Children as Arrows

Dennis and Barbara Rainey are such awesome people. As the head of Family Life Today, they touch so many lives with their ministry to parents and couples. In their article, Trusting God with Your Child in a Non-Christian Environment, they make such good points about releasing your child into God's protection in secular environments.

Although its a long time before Olivia leaves the nest, the following quote from Dennis really hit home and helps me to realize what our goal should be as parents.

We need to continually cultivate a biblical perspective on parenting. Psalm 127:3-4 says, “Behold, children are a gift of the Lord. The fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one’s youth.” Arrows were never intended to be left in a quiver. They were designed for battle, to be launched toward a spiritual target and to make a difference in this world.

The Passion Recut

What do you think about Mel Gibson toning down The Passion for a pre-Easter release? I have to admit I still haven't seen the original. It almost makes me feel like a bad Christian to say this, but when you're in Blockbuster looking for a movie to watch with your husband after the baby goes to bed, The Passion doesn't exactly jump out at you as a good "date" movie. But with Easter coming up, I want to make a point to see it very soon. And I want to see the original, not the toned down version because the Romans didn't tone down Jesus' beating to accomodate the crowds. If I'm going to watch it, I want the full force of what He did for me to be brought home.

Martha Stewart is out

If I ever get in trouble with the law and am placed under house arrest or put in home confinement, I hope that my home will be a 153 acre estate. That would be nice.

It'll be interesting to see how Martha does business-wise now that she's out. It certainly doesn't hurt to have friends in powerful places, like Donald Trump, who is doing a whole Apprentice spin-off revolving around contestants becoming her apprentice called "The Apprentice: Martha Stewart." I think she and her business will do just fine.

Churches and Child Care

If you've followed my column at all, you know that Jonathan and I are looking for new child care arrangements for Olivia. Our deadline is fast approaching since our babysitter's last day is at the end of next week. I have looked at so much information on every child care center between my house and my job that my eyes have started to cross. We've toured three facilities and it's amazing how different each one is and how none of them have been even close to what we want for Olivia.

In Texas, you can search the state's web site to see what types of violations the facilities have had in the past, which is an awesome resource. But in doing so, I have discovered a sad truth that the majority of church-run child care facilities are often very careless about following state rules. I'm talking about important rules like running a criminal background check on their employees and not leaving children unattended. Those two things are kind of important to a parent! Conversely, those church facilities that do care and follow the rules have a waiting list a mile long.

I wish the churches would wake up and realize that if you're going to have child care as a ministry to the community, you can't just slap together some rooms with a few toys, put Christian people in them (whether they have child care experience or not), and call it a "Christian Child Development Center." That's just not right and it is certainly not a "ministry" when it's done that way.

Anyway, since we need something quickly, we're looking at putting Olivia in a "private preschool" with low student/teacher ratios, a good reputation, very few state violations and tuition that's sky high. Then, we're going to start touring the church facilities that have the waiting lists and see which list we want to get on. And just to head off any inquiries in this vein, if I could quit my job and stay home, I would do it in a heartbeat. It's just not possible.

Truly Random Trivia

Aren't you dying to know what is the fastest growing equestrian sport? It's cowboy mounted shooting. I don't think I want to be a spectator seated anywhere near the arena in this sport. (I know this is random, but hey, I'm only trying to help you impress your friends and neighbors. :-)

Modern culture of resentment

I don't know about you, but I feel resentment building more and more toward Christians and Christianity given the current political climate. So when I ran across the following quote in My Utmost for His Highest devotional, I thought it was so on target.

If by your preaching you convince me that I am unholy, I resent your preaching. The preaching of the gospel awakens an intense resentment because it must reveal that I am unholy. . . .

I'm Aliiiiiiive!

Today I finally feel like I have rejoined the land of the living after being sick all week. Yesterday I managed to make it in to work, but felt like I was going to fall over dead any minute. One of the deputies took one look at me and jokingly asked if he needed to call an ambulance. It was that bad. But, thank the Lord, today I'm much better.

THE WEEKEND

And just in time for an exciting weekend coming up. Saturday Olivia (my daughter) has two birthday parties to attend for two different girls turning two. This will be my first time to take her to a birthday party for anyone outside the family, and we have two in one day. It should prove to be interesting.

Then on Sunday evening (our church has only one service on Sundays) we are having an introductory meeting for our new HomeBuilders marriage enrichment group. We're starting off with a small number of couples, and I'm so excited to see what God does with the group. It's so easy to put your relationship with your spouse to the side with everything else that's on your plate, but successful marriages require you to put them second only to God on your piority list.

It's especially hard for me as a mother not to put my child in front of my husband, especially during these early years when she needs so much from me. But the truth is she will be emotionally healthier and more stable throughout the rest of her life if she's raised in a home where a great marriage is modeled in front of her.

