blog that line. Now, for those who do not know me personally or for those who do, my comments yesterday might be surprising. I mean, there is not really anything outwardly that would really indicate illness. Sure, twenty unnecessary pounds; sure, gray hair; sure, appearance of age and lack of aggressive physical fitness. But, for the most part, I just look my age — so no real indication of why in the world I never thought I’d be this age.

Well, I’ll tell you. As I have battled depression of sorts, and occasional hopelessness, regret and a host of other negatives through the years, it’s been a constant vigil to keep those thoughts at bay – to take captive those thoughts that exalt themselves against the Truth of God. I determine to be joyful; I determine to be optimistic — to press on, to look for joy, to see the King in all things.

Even in those things I write about that are not making the mark or that are falling short – I still look for the Lord in those situations. It may not seem like it… it may not seem loving to write about the compromises in the church today, it may not seem loving to point out church teachings and fallacies that are inconsistent with the Word of God. And, believe me, when I say joyful, I’m not meaning lighthearted, for I am anything but lighthearted about the atrocities of compromises in the church, in homes and Christian families. But I am joyful in Jesus – because I see all of these terrible things must mean one thing: the enemy is fighting the families — fighting the church and therefore fighting against God. And my joy comes from knowing Christ is and has the Victory. He is our peace.

So today’s the first day of my fiftieth year.

Wes took me on a morning date to Starbucks – to get a coffee, to talk, to reminisce and to celebrate the gift of one more year. Together. I loved it. I love him.

Here’s what was on my cup for this day:

The Way I See It #280

You can learn a lot more from listening than you can from talking. Find someone with whom you don’t agree in the slightest and ask them to explain themselves at length. Then take a seat, shut your mouth, and don’t argue back. It’s physically impossible to listen with your mouth open.
John Moe
Radio host and author of Conservatize Me.

So, on this, the first day of my fiftieth year, I want to begin by listening more. More and better. I want to listen at length — I want to listen at length to explanations at length. Well, except to gossip. I want to resolve to never listen to gossip. But other than that… I want to be characterized as a woman who listens at length.

Ah… the mail’s here… Birthday cards, birthday cards!! :o)

Tomorrow.

I have one more day to be the age I never thought I be. And then tomorrow I will be the age I never thought I’d reach. For some reason, I don’t rightly remember why, I thought I’d never live past 39. And then I did. And now, I’m wondering how I got this far. It’s surely not my own doing – for I have been my own undoing. It’s surely not my dietary choices or physical fitness or any other personally inspired or responsible behaviour on my part, for I am one of the ‘least of these’ when it comes to consistent anything. I’m a short-term sprinter when it comes to diets, physical fitness or health regimens.

If it were good intentions that brought me here today, even those generally come to a failing point. Many roads are paved with good intentions and I certainly have a number of them. I think back on The Cambridge diet I did in 1982… I lost 30 pounds in thirty days. I know. Yikes. I drank a shake in the morning and evening. I had a bowl of soup at midday and several cups of water and a handful of supplements throughout the day. I bounced on a rebounder and that’s it. I was busy with two very small children… but that’s it. I never really gained much of that back… but then, I was doing such a great deal of physical work that it was sometimes difficult to take time to just do nothing much.

Then I think of all the different attempts to lose weight after each subsequent pregnancy… and I do lose weight. Not so fast and not so easily as before, but I do lose weight – but that only happens when I’m totally set and I don’t know why but I am only totally set ever several years – it’s the in between time that’s so disastrous! I always count on tomorrow. Tomorrow I’ll get a handle on this weight reduction… Tomorrow I will really get serious. Tomorrow I will really get back to my T-Tapping exercising and I so will get my water intake up and my carb intake down. Tomorrow I work more diligently to eat to get my alkaline level up and keep my consumption of acid producing foods down. Yep – back at it tomorrow.

I have this weight chart… the idea of it is to demonstrate to me how great things are going by the downward line across the page. But I must tell you… I very nearly think I’m dead for all I see is a flat line. No, I didn’t say fat line (though, it’s inferred, I suppose). So the flat line has continued. Well, until recently. I am seeing a small decline. I used to measure success in inches and pounds. Now I do so in much smaller increments… and I say, this garment doesn’t feel as tight as it did before. O, o… that’s right, it’s from the grouping of larger clothes I have in my closet.

Tomorrow I’ll do my green drinks and walk. Tomorrow I will take my supplements and lemon & distilled water. Tomorrow I will get back on track – yes indeedy, I will. Tomorrow I will sprout some wheat, make some spinach salads and a bunch of other greens will go into my smoothie… along with that Total Tonic and wheatgrass juice powder. Tomorrow will be a great day for all of that. O, wait.

Tomorrow’s the day I never thought I’d live to see.

My mom’s in South America… and through the sweet joy and benefit of the internet, she sent me a pretty card. Sweet of her… but before she left, she gave me two very beautiful blue and white mugs with tea infusers and lids. I love blue and white anything. Anything blue and white or white and blue is my favourite – well, except on cheddar cheese.

And about that umpteenth and one diet? Yeah…I’m on it. Again.

