He's coming home!

We just got word--our new baby is coming to live with us! As many of you know, we have been working on adopting a beautiful baby boy, who is currently in Arizona. Well, all the initial paperwork is done, and we are leaving early tomorrow morning to pick him up!

Pray for us. This is just the first step in the adoption process. We've got a ways to go before he's "officially" ours.

Also, one of the coolest things about this whole situation has been how our church has rallied around us. For example, we have a community outreach planned for Saturday. I was planning on calling everybody and rescheduling it for a Saturday when I can be there. But one of our members told the Mighty Mrs. J, "We can do it anyway. After all, pastor says it's not a one-man show. We're all part of God's mission." So the outreach goes on!

I'm blessed and happy that the message is resonating with our church folks.

Oh, and if you're wondering whether there will be a massive onslaught of pictures of the new baby...I think you already know the answer to that question...

Obama cares deeply for a child--or a fetus--or whatever...

From Jill Stanek. More stuff on Obama's pretty radical views about abortion. This is from 2001, when the Born Alive Infant Protection Act was being debate in the Illinois State Senate:



So basically, Obama trusts that a doctor who was trying to kill a baby would then turn around and give that baby medical care if the baby survived the abortion? Either he is very naive, or he wants to protect abortionists more than he wants to protect babies.

Either way, I don't want him running the country...

Making infanticide safe, legal, and rare...

This video was produced by Students for Life of America. In it, a Planned Parenthood nurse is very clear about one thing: sometimes babies are born alive after abortions. The solution? According to this nurse, “They wouldn’t be able to live on its own. So, eventually, the baby does die.” Eventually.



I can't believe we're about to elect a president who supports letting babies die...

(H/T: Hot Air)

My kids' current musical favorites...

I have always enjoyed all different kinds of music, even if they weren't the popular styles of the day. That's why I love the fact that my kids enjoy listening to music that's different from what most kids are listening to. They get introduced to a lot of unusual music because their father flips channels incessantly on the XM radio in the car. And they have discovered some great music.

I've posted before about my son's love affair with Chris Tomlin's music. Little MacGyver used to listen to Tomlin on my iPod when we were leaving the YMCA. But he's found a new favorite group on my iPod, and it makes my heart proud.

Here's what he's listening to now. And, yes he asks to hear these guys all the time:



Now, my youngest, the girl formerly known as Toddler Houdini, is jumping on the music bandwagon. A couple of weeks ago, I sang a little bit of an old song to her. Then I made the mistake of showing her a video of the song on You Tube. Now, every time she comes into my office, she wants to see and sing this song. She really gets into the "Ba ba ba's" at the end:



As for DisneyGirl, she loves just about everything she hears. Music just makes her happy. Last I checked, this was still one of her favorites:



The music is crazy around our house. Doesn't anyone just watch the Backyardigans anymore?

Behavior modification vs. life transformation, part 2...

Several days ago, I wrote about some of the reasons we see such a large number of kids leave the church once they graduate high school. My basic premise is that kids leave church once they get on their own for one main reason: growing up they were performing the way their parents and church leaders expected, but their hearts were not committed to Christ. In other words, the reality of what was going on in their hearts did not match their outward performance.

Once these kids get out in the "real world" they no longer feel the need to perform the same church duties. But they've learned that the way to be accepted is to perform for others, so they conform their actions to their new friends, classmates, co-workers, whoever. We've probably all seen kids who seemed to be grounded in their faith, but then went crazy once they left the cocoon of home and church. The problem is that their lives aren't really changed at the core of who they are.

That kind of change only comes when a person has an ongoing, personal, grace-based relationship with Jesus. So, the question is: how do we help kids develop that kind of relationship?

First, we need to go back to regular teaching of the gospel. Only the gospel is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. I'm afraid we've discounted the supernatural power of God to change us through the simple gospel. No amount of preaching about rule-keeping--whether it's:

• church attendance,
  
• devotional time,
  
• tithing,
  
• missions trips,
  
• student leadership positions,
  
• or whatever--
  

will change lives. Only the gospel (Christ's death for our sins, burial, and resurrection) can do that.

We need our kids to understand their place in God's family. They need to know that God is at work in them, to will and act according to His good purpose. They need to know that they've been given the Holy Spirit as God's promise that He will complete His work in them.

Why do they need to know this? Well, because it's true for one thing. Also, these teachings will help them get their identity from Christ, from what God has done and is doing in them. Otherwise, they'll get their identity from what other people think of them.

Second, we need to realize that large groups (of kids or adults) aren't designed for spiritual growth. It's way too easy for people to hide in groups, or go along with the crowd looking spiritual, without ever really experiencing grace-full growth.