OK, can you tell I'm preaching to myself now? To be completely transparent, as excited as I am about the group starting, it's hard for me to commit to leaving Olivia with a babysitter every other Saturday night so we can not only be apart of this group, but lead it. So every once in a while I have to pep myself up. But I really am excited about it and I'll keep you posted as things progress.

Ten Commandments

I can't wait for the Supreme Court's ruling in the Ten Commandment cases it's hearing. Go Greg Abbott!

It's a Dangerous Job . . .

Say what you want about lawyers, but we do a dangerous job. In the news tonight, sources report that the judge presiding over the case against Saddam Hussein was assassinated outside his house in Baghdad. But don't just chalk that up to violence in the middle east.

This past week, a Tyler, Texas courthouse was shot up and three people killed by a man upset about being taken to court for child support. A federal judge in Chicago is currently under marshals' protection after authorities are investigating whether the death of her family members (her husband and elderly mother) were caused by white supremacist who had previously threatened her life. In 2003, a lawyer in a probate case was shot outside a California courthouse. In my own hometown thirteen years ago, a gunman upset about his impending divorce opened fire at the the county courthouse, killing two people. Because of that incident, metal detectors were installed at the courthouse.

The law evokes very strong emotions in people, and it creates an atmosphere ripe for unstable people to go over the edge. So next time you see a lawyer, don't try out your newest lawyer joke, which he has undoubtedly already heard. How 'bout giving him a hug? Or at least a hand shake.

Welcome to March!

Hello and welcome to a month in my life! My name is Leann Guzman and I'm your March blogger. (Can you believe its already March?!) If my name sounds familiar to you its probably because I'm currently the ninetyandnine.com Work/Family Issues columnist.

In case you haven't caught any of my columns, let me fill you in a little on my life. I've been married to a wonderful man, Jonathan, for six years. Eighteen months ago we had our first child, Olivia. You can expect to hear a lot about her since she is the most beautiful and smartest child alive. :-)

I am a licensed attorney in the state of Texas and work as a municipal court prosecutor. My job has endless free entertainment which I will share with you as much as possible without actually jeopardizing my job.

We live in Crowley, Texas, which is immediatly south of Fort Worth (which, if you don't know, is west of Dallas). We attend Pastor Ron Liles' church in Fort Worth, Calvary Church. Our church has a great small group program on Wednesday nights and Jonathan and I are currently small group leaders. In addition, Jonathan and I are just about to start an offshoot of the small group ministry that focuses on marriage issues. We'll be using the curriculum called HomeBuilders produced by Family Life Today. We're so excited about this and we believe it'll have a great impact on those who become involved in it.

Well, that's pretty much the basics. I'm home from work today sick with flu-like symptoms, so excuse me if my introduction was a bit rote. I'm excited about blogging and look forward to posting better stuff when I'm a bit healthier.

B-Ball without country music

This weekend we had 11 guys show up for basketball! Some guys had come from 40 minutes away just to play on our half-court, concrete, less than great court. There's definitely a closeness that's been built since we started a year ago that's allowed us to make some lasting relationships with backsliders, new converts, and old converts.

Yesterday, we saw the plans for the new church and just looking at the parking lot, concrete galore, made me drool. We could set up a goal at each end and run full court. Ah, to dream! And to think that I've made more contacts and new friends from basketball than all the Sunday night services combined. Not to knock on services because I believe that we need to spend time there too, but I love to outreach as much as I love worship and preaching. The times I've felt God the strongest is when I teaching a Bible study or when I've ministering on the basketball court. God is definitely blessing it!

New America

Kimberly hooks me up with some info on the new American expedition:

The fundamental essence of PNAC's ideology can be found in a White Paper
produced in September of 2000 entitled "Rebuilding America's Defenses:
Strategy, Forces and Resources for a New Century." In it, PNAC outlines
what is required of America to create the global empire they envision.
According to PNAC, America must:
* Reposition permanently based forces to Southern Europe, Southeast Asia
and the Middle East;
* Modernize U.S. forces, including enhancing our fighter aircraft,
submarine and surface fleet capabilities;
* Develop and deploy a global missile defense system, and develop a
strategic dominance of space;
* Control the "International Commons" of cyberspace;
* Increase defense spending to a minimum of 3.8 percent of gross domestic
product, up from the 3 percent currently spent.


Most ominously, this PNAC document described four "Core Missions" for the
American military. The two central requirements are for American forces to
"fight and decisively win multiple, simultaneous major theater wars," and
to "perform the 'constabulary' duties associated with shaping the security
environment in critical regions." Note well that PNAC does not want America
to be prepared to fight simultaneous major wars. That is old school. In
order to bring this plan to fruition, the military must fight these wars
one way or the other to establish American dominance for all to see.