When you get a wake-up call

I’m mulling over lots of things today as I clean bookshelves and re-order the movies, dvd’s and cd’s. The dust on some of them gave me a bit more necessary information when I questioned: Do we watch this anymore? Did we ever watch this? And, as always, I walk down memory lane when I go through belongings I haven’t looked through in awhile. Today’s purging of outdated or unused materials is absolutely nothing at all compared to the great purge of sixteen years or more ago. At that time we made, for all intents and purposes, a virtual clean sweep of practically all the movies and music we owned. Really… and that day has been etched in our family’s history as: The Day Daddy Went to the Dump.

So I came downstairs to get a cuppa tea and write some notes when I happened upon an email from Vision Forum. And after reading it I was left pondering several things – one, our departure from most all things Disney happened a couple of years before The Day Daddy Went to the Dump time period of our lives.

We had been to Disneyland the year before and came home with the overwhelming thought: hey, that place is not right… the whole premise is deceptive – but it was so fun – or was it? Anyway, then it was around that time that The Little Mermaid had come out and in the stores were all things Mermaid. And we got to thinking… is this what we want to say and do? Is this the right message? Is this the right anything? I will never forget Wes walking by the television set where The Little Mermaid was playing and he heard, at that moment, the intro to the movie: “Ariel, the rebellious teenager…” And at that moment, he said. “No.” He did not want our daughters dressing like that, talking like that, looking like that, acting like that or —thinking— like that.

Those were hard days. Hard days that were worth every heartache, misunderstanding, expense, etc., etc. Because those days were the shaping of our family. It was as if, in those days, a stake was driven into our family’s foundation and history and it was the ‘day of decision’ — one of those days where we said, from here on out, we are going to follow the LORD in what we say and do and what we see and hear – and it’s got to line up right. We had been walking with the Lord and were believers, but I think we had allowed too much of societal norms to shape our home and teaching of our children.

Looking back now, I wish we had said more, done more, thought more, acted earlier on many things — one of which was the catastrophic influence of: most all things Disney — even though I agree wholeheartedly with the “Examples of Good” in the following list I’ve quoted below.

But I think the whole “Disney issue” that people deal with now is much like other issues Christians face… we often wake up and smell the coffee quite awhile after it’s been brewed and quite awhile after it’s been cooking on the hotplate of the coffeemaker. It’s often not until the smell of scorched coffee starts to assault out senses that we say – wow, we can’t drink that! I know, coffee’s a pretty bad analogy. But the point can be seen.

Think of all the things that you, now as a conservative Christian, may have, at one time or another, not been too offended about. Okay… take music or movies or dress or dating, or public school or birth-control or careers vs. ‘staying home’ or college away from home or whatever… what was passable or acceptable or even just accepted is now questioned in light of Scripture. I guess that’s really why I take such a hard stand and will continue to take such a hard stand against the merry-go-round of the meet-your-felt-needs- and the entertain-you-to-death church trends of the last 10-15+ years. It’s why I write about the things I do – because things are so subtly slipping into our homes and lives and they are really off — they are really contrary to the Word of God.

It’s not until that reality strikes believers in the face that decisions are reevaluated or wake-up calls are heard. Just watch, it will not be too long before more in the church say: Hey, this mysticism, this relativism, this conversation, this revisionist writing of the Bible, this carnal teaching, this denial of the omniscient, inerrant, omnipotent, Triune God…. wait, this… this… this just isn’t right. When did this happen? How did this happen? And by then the church will have been carried away with all of that and more for years.

Just consider the abortion industry. It was well into the practice that the wake-up call was heard – and believers began to gasp at the horrific atrocity of the death of innocent unborn babies and the highly profitable abortion industry. Things go on and people are told to mind their own business, don’t offend other people, don’t say things that will rock the boat. We’re told or conditioned to just be quiet and let people do what they want even though… well, you know… you and I don’t do those things… it’s not really for us to judge. and on and on.

I think that’s what’s gone on with the Disney lie all these years. And now, people are waking up to the fact that Disney, generally speaking, has been a promoter of all sorts of things that have become foundational teaching diametrically opposed to the Word and Way of the Living God and, subsequently: society, traditions and cultural behaviours have been not only accepted, but endorsed as right or good. And fun – because it’s… just Disney.

So, this from The Vision Forum… read more here. This is an excerpt from the letter I just received:

“Evaluating the Disney Legacy

These messages examine the Disney philosophy of filmmaking, the history of the Disney empire, and the impact of Disney’s many innovations on film and culture. Also included is an analysis of the philosophical and theological perspectives often presented in Disney’s children classics, both for good and for evil.

Examples of Good

· Walt Disney’s personal emphasis on the family as a basic unit of society.

· Appreciation for science, investigation, exploration, and innovation.

· Cultivation of virtues of heroic boyhood.

· Gratitude for the American legacy of freedom.

Examples of Bad

· Moralism without sound theological foundation.

· The “cutification” of witchcraft and evil.

· Reliance on pagan myth and fantasy, rather than biblical icons and worldview.

· Promotion of Darwinian evolutionism. “

Just think of situations where Disney has infiltrated or formed your thinking… you may not even realize it, but you might say, noticing the lateness of the hour: O, I need to leave… or O, the clock’s about to strike twelve, I’d better leave before I turn into a pumpkin.

But more, and probably worse, is that many of us have said, O, it’s okay, it’s a Disney movie… it’ll be okay. Disney used to be synonymous with family friendly. But was it really?