Real edification happens when smaller groups of people commit to each other. For kids that begins when the parents commit to praying for their children and modeling a life dependent on Jesus. In the larger church, each of us must be committed to doing what we can to shepherd the little ones in our midst. Again, not teaching them to keep the rules, but helping them see Christian life as trusting and resting in Christ's work, and learning our true identity from Him.

What's clear to me is that doing this would require major changes in most traditional churches. In many churches, you can go for weeks, months, even years without hearing what the gospel means in the life of the believer. But Christians need to hear the gospel more than they need another "7 keys to having great hair" sermon.

Also, the "bigger is better" mentality doesn't lead to spiritual growth. You may get crowds, but you can't encourage real growth. Smaller groups of people, invested in each other are key to this working.

Last, notice how little I've said about church leaders, the pastor or youth minister. Raising up kids who are filled with God's grace and Spirit is the responsibility first of the parents, then of other adults and kids who are willing to invest time and prayer in the people around them. The pastor/youth leader has a place, but it's not primary.

Any thoughts?

If you got this far, you deserve this. I'm really starting to love this song. Great lyrics...

The fine line between abortion and infanticide...

So far, I've stayed out of politics for the last few months. Mostly that's because I'm not thrilled with either major-party candidate. But there are a few issues I care deeply about. One of them is abortion. It seems like one area where there is a clear distinction between McCain and Obama.

I'm not sure how McCain would affect the abortion debate . But I'm convinced that Obama is pretty radical on this issue, even though he gives lip service to reducing the number of abortions.

Personally, I'd rather look at what someone does, rather than what they say. When Obama had a chance to vote on a bill that would ensure that babies who survive abortions got medical care, he voted against it. 4 times.

To me, that's not pro-abortion. That's pro-infanticide. Finally a group is bringing his votes to public attention. The group is called bornalivetruth.org, and the ad is pretty effective.

Here it is:



The reason the ad is effective is that it puts a human face on this issue. These aren't nameless, faceless blobs. They are real, actual human babies who are being killed. I hope that this group can run the ad all over the country...

Behavior modification vs. life transformation...

A couple of days ago, I started talking about the fact that young people are leaving our churches in droves after they get out of high school. It's something that has bothered me for a while. It seems like a clear indication that we are not passing the faith on to the next generation. Some of those who leave do come back, but many do not.

So, what's going wrong?

Well, I think there's a clue found in the reasons that kids give for leaving church. (Again, I'm equating "faith" with "church" because that is so common in Christian circles. It's wrong, but common.) Some of the reasons, like they moved too far away from their church or left home to go to college, don't make sense, because they could easily find another church to attend. But 17% of the kids surveyed were honest: they said they were only going to church to please others. I believe that would be considerably higher, if more of the kids surveyed had been more reflective and honest.

And it's understandable. So much of Christianity is performance-based, and approval is given based on external behaviors. Thus, if a kid shows up every Sunday, signs an abstinence pledge, doesn't drink or party, and has a regular quiet time, he or she is considered a "Good Christian kid." The reality is that you can do all those things and more, and have a heart that's cold toward God.

And the parents are probably on the same performance hamster wheel. They are taught that good Christians do certain things (serve in church ministries, attend weekly meetings, tithe, read their Bible, etc.). To gain approval from others in the church, church leaders, and ultimately from God, they do all the things they think they should.

When kids graduate from high school, they move, they get full-time jobs, they go off to college. They still have a mindset that they need to perform to get approval. But now they are away from parents and church leaders, so they look for approval from new groups of people: co-workers, roommates, other students. So now they get that approval from those people, instead of from church activities.

The real problem, as I see it, is that we've become largely performance-based as believers. What God wants is not the proper behavior, but actual life-change. Life transformation will result in behavior change, but transformation is a lot more difficult, messier, and harder to quantify.

So how do we go from a church culture that is bent on producing right behavior, to one that is committed to seeing people changed from the inside out? I've got some thoughts on that, but it's getting late, so that will have to wait until another time.

And for all of you who made it through the whole post, here's some fine music as a reward...

Why kids leave church...

For years, something has disturbed me about the church in the US. (Actually, a lot of things disturb me, but let's take them one at a time.) It's this fact: according to one study, 70% of kids who grow up in church leave it after they get out of high school. Of that group, 65% don't come back.

What happens, or doesn't happen, that allows kids to walk away from something that has been such a big part of their lives? This question bothers me, because I know that if these kids were experiencing God's presence in their lives, they wouldn't be going elsewhere. (And, yes, I am equating leaving church with leaving their faith, because for many Christians, the two are linked.)

If you look at the numbers in this study, kids don't leave for theological reasons. They leave because they go to college, or they move too far away from their home church. They leave because they work Sunday mornings. Some just want a break from church, or want to hang out with their friends.

Some of the people surveyed said they left because of differences with the pastor's teachings, or because the church was hypocritical. But apparently, these kids didn't try to find a different church that was more to their liking.

Underneath all those reasons these kids gave, there's one truth that seems clear to me. These kids had the appearance of being committed, but their relationship with God is either non-existent or severely underdeveloped. That may sound harsh, but my experience is that when people who are committed to Christ leave the institutional church, they still have a desire to hang out with God's people. That desire seems to be lacking for a lot of the kids surveyed.

So how do you get whole groups of kids who can "act Christian" but are lacking a true relationship with God? That's the question. More personally, as a father, how can I keep my kids from following down that path. I want them to really know Jesus, not just act like they know Him.

I think there is an answer here, and part of it found in some of the responses to the survey I linked to. But this post is way too long already, so I'll pick this up again soon...

p.s.-If you've read this all the way to the end, here is my gift to you: possibly the greatest song ever recorded.

Birthdays just go on and on...

The girls had their birthdays about 10 days ago, as I'm sure all of you are aware. But just because the birthdays are past doesn't mean you can't give presents.

Tonight, they got to open some gifts from their Aunt Jo, all the way from Colorado. Shockingly, I just happen to have some pictures. (Lucky you!)

Here's everybody waiting for mom to open the box and pass out the gifts...














DisneyGirl loves her new shirt (and her book/purse, too!)...












TH also really likes her purse/book. The only thing she likes more? Posing for the camera...












Because she's the coolest aunt ever, she sent a present to Little MacGyver too. He actually went to sleep wearing his new bug hat. And he had me hide his other bug stuff so the girls wouldn't take it. I think he likes his presents just a little bit...










Here's everybody, showing off their loot. The really cute woman in the middle? She's MY gift...











All the kids say, "Thank you Aunt Jo!!!" We love you a lot!

Abortion as big business...

As much as I dislike politicians (especially this whiner and this snake), I gotta commend one that's got it right. Michelle Bachman is a congressman (woman? person? human?) from Minnesota. She gave this speech in the House chamber last week:


She's got it right: abortion is big business. Planned Parenthood brings in a ton of money every year to kill unborn babies. They get millions in government grants to carry on their nasty business. Then they funnel campaign contributions back to the same politicians who help them get their grants. It's all very convenient.

Who loses? The babies of course. But since they can't give large campaign donations, they aren't considered.

And Bachman brings up a good point: every dollar that goes to Planned Parenthood Is a dollar that won't go to centers that try to help women who are going through crisis pregnancies. That means it's up to those of us who value life to pick up the slack. This is a good place to send your money if you want to support a great pregnancy resource center...

China has an amazing human rights record...

I'm so happy that we can give so much of our money to the Chinese government. As this article demonstrates, they care very deeply about their people...

What homeschool kids are missing...

...socialization. You can't get socialization like this at home:

Tragedy...

Hey folks, sorry I've been absent for a while. My life has taken a turn for the hectic recently.

I did want to jump in for a second to ask you to pray for Steven Curtis Chapman and his family. He is a Christian musician who has sold about a bazillion albums. He and his wife have also adopted 3 children. They are big supporters of adoption, including giving a substantial amount of money each year to make it easier for families to adopt.

Yesterday, tragedy struck their family. Their youngest girl, who just turned 5, was hit by a vehicle being driven by one of her brothers in the driveway of the family home. She was killed. You can read more about it here and here.

I've got a lot of thoughts, because it reminds me of something a very wise woman told us when we were having some problems with our adoption. But, right now this just hits too close to home. I think I'm going to sneak into our kids' rooms while they sleep and love on them a little. Or maybe a lot...

We went to the zoo, zoo, zoo (another one)...

Last week the Mighty Mrs. J was off for Easter Spring break. (Of course, the college she teaches at can't call it Easter break anymore, because Easter is very offensive.) So we spent one of the days at a favorite place for us: the San Diego zoo. It's about a 2 hour drive, but the kids love to go there. OK, I love it too, but let's say we went for the kids' sake.

Here are Little Macgyver and DisneyGirl trying to figure out where the snakes are:















Little MacGyver did some crazy dancing:
















Toddler Houdini likes animals--when they keep their distance:
















Here are DisneyGirl and Toddler Houdini dancing in the aviary:



And here are my 4 precious blessings, all together:















We had a great time. And the best part is the kids slept almost the entire way home! Oh, blessed peace!

Piglet, 2007-2008

Easter was mostly great at the J house. In the morning, we hosted the great families that we worship with. It was a good time to talk, eat, sing, and remember just how terrific God is to each of us.

Then in the afternoon the Mighty Mrs. J's family came over, and we celebrated Easter with them. But between Easter celebrations, a very sad event happened: our guinea pig, Piglet, passed from this mortal coil.

It was all a terrible accident. We put him (or her, I don't know which) in the garage in the morning. Then later, I opened the garage door. Some time after that, I let the dog out, and he must have gone straight for the garage. Poor piglet was dead before I could get back out there to save him (or her).

Of course, I feel terrible. The kids are sad. But we still have our memories of the happy times we had with our little guinea pig buddy.

So goodbye, Piglet. Thank you for being a good pet. May you rest in peace...

Christmas at the J house!

Well , the internet has slowed to a crawl, no doubt waiting for pictures of my family opening gifts on Christmas morning. The anticipation, it is palpable. ("Palpable" means "so intense as to be almost able to be felt physically," for those of you who went to Brethren High.) Since I don't want to let my legion of internet fans down, here are some pics.



This is actually Christmas eve, and the girls are ready to go over to Grandma and Papa's house.














This is Christmas morning. The kids are exhausted because we got them up at 5:30 in the morning to go to Julotta. But they can't wait to open presents...

















Here's Santa with his favorite elf. If you're wondering, my hat says Feliz Navidad! (That means Merry Christmas for those of you who learned Spanish in Mrs. Worchester's class.)












Here's DisneyGirl with one of her precious gifts. Personally, I think SHE'S the precious gift, but I might be biased...
















Here's the traditional candy free-for-all, that comes after we open all the presents. It's usually followed by the traditional Christmas sugar rush...












Then comes the traditional Christmas sugar-induced stupor. ("Stupor" means "an acute lack of mental alertness brought on, e.g. by shock or lack of sleep," for those of you that went to BCHS.")












What did I get for Christmas? Well, here are my four favorite gifts. And I couldn't be happier...

A sad day for the J family...

It is a sad day for us. We had to have our sick dog, Maxine, put to sleep today. She seemed to recover for a few days from her illness. But she got worse over the last couple of days, when we took her to the vet this morning, there was nothing else to be done.

Little McGyver is pretty upset. The girls are a little young to get the whole idea of what's happening. And of course, the Mighty Mrs. and I are sad. Max was the first living being we took care of together.

Pray for us. I know she was just an animal, but she was important to us...

What am I thankful for?

I'm completely turkey-laden, so normally I would skip posting for the night. But I've gotten this far on the NaBloPoMo, and I won't give up now. So here are 2 things I'm very thankful for:

1. My terrific family, of course. They are a constant source of love and joy for me, no matter what's going on. They are teaching me what it means to really love someone else.

2. Recently, I've realized that I have several friends who have a special gift: they still believe that God can use them to make a difference in this world. Most of them don't have a web site or blog I can link up to. (At least one does.) I used to believe that about myself, but I lost it a while back. I'm not happy about it. I'm glad I know people who still have that faith, and my prayer is that God will continue to use them in greater ways as days go on. I'm thankful God put them in my path.

And, in case you're wondering, there will be a bunch of turkey/kid pics as soon as I download them off the camera...

Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays?

I am so irritated right now that I may not even post a cute picture of my kids. (And that is pretty irritated!) I read this article at ChristianPost.com. Some Christian group, probably a well-meaning bunch, has a list where they rank retail stores as either "Naughty" or "Nice" based on whether they use "Happy Holidays" or "Merry Christmas" in their advertising, greetings, and decorations. Naughty stores use Happy Holidays, while Nice stores go with Merry Christmas. This group says that Christians should only shop at stores that celebrate Christmas.

Why does this bug me so much? I guess because it's so unimportant. I don't think saying happy holidays destroys Christmas. Buying gifts made in a country that imprisons Christians for their faith? Now that comes a lot closer to destroying Christmas. But this group has nothing on their website protesting China's treatment of our brothers and sisters. Seems to me that someone's priorities are a little mixed up.

Oh, and one of the "nice" stores is Target, which sells these little beauties online. Which does more to dishonor Jesus: saying happy holidays, or your kid being able to pit Jesus and Spiderman in a caged deathmath? I wonder...

I have a very ambitious son...

You can't start too early deciding what you're going to do with your life. Little McGyver, age 5, has it pretty well figured out. He's going to be:

1. a fireman,
2. a policeman,
3. a doctor,
   
4. a professional football player, and
   
5. a professional basketball player.

I hope he gets scholarships for football and basketball. Med school is kinda expensive...